Our hands are pretty full with the brown reds, but the black golds do sound interesting. I'd say take heart! Don't give up! But ... I understand that it is a lot of work. Lol.
Do we have something along these lines in this pullet (she's from this year's March hatch)? Lighter than our brown reds, she's pretty striking - would like to see a black beard, though.
One of our 'oopses', her mom's out of brown reds and I believe dad's a blue birchen (Andalusian in his background - pea comb, but beardless with white earlobes). Here's her brother:
No plans on using these guys, just curious.