Blue Genetics in Poultry

Working

with the Blue Gene in Dutch Bantams:

When breeding Blue Light Browns and Blue Cream Light Browns in Dutch birds, it’s not a matter of just breeding

Blue to Blue and getting Blue. The Blue gene, known as “Andalusian Blue” is relatively complicated (and sometimes

confused with the Lavender gene, which in some breeds is called Self Blue.) With Dutch, when breeding Blues, you

have to breed Blue Light Browns to Light Browns, and Blue Cream Light Browns to Cream Light Browns, in order

to get good results. Otherwise you’ll wind up with a lot of Splash birds, which cannot be shown (although they can

make good breeding birds.) For a lengthy explanation of the Blue gene, click

to email me and I’ll send you

several good articles on the genetics of color in poultry.

But as a practical matter, below is a breakdown of what you need to do to work with the Blue color in Dutch:

The Blue Light Brown in Dutch is a variant of the Light Brown. You breed Blue Light Brown to Light Brown and

get roughly half of each. It works like this:

Crossing Light Brown x Light Brown = 100% Light Brown.

Light Brown x Blue Light Brown = 50% Light Brown and 50% Blue Light Brown.

Blue Light Brown x Blue Light Brown = 50% Blue Light Brown, 25% Light Brown and 25% (or more) Splash

(which is a non-Standard color and cannot be shown.)

Splash x Light Brown = 100% Blue Light Brown.

Splash x Blue Light Brown = 50% Splash and 50% Blue Light Brown

Splash x Splash = 100% Splash.

The Blue Cream Light Brown in Dutch is a variant of the Cream Light Brown. You breed Blue Creams to Creams

and get roughly half of each. It works like this:

Crossing Cream Light Brown x Cream Light Brown = 100% Cream Light Brown.

Cream Light Brown x Blue Cream Light Brown = 50% Cream Light Brown and 50% Blue Cream Light Brown.

Blue Cream Light Brown x Blue Cream Light Brown = 50% Blue Cream Light Brown, 25% Cream Light Brown and

25% (or more) Splash (which is a non-Standard color and cannot be shown.)

Splash x Cream Light Brown = 100% Blue Cream Light Brown.

Splash x Blue Cream Light Brown = 50% Splash and 50% Blue Cream Light Brown

Splash x Splash = 100% Splash.

Best of luck to you all with your birds!

The Blue Gene