The Dark Blue is the homozygous gray version of the Oregon Blue turkey variety.
These can be produced out of Oregon blue breedings when the white allele is not given at the color locus.
The dark blue has dark blue pigmentation in the body feathers. The typical barring in the wing feathers appears as a disrupted barring effect.
The adult pattern resembles those of an Oregon gray somewhat but has more blue tones overall and some rusty pigment in the tail feathers.
Toms are a shade darker than hens. At hatch, the dark blue poult has blue down color with faint stripes on its head and sometimes on the back.
The genetics of the dark blue is bronze based with gray and slate as well as the addition of the Narragansett mutation to create this phenotype.
Genotype: bb cgcg Dd nn for males and n- at the Narragansett locus for hens.
This variety produces three results: Dark Blue, Dark Lavender Blue and Dark Gray.
Approx. Mature Weights: Toms 33 pounds and hens 18 pounds.
Dark Blue poult color/pattern at hatch