Quote:
I have a range of blues in my legbars. None I would qualify as anywhere close to a super blue or a robin's egg blue and I really have not seen anything close to that anywhere. The range of blue that each lays independently seems 'mostly' consistent in my birds but there is some subtle changes that occur with each hen. Some look bluer at the start then get lighter as the cycle goes on and if the weather or climate changes or with stress. I am hoping to cull for egg color in my older girls when I go through them this summer and that's just for ones that I might deem more pale than others (and smaller than others). I would imagine to intensify the color will require a few generations of careful breeding, growing out till laying then culling. Since the process for that will be quite intensive when it comes to time and space it is something someone like myself who is new and less able to do massive hatches will have to work on for years.
I do not use a chart to check and test my egg color as I don't really care to be that detailed at this point but I do see a small range in color in my hens. My 2 gold hens have a more saturated color but it's not as clean a blue as I'd like. I have kept them and may try breeding them forward in the next year to see what they produce with the advances I've made in my own birds and with the Rees line. I cannot and do not trap nest but I will be taking each girl and placing her in a separate pen to ascertain what color range of egg she lays, what shape and how large or small. I did this when making cull decisions on my female Marans. I am going to try for a deeper blue as opposed to a lighter blue but that will then be weighed with other aspects the bird offers as I'm looking to cull smaller, tawnier birds this year. When I say deeper blue I'm looking for the more saturated colors in what I already have. I am not as ambitious as you are in the deepness of the blue that will make me happy for now.
I have some Rees chicks growing out so it'll be interesting to see what they lay. I may not cull any of those until next year if that's when they start laying.
As always I am really appreciative when you take the time to write posts. Im glad to have your eye on occasion as well as my own. I did notice that it wasn't the necessarily the shade of gray but the spacing that shows mor or less white. So I am glad you pointed that out also since I am new to this and still learning what to look for.
I did take picture of my 2 boys wings this morn.
First picture is the wing of the dark boy
This second picture is of the light boys wing
![]()
I think those wingbays look clean of color from what I can see. The shoulders are minimally colored and their is quite a bit of white in the bow and bar wing areas on your lighter boy. Their earlobes are too die for by the way... The barring on the bottom boy in the fluff area has a less distinct look to it than the top boy also. The top boy seems to have better color and barring in the wing area and closer to what the SOP calls for. Type is hard to judge in the images but if they are the same then it'll be interesting to watch them as they grow. If you breed both of them it'll also be interesting to see what they throw and may give you some ideas on the genetics of the females you have.