New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[junebuggena]

You've got a splash Partridge and a Partridge. Pretty girls.

 

[Chicken Cake]

They were sold to me as Blue Partridge but I don't care.

 

[junebuggena]

"Blue" varieties don't produce 100% blue chicks. There is always the chance for splash, or not inheriting the gene at all, producing black patterning. All depends on what the parents are. The only way to have 100% only Blue chicks, is to pair a Splash with a black-patterned bird.

 

[Chicken Cake]

It doesn’t matter to me and I don’t want to derail this thread, but… Are you saying neither of mine are blue?

Out of the 10 that hatched, those were the only 2 colors I had to choose from and they (chicks of the same color) looked identical. I believe he paid a lot of money for the Blue Partridge “title”.

 

[junebuggena]

Neither are 'Blue'. Splash birds have two copies of the blue dilute gene. Birds with black patterning have no blue dilute gene.
This chart shows how the 'Blue' gene inherits.

 

[speckledhen]

@Chicken Cake Thank you for the pictures, they're lovely!

The blue gene, as junebuggena is saying, does not breed true. if you breed two blues together, you can get blue but also can get black and splash.

Blue is a black bird that carries one blue gene. Splash is a black bird that inherited TWO blue genes, fading out the color further. Partridge is just a pattern that, for me, is making is a little "muddier" to figure out who is what.


Pickles is a straight Partridge. Butter is a splash Partridge, or light blue. I am having trouble figuring out splash from super light blue when the partridge pattern is involved. But, junebuggena knows more than I about that so I defer to her there.

In a partridge you see black feathers whereas in a blue partridge, those same feathers are some shade of blue, not black.

 

[Chicken Cake]

Oh well. Like I said, color doesn’t matter to me because they are just here to be pets that might lay an egg one day. LOL

But I don’t understand what makes them NOT blue if they both look like a couple of the chicks in this thread that ARE being considered blue. What are some good examples of Blue Partridge?

 

[speckledhen]

Oh well. Like I said, color doesn’t matter to me because they are just here to be pets that might lay an egg one day. LOL

But I don’t understand what makes them NOT blue if they both look like a couple of the chicks in this thread that ARE being considered blue. What are some good examples of Blue Partridge?

Blue is visually blue, whether dark, medium or light. Some people call it gray, not knowing the genetics of blue.

I'm not sure if this will help, but in this photo, we have both varieties, both pullets. The chick top right is a Blue Partridge and the one on the left is a straight Partridge. The blue girl has light grayish/bluish feathers and underfluff. Where she is blue, the straight Partridge is black. That is the only difference.

 

[speckledhen]

Here is the same deal with the cockerels.


This is a blue Partridge-see the blue fluff and the blue feathers, especially on the feet?


This is a straight Partridge cockerel, same parents as the one above-you see the black where the other guy is blue:

 

[BeachBumBiddies]

You see my dilemma, then. I love the roosters, always have, but I have one pen in which to keep ALL the BRs and the Brahma keepers so I just can't do that. I might be able for a time to house the BR breeding quad in the bantam coop where they are currently to allow the more mild-mannered Brahmas to gain some bulk and bravado, but I really prefer everyone to be in the barn eventually. Too many roosters is never a good thing.

Since I've never kept a Brahma rooster, can someone tell me how dedicated of a breeder they are? I mean, will I have bare-backed hens if I have only 4 hens with one rooster? Or are they more like my Orps and not as enthusiatic in that regard? Suede never had more than 5 hens if memory serves and usually 3-4 and it was not a big issue with over-mating.

I really have no choice about number of hens since there are only 4 pullets, but if I can keep two cockerels for a time until they are both closer to maturity, I'd prefer to do that. I understand these are super slow to develop and I'd really prefer to see them with full saddle feathers before I pare down to just one, though I may not be able to wait that long, especially if they're being hurtful to the girls. They are a bit more complicated to choose than the BRs with which I am intimately familiar.

My two favorites are the darkest Partridge male and the very light blue Partridge that we think is a cockerel at this point. They are the two largest cockerels of the bunch, both with good foot feathering. One other blue Partridge male has good foot feathering with darker blue color, which I love, however, he's not as large as the light one and he has a lot of red on the chest. But then, all the blue pt have red, it's just a matter of degree.

My Brahma cock birds are pretty overzealous. Most of my hens are barebacked. Plus the boys are huge so they pull the back feathers out even if they're not an aggressive breeder. I definitely recommend getting saddles for your hens.O r you can keep your male separate from the hens & only let him out with them once a week. He doesn't need to mate with them everyday.