Blau

Blau, often called Blue, (a tribute to the likely German origins of the gene) presents in a wide array of different colors, from a pale amber to a "gunsmoke" grey color. It is believed to be from Germany, but this is unconfirmed and there are very few references to the origin of the gene or when it was imported into the United States or abroad. It has not been studied formally in a lab, though is prevalent in backyard flocks. It is possibly homologous to the Blue chicken gene.

In heterozygous form (one copy of blue), it will be one of the various shades of grey. It tends to turn pure pharaoh a light shade of blue, but be generally some color of grey all over(1) without the white wingtips in Silver or patches of regular color like in Andalusian. On a fawn base (without any EB), the blue gene will turn the bird a light shade of orange or ginger (1). On most hetero blue birds, it is usually possible to figure out the underlying base pattern because the gene just changes the color without altering the pattern.

In homozygous form, the bird will be a very light cream to a white. (2) It is very hard to tell the base color of a bird with two copies of blue--the quail may have some slight markings before the first adult molt, but if it is there, they will generally lose it at maturity. (3)

Though it is part of the Schofield Silver Collection, it is very different from both Silver, Andalusian, and Lavender. It doesn't have any known health defects in either heterozygous or homozygous form, and doesn't have the white wingtips found in both, nor the patches of base color from Andalusian. It has been tested on many of the known dilutions (1), and not found to be on the same gene or locus as any of them.

The proposed gene shorthand is Bl, and the order of dominance is Blau > Pharaoh.

Breeding with Blue:

Note: homozygous blue has been called Cream here for clarity, and the heterozygous form is just called Blue.

Cream x Cream = 100% Cream

(Bl/Bl x Bl/Bl = 100% Bl/Bl)

Cream x Wildtype = 100% Blue

(Bl/Bl x bl+/bl+ = 100% Bl/bl+)

Cream x Blue = 50% Cream, 50% Blue

(Bl/Bl x Bl/bl+ = 50% Bl/Bl, 50% Bl/bl+)

Blue x Blue = 25% Cream, 50% Blue, 25% Wildtype

(Bl/bl+ x Bl/bl+ = 25% Bl/Bl, 50% Bl/bl+, 25% bl+/bl+)

Blue x Wildtype= 50% Blue, 50% Wildtype

(Bl/bl+ x bl+/bl+ = 50% Bl/bl+, 50% bl+/bl+)

For more information about breeding with this kind of gene, including tips and tricks and a full explanation of how these results were calculated, please see here.