Australop over?

[Chicken nuggie]

What would be the best breed to cross my Australop rooster with as far a color what would look good?

 

[NatJ]

What would be the best breed to cross my Australop rooster with as far a color what would look good?

What color Australorp?

If he is black:
--most hens will produce black chicks

--hens with the blue gene will produce some blue chicks and some black chicks (this includes hens that are blue all over, like Andalusians, but also hens with blue and a pattern like Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. The chicks will be solid blue in each case.)

--hens with splash (2 blue genes) will produce just blue chicks

--hens with Dominant White will produce white chicks, likely with some black dots ("paint"). Hens that have Dominant White would include White Leghorns, and White Laced Buff (Polish and other breeds), and the common Red Sexlinks that have white tails (half of their chicks will be white, the other half will be black).

--hens with white barring will produce sons with white barring and daughters with no barring. The base color will be black, blue, or white, according to the other colors the hen has.

For all of those, the chicks may have some leakage as they grow up. Leakage could be red/gold or silver/white, although I think white is more likely because of how many black chickens have the Silver gene. Crossing him to a Buff Orpington is likely to produce chicks with so much leakage they look about half black and half silver or gold (buffs carry a lot of genes that suppress black, so the chicks get large amounts of leakage.)

What will actually look good is going to depend on what you like. If you want a variety of appearances I might try a White Leghorn, a solid Blue hen of any breed, and a Buff Orpington. That will give white chicks (Leghorn), black and blue chicks with very little leakage (solid Blue mother), and black chicks with large amounts of leakage (Buff Orpington.)