I was talking to a woman today that has blue Cochins. She said that a blue pair will eventually start producing splashes, and a black roo is needed to keep them blue. (Make sense?) Is that right? I am so confused about blue!
What's Up With Blue Cochins?
- Thread starter countyroad1330
- Start date
I would like to know this myself. Never heard of this before but then I am new to chicken raising. I have a blue roo, a black roo, a partridge hen and a white hen and won't have any chicks till spring so am wondering what I will end up with myself!
When two blues breed, you can possibly get blue, black or splash chicks. I've hatched all three colors. If you breed splashes, eventually, the color of the blues lightens up and you lose the lacing on the feathers of the blues. To get it back, you need to breed a black bird back into the mix to darken the color back up and get the lacing to reappear on your blues. I'm hoping that I will some day have a Black Orp pullet for my Blue Orp boy, Suede, so the blue chicks will have nice color with lacing on their feathers as they should.
Wow, Cyn, I hope to have half the knowledge you have some day...that is a compliment! I need to save this thread for future reference!
Gee, thanks, but I really don't know that much. If you start throwing out gene designations at me, you lose me completely. Having the Blue Orpingtons and learning all I can about those and how to breed them for better color is how I just happen to know the answer to this question. Doesn't matter what the breed is, the blue gene works the same. Here are two older threads that are great for learning something about how blue works:
http://p098.ezboard.com/The-Blue-Gene/fbackyardchickensfrm3.showMessage?topicID=1682.topic
http://p098.ezboard.com/BlueBlue-makes/fbackyardchickensfrm3.showMessage?topicID=814.topic
http://p098.ezboard.com/The-Blue-Gene/fbackyardchickensfrm3.showMessage?topicID=1682.topic
http://p098.ezboard.com/BlueBlue-makes/fbackyardchickensfrm3.showMessage?topicID=814.topic
It breaks down like this:
If you breed blue x blue -- 50% blue, 25% black, 25% splash
If you breed black x blue -- 50% black, 50% blue
If you breed black x splash -- 100% blue
If you breed blue x splash -- 50% blue, 50% splash
If you breed splash x splash -- 100% splash
Splash is a dosage effect. Cyn is right, after awhile the birds become so light, that they appear nearly white. I have some splash birds that are so light, the only giveaway is that they have tiny streaks of darker blue in their feathers and you can see a little gray on the head.
Also, if you have some really dark blues, you can breed them with the lightest of your splashes and it will bring the color back in the splashes to somewhere in the middle.
If you breed blue x blue -- 50% blue, 25% black, 25% splash
If you breed black x blue -- 50% black, 50% blue
If you breed black x splash -- 100% blue
If you breed blue x splash -- 50% blue, 50% splash
If you breed splash x splash -- 100% splash
Splash is a dosage effect. Cyn is right, after awhile the birds become so light, that they appear nearly white. I have some splash birds that are so light, the only giveaway is that they have tiny streaks of darker blue in their feathers and you can see a little gray on the head.
Also, if you have some really dark blues, you can breed them with the lightest of your splashes and it will bring the color back in the splashes to somewhere in the middle.
If you breed blue x blue -- 50% blue, 25% black, 25% splash
If you breed black x blue -- 50% black, 50% blue
If you breed black x splash -- 100% blue
If you breed blue x splash -- 50% blue, 50% splash
If you breed splash x splash -- 100% splash
That's the basic thing you have to know when breeding blues and the first thing I learned. The dosage thing is probably one reason that the little boy I just hatched from Suede and Velvet is a light blue. I think either Suede or Velvet's mother was a Splash. That cockerel should be bred to a dark blue or black pullet to produce the blues darker than he is; not that there's anything wrong with his color. I personally like to mix it up a little bit.
If you breed black x blue -- 50% black, 50% blue
If you breed black x splash -- 100% blue
If you breed blue x splash -- 50% blue, 50% splash
If you breed splash x splash -- 100% splash
That's the basic thing you have to know when breeding blues and the first thing I learned. The dosage thing is probably one reason that the little boy I just hatched from Suede and Velvet is a light blue. I think either Suede or Velvet's mother was a Splash. That cockerel should be bred to a dark blue or black pullet to produce the blues darker than he is; not that there's anything wrong with his color. I personally like to mix it up a little bit.
- Thread starter
- #8
Wow! That's really good to know! I am thinking about buying these birds from her for show. I have another question that I almost feel bad asking, but:
If a blue hen and blue roo have chicks, and a black chick mates with a splash chick (both from the blue x blue), will the chicks still be 100% blue? Does that make sense?
Also, is splash something represented in the Standard? Can it be shown?
Thought of one more question: Are there any other color genes that have unusual traits?
If a blue hen and blue roo have chicks, and a black chick mates with a splash chick (both from the blue x blue), will the chicks still be 100% blue? Does that make sense?
Also, is splash something represented in the Standard? Can it be shown?
Thought of one more question: Are there any other color genes that have unusual traits?
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If a blue hen and blue roo have chicks, and a black chick mates with a splash chick (both from the blue x blue), will the chicks still be 100% blue? Does that make sense?
Yes. Blue is a dominant recessive, meaning it only takes one copy of the blue gene to make black bird blue. Splash is two copies.
If you have a splash chick (BlE/BlE) and mate it with a black chick (E/E), then only one copy of the blue gene can be passed (BlE/E).
E = extended or self black
Bl = blue
As far as I know, splash is not accepted for any breed because it's not stable. It's just a by-product of breeding blues, and you don't have to have splashes to have a blue flock.
Another interesting color is dun (Di), which is a gene that dilutes black. One copy will make a black bird appear chocolate or fawn with red or gold stippling, two copies will make the bird appear white with red or gold. I have a OEG pullet and an EE hen with this color.
Yes. Blue is a dominant recessive, meaning it only takes one copy of the blue gene to make black bird blue. Splash is two copies.
If you have a splash chick (BlE/BlE) and mate it with a black chick (E/E), then only one copy of the blue gene can be passed (BlE/E).
E = extended or self black
Bl = blue
As far as I know, splash is not accepted for any breed because it's not stable. It's just a by-product of breeding blues, and you don't have to have splashes to have a blue flock.
Another interesting color is dun (Di), which is a gene that dilutes black. One copy will make a black bird appear chocolate or fawn with red or gold stippling, two copies will make the bird appear white with red or gold. I have a OEG pullet and an EE hen with this color.
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She's a pretty girl, Bliss! I don't have any splash hens in my Orps; the only splashes I've managed to hatch have all been cockerels so far.
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