Whiting Blue Color Pattern

[Iluveggers]

Got this lovely accidental boy in a fall order. He is a Whiting True Blue. We have a Buttercup rooster now, but will only keep one (a friend is taking whichever we don’t keep).

Wondering about what pattern he looks like, and what genetics he may carry? I like the smaller comb, and would assume he will pass along the beard and some type of colored egg genetic? He is white with spatterings of grey mixed in. Has a slight rust tint coming in along his back which has just started to show, almost like someone colored his feathers lightly w colored pencil. I know he’s a mix so it’s hard to nail anything down! 17 weeks now.

 

[SourRoses]

Whitings don't really have any colors, they were never finished. He's likely to carry a bunch of color genes.

When I had Mosaics (mixed bag) I bred to black. I was able to get just one clean looking black and culled the rest. From her I've gotten a majority of ER offspring, but a few decent black. It's a work in progress.

 

[VegaCoyote]

To my (limited) understanding, the lack of standardized coloration in Whiting True Blues is meant to be a feature, not a bug, as they were initially bred to provide feathers for Mr. Whiting’s fly fishing lures, and having the widest possible color variety of long, high-quality hackle feathers suits that purpose best. Meaning that what plumage coloration he’s going to pass on will be unpredictable, but if he’s got long hackle feathers with a charismatic color and pattern combination, he’s well within the spirit of the breed, if not the (currently absent) SOP.

If he were a full-blooded WTB, he’d for sure pass on at least 1 blue egg gene to each offspring, but since you said he’s a mix, that’s not for certain. If you really wanted blue or green laying offspring, but didn’t much care about what color the chicks grew up to be, a full-blooded Whiting sounds like he would be a good bet. But if he’s not, and you really want his daughters laying those blue/green eggs, there are places that do genetic testing for blue egg genes.

If the potential of blue-laying daughters is just a fun possibility, but not essential, as long as he has at least 1 full WTB parent he’ll probably throw about 50/50 blue/green layers when bred to a non-blue-laying hen.

 

[Iluveggers]

To my (limited) understanding, the lack of standardized coloration in Whiting True Blues is meant to be a feature, not a bug, as they were initially bred to provide feathers for Mr. Whiting’s fly fishing lures, and having the widest possible color variety of long, high-quality hackle feathers suits that purpose best. Meaning that what plumage coloration he’s going to pass on will be unpredictable, but if he’s got long hackle feathers with a charismatic color and pattern combination, he’s well within the spirit of the breed, if not the (currently absent) SOP.

If he were a full-blooded WTB, he’d for sure pass on at least 1 blue egg gene to each offspring, but since you said he’s a mix, that’s not for certain. If you really wanted blue or green laying offspring, but didn’t much care about what color the chicks grew up to be, a full-blooded Whiting sounds like he would be a good bet. But if he’s not, and you really want his daughters laying those blue/green eggs, there are places that do genetic testing for blue egg genes.

If the potential of blue-laying daughters is just a fun possibility, but not essential, as long as he has at least 1 full WTB parent he’ll probably throw about 50/50 blue/green layers when bred to a non-blue-laying hen.

Thanks! He is full WTB, I meant he is a mix of whatever coloring he has, sorry to confuse you! So he in theory should produce all chicks that if pullets would lay blue or green? That’s great news. Thank you!

 

[VegaCoyote]

Oh, well then! Yes, he should have ??? for feather-color genetics, and 2 blue alleles for egg-color genetics, meaning his daughters would be ???-colored and lay 100% blue/green eggs! ^x^