Advice for breeding BBS (Blue Black Splash) genetics! 🐣

[nicalandia]

Does Splash add to the amplification effect if bred to Blue? In other words, would breeding Blue to Splash make paler Blues faster?

Yes, blues do get pale if constantly bred to Splash. Breeding Splash to Black produce better blues.

 

[WallyG74]

Good to know, I was definitely mistaken on that one!

Does Splash add to the amplification effect if bred to Blue? In other words, would breeding Blue to Splash make paler Blues faster?

Is this your potential path to lavender or self blue?

 

[3KillerBs]

Yes, blues do get pale if constantly bred to Splash. Breeding Splash to Black produce better blues.

Do you know what the mechanism for this is?

Why would it occur if the breeder continually selects for an intense blue rather than a pale one?

 

[3KillerBs]

Is this your potential path to lavender or self blue?

No, Lavender is a different gene.

 

[nicalandia]

Do you know what the mechanism for this is?

Why would it occur if the breeder continually selects for an intense blue rather than a pale one?

It's currently unknown. But there are many genes that are required for Self Black, Self Blue and Self Splash. And as Self I mean the entire body of the bird is covered in B/B/S.

 

[3KillerBs]

It's currently unknown. But there are many genes that are required for Self Black, Self Blue and Self Splash. And as Self I mean the entire body of the bird is covered in B/B/S.

I guess I'll find some things out as I move forward preferentially breeding from my darker blues.

Would the genes that cause Gypsy Face have any effect on this?

My youngest dark blue, from the October hatch, seems to be Gypsy-faced like the 9-month pullet in the first photo (the one whom you may remember was accused of not being an Australorp at all).

(The dark sister and the splash sister are often seen side by side).

 

[nicalandia]

I guess I'll find some things out as I move forward preferentially breeding from my darker blues.

Would the genes that cause Gypsy Face have any effect on this?

My youngest dark blue, from the October hatch, seems to be Gypsy-faced like the 9-month pullet in the first photo (the one whom you may remember was accused of not being an Australorp at all).



(The dark sister and the splash sister are often seen side by side).

I believe any melanizer will help produce darker blues. For example Blue Sumatras

 

[Egzermalda]

This is a very interesting thread. And addresses many of my questions, but I am still unclear about the lacing aspect.

If BBS Blues are laced, and it takes 2 laced birds to create a fully laced chick, does that mean that Blacks and Splashed are genetically (but not phenotypically) laced? But the lacing on the blacks is not visible because it is black on black, and the splash do not look laced because the lacing is too light to see against the light base color? Are the genes that cause lacing in Blue (BBS) birds the same genes that cause lacing in Black Laced Silvers and Golds or Blue laced Reds?

I am wondering because I am going to be using a Black Laced Silver Orpington rooster over Blue and Splash Orpington hens (as well as some Black Laced Silver hens). Will all offspring be Laced? My Blue hen is dramatically laced, but of course the Splash hens are not obviously laced, yet it seems to me the Splash hens must be genetically laced or they could not produce laced blues when bred with a black. And I would think (assuming the genes for lacing in blues and Silver Laced are the same) that all the chicks from the 3 pictured hens would be laced when bred to a Black Laced silver Rooster. Although I think that not all lacing will be black? The Blue and splash hens may produce chicks with blue or splash lacing on a variety of white to blue to black base colors?

 

[3KillerBs]

(assuming the genes for lacing in blues and Silver Laced are the same)

I don't think it's the same lacing.

My Blue Australorp x Silver-Laced Cochin chicks didn't turn out laced.

 

[NatJ]

This is a very interesting thread. And addresses many of my questions, but I am still unclear about the lacing aspect.

If BBS Blues are laced, and it takes 2 laced birds to create a fully laced chick, does that mean that Blacks and Splashed are genetically (but not phenotypically) laced? But the lacing on the blacks is not visible because it is black on black, and the splash do not look laced because the lacing is too light to see against the light base color? Are the genes that cause lacing in Blue (BBS) birds the same genes that cause lacing in Black Laced Silvers and Golds or Blue laced Reds?

I am wondering because I am going to be using a Black Laced Silver Orpington rooster over Blue and Splash Orpington hens (as well as some Black Laced Silver hens). Will all offspring be Laced? My Blue hen is dramatically laced, but of course the Splash hens are not obviously laced, yet it seems to me the Splash hens must be genetically laced or they could not produce laced blues when bred with a black. And I would think (assuming the genes for lacing in blues and Silver Laced are the same) that all the chicks from the 3 pictured hens would be laced when bred to a Black Laced silver Rooster. Although I think that not all lacing will be black? The Blue and splash hens may produce chicks with blue or splash lacing on a variety of white to blue to black base colors?

Lacing is usually an arrangement of black pigment and gold pigment: black around the edge, gold in the middle.

Either of those pigments can be modified. The black can be diluted to blue or splash or chocolate, or Dominant White can turn it white. The gold can be darkened to red, lightened to cream, or turned white by the Silver gene. The lavender gene will dilute both the black and the gold.

So you can get blue laced silvers, white laced reds, and plenty of other combinations. But they are all based on arranging two kinds of pigment in a particular way.

Laced blues are different, because they are "black" all over: black on the edge of the feather, and black diluted to blue in the middle of the feather. Apparently blue dilutes black by a different amount depending on where it is in the feather.

You are right that whatever genes cause lacing in blues would have to be present (but not visible) in the splashes and blacks of the same breeding lines (although maybe not in blacks of black-only breeds.)

I have read that laced blues do have some of the genes that cause lacing in other colors (pattern gene and some others working in combination).

Crossing a blue to a black laced silver should give black birds and blue birds in the first generation. The black birds should not have any lacing, but the blues might show the lacing that is typical of blues. Crossing those chicks back to the black laced silver is when you might start seeing normal lacing, if the blues also had the right genes for it. Or you might see some other patterns of black and silver, if the blues did not have the right genes to cause lacing in a black-and-silver bird. (You might also see some birds with gold instead of silver, depending on what genes the blues have.)

I don't think it's the same lacing.

My Blue Australorp x Silver-Laced Cochin chicks didn't turn out laced.

Did those crossed chicks have the kind of lacing that blues usually do (black edge on blue feather)?