genetics behind Lemon Blue Cochin

Hi all, I have a question about the Lemon Blue bantam Cochins. I think they are a beutiful color and I would like to possibly experiment with that color. Most of what I am seeing on here that is called a "Lemon Blue" looks like a buff/blue cross (which is very pretty, but not what I am looking for.) I'm looking for a lemon blue coloring that is similar to the red brown cochin -- with the black replaced by the blue.
I would like to know if there are any breeders on here that are working with this type of Lemon Blue. I have a 3 year old Lemon Blue rooster that I bought a few weeks ago. I have a splash hen who is of laying age and I have a couple of blue and black/blues that are too young to tell sex yet.
Is there an opinion on which hen would be best choice. Would any or all of these hens loose the lemon/red aspect of the chicks? or would it be better to try adn find a true lemon blue hen? and if so are there suggestion on who has them to offer?
Thanks,
Robert

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I agree that your roo is the closest cochin I have seen yet to the true Lemon Blue color, like you said, most look like Buff X Blue crosses when they should be Blue diluted Brown Reds. Aside from finding other true Lemon Blue and/or Brown Red hens to breed him with, the next best thing would be Birchin hens, that would give you Lemon Blue and Brown red pullets that you can breed back to your roo and make more, or use the Split offspring roos to breed to the pullets and a percentage of those would be pure colored Lemon Blues.

I don't know- he is very pretty- but he looks like splash with gold leakage to me

Rare Feathers Farm (equibling) was working on LF lemon blues I while back- not sure if the project is still ongoing. Some of the results were stunning.

Clint,
I used to live in Waycross, GA and I would drive through Alapaha a good bit -- always thought that was a fun name to say! My Dad has a birchen hen that he had offered to give me at one time. It is black with a gray head. You think that cross would work toward developing the Lemon Blue? I might see if Dad is still willing to part (at least for a while) and give that a try. Unfortunatley, my parents live over 4 hours away and I'm not sure when I will be going back home.
My roo is darker than he looks in the picture. I have several regular splash cochins and they are very light, almost white with a few darker feathers. But I'm knew to this and could be wrong about what is qualified as blue -- it seems to be a wide variance in the color blue.
Rare feather farm has some beautiful pictures -- particularly his Lemon Boy roo, but they are the buff/blue cross lemon blues which are a completley different genetics from the type I'm looking for.
Does anyone have an idea what I might get by crossing this roo with the splash hen? I know that a blue and splash cross should produce 50/50 blue and splash, but I have no idea waht would happen to the red. I wish my roo had better red color and I would hate to wash out the color even more.

Use the birchen, if you can get her. http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html shows all BBS with lemon blue x blue. There's several different genotypes in the offspring that may give you what you want down the line, but you will have no way of knowing which they are. Just as blue doesn't breed true, lemon blue won't either, but you should come up with colors that are recognizable and marketable. Good luck!

If it was me, I would try to find a Brown Red.. (Only because Lemon Blues should be a out of a Brown Red to start with)

It looks like you have a "Splash" out of a Lemon Blue breeding and if you breed to a Brown Red you will get all Lemon Blue offspring.

Lemon Blue X Lemon Blue = Lemon Blue, Brown Red, Splash
Lemon Blue X Splash = Lemon Blue, Splash
Lemon Blue X Brown Red = Lemon Blue, Brown Red
Splash X Brown Red = Lemon Blue
Brown Red X Brown Red = Brown Red
Splash X Splash = Splash

NOTE - Some Brown Reds from the above crosses can be light in Hackle, Wing Bow, and Saddle color and could/ would be a "Lemon Black"..

Chris

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Haha Yes, it is fun to hear people who arent from around here try to pronoun Alapaha. We hear everything from saying it like Alfalfa to Ala-pa-ha, but around here we say it like A-lapa-hall. lol

But anyway, Some are saying he is a splash and with the red in the hackels, I really cant tell if he is splash or light blue, but splash would be good since you are trying to make more. And yes, the Birchin would work, Birchin is the silver counter part of Brown Red ( Same pattern just one is gold gened and the other is silver gened.) So if your roo is Lemon Splash then breeding him to the Birchin hen would give all pure gold gened, Lemon Blue hens and the males would look more like Birchins but would be split for silver and gold genes( The offspring would technically be Sexlinks) You could breed those pullets back to your roo and get all Lemon Blues and Splashes, or breed to their brothers and get all Lemon BBS and half Lemon BBS males and have split Lemon BBS males. Breeding to Silvers ( Birchins) wont dilute the red, but like you said, your roos red is pretty light too, so if you could find some brown Red, or even Buff Columbian hens to breed to, that would help you darken up that gold color.

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Wait- it's that simple? Will they breed true, or will you get a mix in subsequent generations? Would a partridge roo work as a brown red? Why hasn't anyone done this in Ameraucanas????

Finding a red brown seems jsut as difficult as finding a lemon blue. I will see if I can give the birchen a try. Thanks for the advice.

Beware of Hogzilla over in Alapaha.