Chick color black/blue

[Sharon Yorks]

Is there a "for sure" way of telling what color the black and blue chicks are going to grow up to be? Some of my chicks have me confused. Some of the ones I think are black grow up to be blue and ones I think are blue turn out to be black. Examples below...the first picture is of a chick that ended up being a blue and the second chick picture turned out to be a black chick.

[Christie Rhae]

Oh I miss chicks...  Cant wait to start hatching again this year!
I have my andalusians and black Ams all ready to go...just gotta get my timing right so I am actually HOME for the hatches.  lol

[greeneggsandham]

Well, I have had the experience of a black chick turning into a very dark blue.  It was not until weeks later that I noticed the lacing showing up and realized I had a dark blue pullet.  I see the black chick is without the cream color they usually have although I don't believe this means a blue chick all the time.  I believe I read that extra melanizers are responsible for the dark color.   My pullet did make a very nice blue cockeral however.    

I have not seen a blue looking chick turn black however.  You have any recent pics of them?

[Mike Gilbert]

Sharon, that second chick (bottom one) does not look blue on my monitor.  Black chicks often have a lot of cream to yellowish fuzz.   I too have had chicks with black chick down develop dark blue feathers, but never the reverse.

[Sharon Yorks]

I will take some recent pictures of the chicks I have now that I'm confused about and post them this evening. In the meantime, here is another example. Last January I hatched out 6 splash a 5 blues. I knew they were blue because they were out of a black hen and a splash male. But look at the color variation. The light blue baby chick grew up to be Reba and one of the dark is Goliath. I'm actually watching more chicks hatching right now and it's easy to spot the light blues, but my dark blues look black. I'll post more pictures tonight.

[Sharon Yorks]

Here is chick #1 that was hatched January 1st. Is it black or blue? My guess is black, but this one looks just like Coal did and he turned out to be blue.

[Sharon Yorks]

Here is chick #2. It just hatched today. It looks blue to me, but this one looks like Indi (pictured above) and she turned out black.

[Sharon Yorks]

Chick #3 - Hatched this morning. My guess is black.

[Sharon Yorks]

Some of my NYD chicks. Lots of blacks...but are they really black

[greeneggsandham]

Well to me, the blacks look black and the blues look blue.  I don't have any suggestions except to say if I had to know early on what they were, I would put the black chick up against a black from a 100% black pairing and try to note any differences as they mature until you can tell.  Then keep that in mind next hatch and see if the same happens.
I have nothing on the blues, except to say I would be shocked if they turned out black. 

I would love to see a pic of your mature black (blue) chicks though.  I think I saw a pic of one of your blues once and she looked great.  Was she a black chick?

[Sharon Yorks]

I will definitely have to start keeping better track. The blue I think you are referring to, Leah, I think...I don't have a picture of her when she was a baby chick, but I did have a question mark beside her name regarding color. Below is a six week picture, then at 5 months old. Here are a few other before and after pictures. Leah was a very dark navy-colored chick that didn't lighten up until almost 5 months old. Indi (I thought was blue) turned jet black. And Coal was such a dark black chick, then turned a navy color and never lightened or laced up     Leah and Cole are both out of my black hen Ruby. I'm breeding Ruby to a black cockerel this year.

[Sharon Yorks]

The dark chick is Goliath and the light chick is Reba. Here are before and after. They both are also out of Ruby. Reba didn't lace up as well as I would like. I am breeding her to Leah's daddy, which seems to have an excellent lacing gene.

[greeneggsandham]

Yes, Leah has very nice lacing.  I was going to ask who her daddy was.  Was Goliath the same daddy as Leah?  It seems like your dark blue chicks have good lacing.  Are they all coming from Leah's daddy? 
Also, if you keep chick #1, let me know if it turns out male.  I think it is. 

[Sharon Yorks]

Leah's daddy is named Andre. He's the one throwing the good lacing. I'll have to find a picture of him. He was brought back from the poultry Nationals in Indianapolis in 2011. He's a little small in size, but has nice features and a good body shape so we figured he was worth trying. We really like how a lot of his babies have turned out. He's the one we're breeding Reba back to since she's large in size. I've heard the color comes mostly from the daddy and size from the momma. I'm hoping that holds true with this pair. I just put some of those eggs in the bator a couple of days ago.

What makes you think the #1 chick is a male?

[greeneggsandham]

Leah's daddy is named Andre. He's the one throwing the good lacing. I'll have to find a picture of him. He was brought back from the poultry Nationals in Indianapolis in 2011. He's a little small in size, but has nice features and a good body shape so we figured he was worth trying. We really like how a lot of his babies have turned out. He's the one we're breeding Reba back to since she's large in size. I've heard the color comes mostly from the daddy and size from the momma. I'm hoping that holds true with this pair. I just put some of those eggs in the bator a couple of days ago.

What makes you think the #1 chick is a male?

Hard to really judge from a picture, but the way he raises up and looks around.  A boy I sold chicks to used that method in picking his out and he got just want he wanted.  Three females and one male.