Blue Wheaton males are exactly the same as Blue Red males and should be shown as Blue Reds. Occasionally one reads of a Blue Pile and the author has concluded that “Blue Pile” are nothing more than Blue Reds.

The term Blue Pile is not a good one because the novice pictures Blue Piles as a White Male with blue shoulders, hackle and saddle which would be seen to be a impossible combination.

Chilson (1972) reports on Blue Pile:
“White (splashed) birds from Blue Reds and Blue Duckwing mating will resemble Piles with yellow legs and may be used in future matings to obtain a lighter shade of the blue ground colour if desired. In making the Blue Pile a starting point is to use a yellow shanked Black Breasted Red male from a Red Pile X Wheaton cross mated to Blue Red females or splashed White females from Blue Red mating”

The Blue Red is nothing more then a Blue version of Black Breasted Red. Blue Red x Blue Red will give you 25% Black Breasted Red 50% Blue Red and 25% assorted Splashes whose males resemble Red Piles. The preferred breeding procedure is to mate Blue Red x Black Breasted Red which throws 50% each parental color. Blue Reds may be bred in any shade of Red but the standard calls for golden Red in hackle and saddle of male.

(see the articles on Blue Pekins on this site for more understanding of the way blues are produced and crossed)

The Blue Red Pekins that are being exhibited in Australia are Wheaton bred but we cannot be certain that their genotype is exactly the same as we currently know.

Compton speaks of the Blue Red pattern on OEG 1936 as follows:
“The color of the variety has been fixed after originally being bred from the cross of a Black Breasted Red with a Blue Dun head and bred very true in color. At times the Blue will begin to dominate and then it is necessary to resort to the Black breasted Red to control the tendency. If the light Wheaton bred cross is used, white feathers will appear in the Brest, secondaries and tail and on no account should such a cross be introduced: once this defect appears in a strain in a heart-breaking task to eradicate it – in fact almost hopeless even when bred back either the Dun or Partridge Red. The under feather is an excellent guide in breeding the Blue Red, as if a tendency white appears, it is a sure warning to introduce at once a little more of the dun blood and if becoming too dark, the Partridge. In breeding, uniformity of color is great importance. Any tendency to Black feathers must be closely guarded against although they are much less of a fault than white, and not nearly so noticeable. The markings of the Blue Red are a happy combination of colors, which is properly distributed combine to produce a very hansom handsome effect"

NOTE: We could expect where “Dun” is used a Blue Pekin could also be used.