What colour hen should I choose for my blue IRN cock?

[willowisp71]

Hi all,

Over the last week I have been reading and following with much interest the threads on colour mutation and breedings, and although my head is still spinning at the dynamics of it all, I find it all so fascinating!

Now I am by no means ready to start breeding this year (I think the season is pretty much finished in Australia anyway?), but would be interested in hearing from all you experienced breeders on what colours might (I know, it's a big 'might' without knowing parentage/genetics etc) come out of a pairing of my blue cock (I'm presuming he is just a 'normal' blue, if there is such a thing?) and either a grey, or a violet, or another blue hen?

This is probably a HUGE ask, as I realise there is so much more involved, and without the correct information on his genetics, or the prospective hen's genetics, probably an impossible task.......but I guess I'm just wondering what colour hen would likely produce some interesting colour chicks We'd like Skittles to have pretty lady, and maybe have a go at breeding them next year.

I've included some pics of Skittles (as we've finally decided to call him, based on that he was lucky to NOT get skittled when we rescued him), to show his colour.....these pics are taken without a flash, and show the truest match to his actual colour.








Any thoughts?? Cheers in advance

[rod038]

There would be a few different colours that you could use and I will assume that he has no splits.

Another Blue hen would give you all Blues. A Grey hen would give you Blues and Greys. A Violet Blue Hen would give you Blues and Violets.

Now if one of those Hens you used also was a Pastel or Turquoise then you could add Pastel or Turquoise to the range of colours. So a Pastel Violet would give you Violets and Blues but also Pastel Violets and Pastel Blues.

The sex linked mutations like Ino, Lacewing and Cinnamon are of no value here unless you knew your bird was split to one of them.

A Cobalt could also be used and from that you would get Blue and Cobalt Blue. Cobalt is a more expensive bird.

[willowisp71]

Thanks Rod038! That sounds pretty straightforward to me, especially after reading about all the splits, ino's, lacewings, dark factors, dominant edge....yadda, yadda, yadda!! I'd be pretty happy if I managed to find either a violet or a grey hen for him, or even a cobalt would be nice too

As I said, I have no idea what his parentage is, so no clue if he's got any other mutation lurking underneath those feathers, but he seems pretty much just a blue, (and I know looks can be deceiving, so won't count my chicks before they hatch, hee hee!)......but thanks for confirming what I suspected, and if we're lucky enough that it happens next year, I'll keep everyone posted