To Show or Not to Show?

[call ducks]

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Well, in my eye it's a starting point i would not show him, not the hen. I don't know though. I hope to get a Show Quality black rooster to cross over my blue/black/splash this fall.

Blues/Splash are PROJECTS.

 

[donrae]

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I went to the link but I'm one of the handful of folks NOT on facebook

 

[Illia]

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On the blue X Black cross; isn't this what the OP was saying; that they were going to breed their blue and Black birds and they expected blue chicks because the Black bird carried the blue gene. Since blue is a dilute Black, I'm not following how blue is supposed to be dominant, but it doesn't matter; one is, one isn't. Maybe the OP has a black bird that they know is from a blue/black cross. If it's heterozygous for Black, that is, a Black bird carrying a blue gene, and there will be blue chicks in the first generation when it's bred to a blue bird. If it is homozygous for Black, there will only be Black chicks, no matter what color it is bred to. But, breeding *those* chicks together or back crossing to the blue parent would produce blue. Does that make sense?

Yes, that is what the OP was saying, I was just clarifying that a black bird cannot possibly carry the blue gene. A very dark blue one can though.

But again, you can't have a heterozygous bird that is BLACK, it has to be blue. Blue is heterozygous, splash (as a pattern) is homozygous. Black is just simply having absolutely no blue genes.

As for your last bit, no. If you get a black bird or two from a blue x black breeding and breed them together, all you get is black.

Bl/bl x bl/bl -- 25% bl/bl ---- bl/bl x bl/bl = 100% Bl

bl = Black

Bl/bl = Blue

 

[HHHeritageFarm]

Call Ducks wrote:
Well, in my eye it's a starting point i would not show him, not the hen. I don't know though. I hope to get a Show Quality black rooster to cross over my blue/black/splash this fall.

Thanks very much for the advise. Could you please elaborate? Again, I'm new to this and I am not familiar with desired characteristics. I have read material on the internet but I learn better visually so if I can compare info to an animal I can actually see then perhaps I might catch on a bit quicker

Cheers
Holly​

 

[call ducks]

Quote:
Thanks very much for the advise. Could you please elaborate? Again, I'm new to this and I am not familiar with desired characteristics. I have read material on the internet but I learn better visually so if I can compare info to an animal I can actually see then perhaps I might catch on a bit quicker

Cheers
Holly

I wish i had some good pictures of mine, are way short of show quality.

Not my picture here is a picture of a hen

 

[buffalogal]

I was just clarifying that a black bird cannot possibly carry the blue gene. A very dark blue one can though.
a very dark blue bird is not black. Blue is dilute black.

But again, you can't have a heterozygous bird that is BLACK, it has to be blue. Blue is heterozygous, splash (as a pattern) is homozygous. Black is just simply having absolutely no blue genes.
Black simply means no blue genes showing in the phenotype. A black bird can carry the gene for blue or you would never, ever be able to have a blue bird (light or dark) with a black parent, or get a blue wheaten from a regular wheaten parent and that's not the case.

As for your last bit, no. If you get a black bird or two from a blue x black breeding and breed them together, all you get is black.
in the first generation. Assuming the black bird is homozygous for black, that is the only color it can pass on. But if the other parent is blue, even if it is heterozygous, at least some of those black chicks will be carrying blue genes. Breed the black chicks together or backcross to the blue parent and you will have some blue chicks.

(Good grief, I hate working around the "quote" function on this board for a detailed discussion)

 

[rtroxel]

As for the blue debate, whatever the genes are actually called, I don't know. But you explain it from the perspective of splash being the gene at hand instead of the "blue" gene, it might be easier to explain. Splash is incompletely dominant to black in that any combination of the two makes blue of some shade. Therefore, A black bird cannot carry splash, because if it did, it would be blue.

As for the hen: I kind of like her. I don't see a link to look at the other bird. But she seems to have a decent profile (of course, that doesn't make the bird). She needs a little more finish and definitely needs to carry her tail better, but I think she looks okay. I can't tell her size from the pic but she seems a little on the small side. She doesn't look like some of the hatchery birds I've seen

That's at least good.

 

[buffalogal]

Quote:
The question I have is whether a black bird can carry a blue gene. I'm used to the genetics of colors as they relate to dogs and mice; black is dominant, and blue is just a dilute black, there is no automatically linked 'splash' or spotting. What is genetically going on when you breed a blue and a black and get both colors? Is blue an incomplete dominant? If so, and the blue birds obviously carry the gene for black, why wouldn't a percentage of the black birds carry a gene for blue?

 

[HHHeritageFarm]

rtroxel wrote:
As for the hen: I kind of like her. I don't see a link to look at the other bird. But she seems to have a decent profile (of course, that doesn't make the bird). She needs a little more finish and definitely needs to carry her tail better, but I think she looks okay. I can't tell her size from the pic but she seems a little on the small side. She doesn't look like some of the hatchery birds I've seen That's at least good.

Thanks here is another link to my pics. They are both only around three months old in this picture as they were hatched out in July and the picture was taken in October.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=163669050346037&set=a.163667267012882.32359.162975040415438

Also, if you are members of facebook please be sure to check out Humble Hills Heritage Farm

Cheers and thanks again for all of your knowledgeable info!!​

 

[ultasol]

Show show show! A lot of people like to say their birds are the best, or say their birds are quality, or sell hatching eggs as being from SQ stock.... but the proof is in the pudding. Frankly, I don't believe a word of it unless they are able to tell you about their placements at shows, and if it was in open or JR class. It's not intimidating once you're there, and poultry shows are fun. A whole weekend of talking chicken??? Where do I sign up?!?!?!?

Really, showing is great. Try it.