which cockerel to keep for future breeding ? splash or white?

[AstraChick]

Thank you @BlueBaby, yes im leaning towards keeping the splash

Thank you @The Moonshiner, in the past i have only had cross Australorps and didn't know the parents so there was a colour bleed. I had a white australorp cross hen that ended up having black flecks through it which was kinda cool and all the other chicks i had also had colour bleeding but i'm assuming that must happen with crosses.
So im thinking these white ones i have now being pure breed may not bleed in colour.
I'm only breeding them for me, not for re-sale.

So if i kept a white boy over the black girl, would i get a mix of white chicks and black chicks ?
and would the same apply to the white boy over the blue ?

 

[The Moonshiner]

With your cross birds before you were dealing with dominate white. Dominate white covers black and it's dilutes like blue, splash, chocolate. Dominate does nothing to the gold tones like gold, buff and red. With dominate it only takes one copy to show but one copy usually doesn't get the job done to eliminate all the black. Thats why your hen had some black specks showing throughout.
I believe you new birds should be recessive white. Recessive covers or eliminates all colors but takes two copies to show at all. If a bird has one copy it won't show and will be sight unseen. The good thing with recessive is that it won't allow any leakage.
If you cross your white cockerel with white hens you will get 100% whites everytime. Thats all they can produce. When crossed to blacks and blues you won't get any whites but they will all receive a white gene so in the future they can produce whites if bred to a white or white carrier.
You white cockerel is probably black under the white so he will produce as a black bird. He could be blue underneath but odds are on black.
So if you use the white you'll be producing white (from the white hens) and blacks and blues from the others. You won't get splash unless by chance he is blue underneath.
If you use your splash cockerel you'll get blue and splash offspring. With the white hens you'll get blue that carry white but won't express it. You won't produce any white chicks until further generations and until you breed them to a white or white carrying cockerel.
It looks like without plans to add or switch roosters in the future using splash will eliminate all chances for white offspring.
With the white cockerel you'll get whites but I don't think you'll ever produce splash without changing roosters.

 

[BlueBaby]

Thank you @BlueBaby, yes im leaning towards keeping the splash

Thank you @The Moonshiner, in the past i have only had cross Australorps and didn't know the parents so there was a colour bleed. I had a white australorp cross hen that ended up having black flecks through it which was kinda cool and all the other chicks i had also had colour bleeding but i'm assuming that must happen with crosses.
So im thinking these white ones i have now being pure breed may not bleed in colour.
I'm only breeding them for me, not for re-sale.

So if i kept a white boy over the black girl, would i get a mix of white chicks and black chicks ?
and would the same apply to the white boy over the blue ?

I know what you mean about breeding the B/B/S Australorp's and having color's bleed through. You have to know how the back lineage was breed, or you grow-out blue boy's that can have red leakage in the feathering (a no-no) if you want to show them. With white's it's hard to tell what other color may be hiding under them.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I'm not an australorps fan so limited knowledge.
Didn't they only come in black before the BBS and whites? If that was the case seems odd you'd have to deal with leakage issues. Anyone know what was used to bring in the other colors?

 

[BlueBaby]

I currently have pure breed Australorps, regular size. I'm trying to decide which cockerel to keep as i cant keep them all cause that's just asking for trouble and i don't want to have separate pens.
I currently have 5 white and 2 splash cockerels
and 3 white, 1 black and 1 blue pullet.
I would like to hatch my own eggs next summer i do get a broody or i'll have to pull out the incubator again
I would like to expand the number of all colours if possible.
With only having a small number of girls, keeping 2 cockerels would not be feasible and i don't think it would be fair on the girls.

My question is....
Does anybody here know what colours i would get if i kept the white cockerel for breeding over the black and blue pullets ?
or the other option of keeping the splash cockerel over the white, black and blue pullets ?

I did find this... Black x Splash = 100% Blue
Blue x Splash = 50% blue and 50% splash
But... i can't find anything on breeding the white over the black and blue pullets.

any information will be greatly appreciated

I was working with the B/B/S Australorp's before, and with what you have there for your cockerel's to pick from if you are trying to follow that way, I would choose one of the Splash boy's. Pick the best acting one between the 2 of those.

Most likely if you were to keep the white one to go over the black, you would most likely get a color somewhere in between, as a black cannot make white, and a white cannot make black.

 

[BlueBaby]

I'm not an australorps fan so limited knowledge.
Didn't they only come in black before the BBS and whites? If that was the case seems odd you'd have to deal with leakage issues. Anyone know what was used to bring in the other colors?

Orpington's. But, if they were crossed with a Buff then that could start showing up as leakage later on down the line. I was doing the B/B/S Australorp's before I switched over to the Naked Neck's because they handle our summer heat over here much better. I had some of those Australorp's from both the Hupp line and the Rattlesnake Ridge line. I sold those to a lady over in Colorado who came down to buy me out on the Australorp's. It's cooler for them there.

 

[AstraChick]

Thank you so much @BlueBaby and @The Moonshiner
Great information and food for thought. Will probably end up keeping the splash cockerel for next summer breeding.
I will make the decision once i integrate the 4 little ones out with the whites in the big coop.

 

[BlueBaby]

Thank you so much @BlueBaby and @The Moonshiner
Great information and food for thought. Will probably end up keeping the splash cockerel for next summer breeding.
I will make the decision once i integrate the 4 little ones out with the whites in the big coop.

Good luck!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What makes you think they are white?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What I was getting at is it would be odd to obtain two different varieties from the same breeder.

Splash is white with blue leakage. Poor coloration would look white but it's splash none the less.

Your choice of breeder should be based on body type and conformance to the Standard of Perfection. Color is secondary. The joy of Blue variety is you get three colors. Makes for a diverse looking flock though they are one variety- Blue. The hardship of Blue is to correct or maintain the slate blue (or pigeon blue) color. To do this you should always attempt to have at least one blue in the mating. Due to low populations and at times poor quality of birds it's not always an option to use one blue or the better pairing of two blue birds. It is however advised to do so once you get the numbers up and can choose select birds to breed in pairs or trios or even quads. If the quality of birds are equal except one is blue then always use the blue bird.

Lacing and correct color in blue are what you want to achieve or maintain. It is not advised to use a splash and black mating. Many do it to obtain 100% blue offspring but that is of no advantage or gain in your goal of correct color. Mating black and splash with beget a wide range of blue color. Mating two blues close to desired color, one slightly darker than standard color and other lighter will produce more blue birds of correct color. It's only by using blue in mating that you can visually see and manipulate the outcome.

Also, unless the line has excellent lacing you will only see the lacing in blue birds. It needs to be worked on for complete lacing and then maintained. You can't do this using black birds. Good lacing will show up in Splash. It's critical to use blue colored birds in future matings once you get your numbers and quality up.

Mating a lighter blue to black will darken blue color. Mating a splash to blue will lighten the color. It's a balancing act and not an easy variety to breed.

Good luck.