About ten years ago I was breeding Self Blue Old English Game Bantams along with some other varieties and since I liked the color so much I decided to try putting it on my Rosecombs. I am talking here of the pigeon blue--not the Andalusian--which is already a recognized variety of color of the Rosecomb.

The Self Blue is a very light shade of Blue-Gray throughout the entire body of both male and female, having no darker color on the hackle and tail of the male as in regular Blue nor any lacing on the breast or other feathers.

My first mating was a Self Blue Old English Bantam cockerel on two Black Rosecomb pullets. Since rose combs and black color are both dominant in this mating, all the F1 or first cross offspring were black with rose combs. And much to my surprise the majority had good sized earlobes.

From this mating, F1, I picked the largest birds with the best Rosecomb heads and wing carriage and mated them together--also selecting for width of feather. The Old English blood reduced somewhat the overall size and feather width of the F1 birds. The F2 mating produced theoretically 25% pure black, 50% black carrying Self Blue genes (but look black), and 25% Self Blue.

I disposed of all the chicks that feathered in black and mated Self Blue together, which of course produces nothing but pure Self Blue Rosecombs. And in order to improve type or feather quality all I had to do was introduce some pure black blood into the Self Blue, mate these black F1 together, and have Self Blue again.

Fortunately I only had to do this twice before I had Self Blues which were very competitive with the other colors.

Self Blue is still a non-recognized variety in Rosecombs, and until we get more breeders interested in trying this beautiful color they will have to be shown as any other color--non-standard. Thanks for your interest and I hope you'll try them--you'll like them.