Breeding different colors within a breed Orpingtons then Wyandottea

Okay trying to streamline my breeding pens for this spring plus with very wet year just did not end up with both male and females in every breed or not something I am happy with.
So first breed.
I have Chocolate Orpingtons, Molted Orpingtons, Lavendar Orpingtons, Lavendar Cuckoo Orpintons and a few Blue Orpintons.
Now I know for sure I want to breed my Chocolates and Molteds. So pretty, should be in demand plus I like dark colors , they cleaner looking in bad weather lol.
Not as crazy as I thought about my Lavendar and Lavendar cuckoo. Just so light in color.
So I have an extra Chocolate roo. What if I put a

Chocolate Roo over my Lavendar hens. Or

Chocolate Roo over my Lavendar Cuckoo hens

What if a Blue Roo over either Lavendar hens

And what if
Lavendar cuckoo Roo over Blue hens? Or possibly Black hens if I have?
Just decided if I cull all my Lavendar and Lavendar cuckoo Roos. To many Roos in rooster pen making trouble on my wanted Roos!

Now for the Wyandottes. I bought and hatched eggs out of White Wyandotte thinking for a meat birds was told they are big. But for our very large family of soon to be 14 kids I am thinking our Barred Rocks will still win our in that department. And maybe my Marans too.

Plus in the end I did not end up with a white Roo! Just hens!

So what would happen if I put a

BLRW Roo or splash BLRW over the white hens?

Or should I just sell then hens as newly laying hens. And keep simple in staying with just the blrw breeding together!

Thanks kindly.

Oh and I am getting GLW hatching eggs, what happens if you cross these to BLRW or Splash?

moving coops said:

Now for the Wyandottes. I bought and hatched eggs out of White Wyandotte thinking for a meat birds was told they are big. But for our very large family of soon to be 14 kids I am thinking our Barred Rocks will still win our in that department. And maybe my Marans too.

Plus in the end I did not end up with a white Roo! Just hens!

So what would happen if I put a

BLRW Roo or splash BLRW over the white hens?

Or should I just sell then hens as newly laying hens. And keep simple in staying with just the blrw breeding together!

Thanks kindly.

Oh and I am getting GLW hatching eggs, what happens if you cross these to BLRW or Splash?

Click to expand...

Marans are considered a gourmet meat bird in France. How about putting your Marans rooster over the White Wyandottes. that should produce some good meat birds.
Best,
Karen

Thank I could try that! You think that will bring a more concentrated meat on the bone aposed to straight Maran breed? But still would it be as big as my show quality barred rocks? That is a way to keep the white girls. I guess I could even do that with my BLRW girls but they sell good as purbred chicks anyway!

Do you know what colors of chickens I would end up with above?

I was maybe suppose to put this post in the genetics section but did not know if I should since it was not sticking to a specific color in the genetic pool of a particular bird!

Weight wise wouldn't I still be better to cross my barred rock rooster to white Wyandottes than a Maran rooster? Also would it be any real gain over just straight barred rock? I don't mind doing a pen of each but use wasting a pen if no gain! Maybe the Wyandotte would help put more meat on the front?

Hope more people come into this thread?

Still wondering on color combos as need to know what my Lavendar cuckoos would produce crossed with a darker Orpington!

Crossing Blue with Lavender is not a good idea. Makes figuring out which birds are splash and which are Lavender in future generations difficult. It's also possible for birds to be both Blue/Splash and Lavender at the same time, since the genes are completely unrelated.

So blue with Lavendar cuckoo weather the Roo is blue over Lavendar hens or Lavendar cuckoo Roo over blue hens will result the same in either splash or Lavendar! Or a mixture of both?
Plus the splash will probably lean towards a lighter splash color with very little dark blue feathering in there?
How much cuckoo would come through?

So what if I put a chocolate Roo over the Lavendar cuckoo hens or plain Lavendar hens?

3riverschick said:

Marans are considered a gourmet meat bird in France. How about putting your Marans rooster over the White Wyandottes. that should produce some good meat birds.
 Best,
 Karen

Click to expand...

junebuggena said:

Crossing Blue with Lavender is not a good idea. Makes figuring out which birds are splash and which are Lavender in future generations difficult. It's also possible for birds to be both Blue/Splash and Lavender at the same time, since the genes are completely unrelated.

Click to expand...

moving coops said:

So blue with Lavendar cuckoo weather the Roo is blue over Lavendar hens or Lavendar cuckoo Roo over blue hens will result the same in either splash or Lavendar! Or a mixture of both?
Plus the splash will probably lean towards a lighter splash color with very little dark blue feathering in there?
How much cuckoo would come through?

So what if I put a chocolate Roo over the Lavendar cuckoo hens or plain Lavendar hens?

Click to expand...

No you wont get splash or lavender.

Lavender cuckoo rooster over blue hens will get you cuckoo (black) or blue cuckoo chicks.
Blue rooster over lavender cuckoo bens will get you black or blue pullets and cuckoo (black) or blue cuckoo cockerel chicks.

Chocolate rooster over lavender hens equals chocolate pullets and black cockerels chicks.
Chocolate rooster over lavender cuckoo hens equals chocolate pullets and cuckoo (black) cockerel chicks.

The problems will be with breeding the chicks.
Lavender is recessive so it takes a lavender gene from both parents to get lavender chicks. Any of the chicks that come from one lavender parent will carry one lavender gene. When those chicks are bred to each other then some chicks will be lavender. Some wont but will carry the lavender gene and some wont and wont carry the gene either.
They can keep passing on the lavender gene for generations without you being able to tell who carries it and who doesnt. Most people do not want a blue line that has lavender in it because they will keep popping up with lavender chicks.
With the cuckoos the females can only carry one copy and the males can carry one or two copies. One copy will make the males cuckoo but half their offspring will have one copy and half will have no copy. When breeding cuckoo you have to have a male with two copies to produce all cuckoo offspring. Again most people would rather not use males with one copy over a male with two copies. Kinda defeats the purpose of breeding cuckoos if youre not getting all cuckoo chicks.
Chocolate is the same way sort of. Girls get one copy and they are either cbocolate or they arent. Males can have one copy, two copies or no copies. It takes two copies for a male to be chocolate. You will end up with black males that either carry one copy or none and you cant tell by just looking at them. Or you will end up with chocolate genes hid in your blue lines. Some people cross those to get mauve but others do not want chocolate in their blue lines.
When you start crossing colors you end up with recessive genes hiding and popping up when you least expect it and its almost impossible to get back to pure lines.