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I would think the goal would be a new color pattern. The dark hen, is at least half Orpington (only have Orpington roo's)
I know the roo is pure Orpington and so with the the blue and the at least half Orpington and the two hens from the original breeding a person might have enough to work with to work toward an Black Copper coloration. I don't know enough about genetics to know if this in fact would be possible or how much time and work it would take, or even if anyone would be interested. That is why I am throwing the idea out there. ;o)
I love it when somone takes on this type project. I would like to follow the progress . It is interesting to see if you can get the black maran color to breed true. Im sure it will take a while.They are Beautiful birds. I am no genetic expert for sure but there was a guy in europe who doesnt spend too much time on line, but he was talking on a thread a while ago about how many breeds they lost or near extinction during the WW1 and 2. One was extinct, actually many breeds became extinctor near extinction. Im sorry I cant remember the name of the breed, but he was trying to re-create this lost breed. I got so caught up in his story because it took special breeds to create the breed that he was after, the trials and errors he was making along the way, we were all rooting him on. He would run into wall after wall but was a determined guy.. I kind of lost track of him after our flock was attacked. I did ask his opnion on aussies in america and thier leghorn look, he said its a simple fix, X them back on lighter good quality black orpingtons , you will get exactly what you are after since importation is such a hassle, not illigal, its the foundation bird, and your making an improvement. he was a great help. Like I said, kinda gave up on it all after we lost the good show flock. Good ones are scarce and talk about hitting wall after wall, that is exatly what is happening to us. I just went last week to look at a lorps rooster, nice bird over all but one glaring problem, his wing pointed straight to the ground, thier wing is to be neatly tucked under saddle feathers. I kept moving him around thinking he was just excited that somone was near his hens, but no matter what, that wing just stayed pointed straight at the ground like a sebright bantam. too bad, I took quite a lot of money with me hoping to bring him home with me.
I hope you follow through with this, here is a site for rare birds ofitaly, did you know that over 220 chicken breeds are now extinct? including the beautiful bofa , too bad
Just some interesting reading, a bit off topic but important on how fast a breed can fall out of favor and become extinct even thou they have something neat about them .
http://www.ilpollaiodelre.com/i_polliIt1.htm
Here is one of their now extinct breeds, very interesting bird. This might have been the one he was trying to re-create great reading;
FIDENTINA PERNICIATA
It was a primitive breed with build and size of the Mediterranean type in build and size. The Fidenza Partridge had a single comb, white earlobes, yellowish shanks and obviously partridge-coloured livery. It is mentioned in various texts, all of which stress the breed's peculiar characteristic of laying very heavy eggs (70 g. and more). Original pictures show that the Fidentina does not differ from the Livornese (Leghorn) in any of the morphological aspects (Bonadonna T., 1951; Cornoldi G., 1948). Replaced by the multiple-purpose breeds which were introduced later, the Fidentina became completely extinct.
