Self Blue or Lavender
Self Blue or Lavender has no relation to Blue and Splash. It is a colour that breeds true (hence "Self Blue"). Self Blue colour often appears alongside untidy feathers, a lot of breeders are working to breed that connection out and it does appear possible.
Self Blue is a different gene, although when young the Blue and Self Blue chicks do appear very similar. Self Blue is more consistent, the birds are a consistent grey colour, unlike Blue, which vary according to other genes in the colour make up.
Self Blue is a different gene, although when young the Blue and Self Blue chicks do appear very similar. Self Blue is more consistent, the birds are a consistent grey colour, unlike Blue, which vary according to other genes in the colour make up.
Splash
Splash is a colour that is made when a bird has 2 copies of the Blue gene. This appears as mostly white with Blue patches on some feathers.
Splash bred to black will give you 100% Blue offspring.
Splash bred to black will give you 100% Blue offspring.
Blue
Blue is a complicated colour, and is made by diluting Black. Blue will not breed true all the time. Breeding a Blue male to a Blue female will give you 50% Blue, 25% Black and 25% Splash.
The quality of the blue depends largely on the quality of the black it is diluting.
There is a wider variety of shade that can be called Blue, and i think this has mainly to do with the Black colour it is diluting, giving you all the different shades.
Other thoughts to consider when working on Blue
Blue seems like an easy colour to get, but underneath it all this is a very difficult one to get right. Because Blue is a dilution of Black, a lot is going to depend on what make up the black colour in the first place. If a black bird has extra darkening genes (melanisers) then the Blue will come out darker, too few and we have a lighter shade of blue. There are also a lot of ways of getting to a Blue colour, how do we know which is the best way to get there to produce consistent results?
I have never bred blues, and have no space or desire to at the moment, but here are some things to take into consideration if you are planning on breeding Blues.
Because Blue is a dilution of black, we have to consider the quality of black we are using. Some exhibition Black birds are gold based, these would be no good for a Blue breeding program. If you are breeding Black in your crosses then make sure they are silver based. Gold blacks (s+) will lead to brassiness in the resulting Blue males.
Others maybe hiding all sorts of things that could crop up or interfere with your Blue program. You are always going to be dealing with Splash and Black if you are breeding Blues, you will need to keep several options open in getting back to your Blues.
As to which route you go, producing consistent Blue birds is the key, and the key to that is, once again, the quality of the black pigment it is diluting. If you have a a line of consistent Black birds then you do have a good base, breeding to black birds with unknown genes can give you very unsatisfactory results. Same applies if you breed to Splash.
Thankfully the culls from these programs are recognisable birds, and will be easier to sell then other crosses. But you are going to need space, especially if you plan on breeding either black or splash in conjunction with Blue, which would make sense to me, as at least then you can control what makes up your Black and Splash birds, if you ever need to cross to them to get back to Blue.
The quality of the blue depends largely on the quality of the black it is diluting.
There is a wider variety of shade that can be called Blue, and i think this has mainly to do with the Black colour it is diluting, giving you all the different shades.
Other thoughts to consider when working on Blue
Blue seems like an easy colour to get, but underneath it all this is a very difficult one to get right. Because Blue is a dilution of Black, a lot is going to depend on what make up the black colour in the first place. If a black bird has extra darkening genes (melanisers) then the Blue will come out darker, too few and we have a lighter shade of blue. There are also a lot of ways of getting to a Blue colour, how do we know which is the best way to get there to produce consistent results?
I have never bred blues, and have no space or desire to at the moment, but here are some things to take into consideration if you are planning on breeding Blues.
Because Blue is a dilution of black, we have to consider the quality of black we are using. Some exhibition Black birds are gold based, these would be no good for a Blue breeding program. If you are breeding Black in your crosses then make sure they are silver based. Gold blacks (s+) will lead to brassiness in the resulting Blue males.
Others maybe hiding all sorts of things that could crop up or interfere with your Blue program. You are always going to be dealing with Splash and Black if you are breeding Blues, you will need to keep several options open in getting back to your Blues.
As to which route you go, producing consistent Blue birds is the key, and the key to that is, once again, the quality of the black pigment it is diluting. If you have a a line of consistent Black birds then you do have a good base, breeding to black birds with unknown genes can give you very unsatisfactory results. Same applies if you breed to Splash.
Thankfully the culls from these programs are recognisable birds, and will be easier to sell then other crosses. But you are going to need space, especially if you plan on breeding either black or splash in conjunction with Blue, which would make sense to me, as at least then you can control what makes up your Black and Splash birds, if you ever need to cross to them to get back to Blue.
Common crosses to get Blue
Here are some common crosses to produce Blue and Splash birds.
- Black x Blue = 50% Black, 50% Blue
- Black x Splash = 100% Blue
- Blue x Blue = 25% Black, 50% Blue, 25% Splash
- Splash x Splash - 100% Splash
- Splash x Blue = 50% Splash, 50% Blue