Truth or not...blue birds

[onthespot]

I took some pics today of my chickens that show all different phenotypes of blues. I know, they are WAY off color and am just showing them so people who are in the know about genetics can use them as examples of how different genes mess up blue.

Here is my darkest blue marans pullet. I did not know she was even blue until she started feathering out.

Here is a clutchmate with the best lacing I have so far.

and here is a hen with the least definition in her plumage

and here is a clutchmate of hers, that USED TO BE flat blue like that too, but is suddenly growing cuckoo feathers in her tail! WT....??? Some of her eggs are hatching out with cuckoo too, BAD, WEAK cuckoo, that is really trashy looking and I am at a loss to explain it. Why wouldn't it show earlier?

Now this hen showed golden cuckoo faintly under her neck ever since I got her at about seven months old. For her to throw a few stripes on her chicks mihgt be expected, but still, if they carry cuckoo, why don't the show it like STRIPES instead of ghostly hazy bands of faintly different blue on each feather?

Here is a closer view of her plumage from the side. Her older feathers had a brown tint to them and the newer ones are coming in more clear blue. Could that be dietary?

 

[killer]

Halo. i got one that hatched out that looks just like that. i love the blue lacing.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I thought you breed Black to Splash in Orps or I know you do to get nice Blue lacing in Blues for Orps. Now is that not how it's done? That's how I do it. That's what Splash are kept for what I was always told.

 

[halo]

Thats what I did too, to get nice laced babies. But Im wondering if you can breed those laced blues back together to get even better lacing.

 

[Krys109uk]

I think what Henk was saying was that good blacks have quite a few melanising genes some of which are recessive. (The genes are cumulative?)

These melanising genes would not be selected for when breeding for blue (they'd probably make the blue too dark?) & because when selecting for a good blue they would probably have been selected away from, thus there would be a good chance that some of the melanisers would not be present in blacks which come from blues.

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

Quote:
That is what several people have explained to me too. That is the only reason I have a splash cockerel or two growing out. One of them is really showing great promise so I am glad I kept him...even if I don't understand the breeding right.
Help! I am getting confused? Now I am wondering if the "true" blacks I have are really true.

 

[Krys109uk]

Halo, B means he barring gene. Bl means blue.

If a bird blue gene (Bl) then it is genetically blue. Not blue (bl+) & there is no blue dilution.

However black is not just the lack of a blue dilution gene it is the presence of melanising genes, quite a few it seems. Many are have not been investigated. I gather a coverall term for some of them is recessive black & as the name implies it/they need to be inherited from both parents to express.

BTW Blue Marans don't have lacing as such, they have edging

 

[Krys109uk]

It can be: Pg Ml Co. Is confirmed in scientific literature for one line of andalusian blue chickens.
But since you can't get double lacing on blue, that would work too: Pg Ml co+ (no Columbian)

Thanks Henk, that explains something that had been puzzling me.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Ok here is a close up of my best laced blue wyandotte...as you can see it is not a black lacing but a darker blue...but the lacing is there. I was planning on breeding this guy to a good black hen in the hopes of improving the lacing....now all of my blacks from my blues have a great green sheen..not sure if that means anything. In call ducks we call black ducks with out a sheen Penny Black...after the breeder Mr. Penny across the pond who came up with the Penny Black Calls..

 

[Henk69]

Quote:
I mean every unicolor/self blue can not be double laced, no matter what e-allele! It also can not be spangled as in Hamburghs.