- Thread starter
- #21
Isabel x Isabel = Isabel. Done! Isabel is just the base color with the lavender gene added. Black birds with the lavender gene become lavenders while brown birds with the lavender gene become isabels.
I breed my isabels back to browns to continue to improve both type and color. Isabel x brown = all browns split to isabel. These look like brown but carry one copy of the lavender gene. A bird needs two copies of the lavender gene to express the lavender color.
Crossing spit x split will yield 25% Isabel, 50% split, and 25% brown (not split). You can't tell by looking which of the browns are split and which do not carry the lavender gene.
Crossing split x Isabel will yield 50% Isabel, 50% split. All the brown chicks from this cross still carry one copy of the lavender gene. This is how my breeding pens are currently set up.
This fall I will take the Isabel chicks I'm hatching now back to new unrelated brown leghorns, thereby creating the next generation of splits. Next spring those splits will be crossed back to isabels yet again.
I breed my isabels back to browns to continue to improve both type and color. Isabel x brown = all browns split to isabel. These look like brown but carry one copy of the lavender gene. A bird needs two copies of the lavender gene to express the lavender color.
Crossing spit x split will yield 25% Isabel, 50% split, and 25% brown (not split). You can't tell by looking which of the browns are split and which do not carry the lavender gene.
Crossing split x Isabel will yield 50% Isabel, 50% split. All the brown chicks from this cross still carry one copy of the lavender gene. This is how my breeding pens are currently set up.
This fall I will take the Isabel chicks I'm hatching now back to new unrelated brown leghorns, thereby creating the next generation of splits. Next spring those splits will be crossed back to isabels yet again.
