color genetics- lavender X bbs?

[Megs]

Hi all, so i hatched out some lavender orpingtons, and also some blue orptingtons. I was hoping for blacks from the BBS eggs, and got one, hoping for a rooster! (if not i have more eggs coming and hope for more black chicks) if i bred the lavenders to the black, blues and splashes, the calculator tells me i will get...

lav X splash = blue
lav X blue = black or blue
lav X black = black
black X splash = blue

i will set them up in 2 breeding pens and not keep any blues or else i wont know which offspring are split lavenders. I plan to keep pens with..

1) black rooster over lavender and splash hens, resulting black chicks will be split for lav and kept for next years breeding, blue offspring will be sold.
2) lav rooster over black and splash hens, resulting black chicks will be split for lav and kept for next years breeding, blue offspring will be sold.

i then plan to breed black split lavs from pens 1 & 2 together, they will be cousins i beleave (as all lavs are siblings and all BBS are siblings, likely 1/2 siblines sharing a father), better than sibling or back to parent!

sound like a plan? anything i missed? im planning ahead, they are to young yet to even tell what sex they are, im hoping i get a few pullets so i can have 2 pens!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I highly recommend against breeding a lavender to a blue or splash.

 

[Megs]

for what reason sonoran silkies? It appears any resulting offspring will just be blue, so easily distinguished from the lavender chicks?

i do not plan on breeding any blues, since they can have black offspring i wouldnt know which were split lav and which were split blue

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

It is difficult to tell if a splash or blue is also lav/lav; much better to keep the colours separate.

 

[Megs]

ETA: i mis-typed in my previous reply, as there wont be any lav color chicks from these breedings.

do you mean its hard to tell a pure lavender chick from a blue or splash?

i will not be breeding any lav to lav from these (as my lavenders are closely related siblings, im trying to prevent such close" line/in" breeding) so i will not be getting anything other than black and blue offspring, should they not be easy to tell apart? and then im only keeping blacks who will all be split for lavender.

I was planning on only breeding lav and black origionally, but this seems a viable option and then i can keep the splashes.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

It is difficult to tell a bird who is Bl/Bl lav/lav from one who is Bl/Bl Lav+/? Ditto with Bl/bl+

 

[Backyard Farm]

You only want to bred lav to black. lav to blue may look lav but the genetic will not be what you are looking for.

You might want to consider getting more blacks, different breeder if worried about inbreeding.

lav x lav = 100% lav
lav x black= 100% 50/50 (look black but carrying recessive lav gene
black x black = 100%
black x blue= 50% blue, 50% black
blackx splash = 100% blue (these are not lavs... even if they look similar)
blue x splash= 50% blue (not lav), 50% splash
blue x blue = 25%black, 50%blue, 25% splash
blue x lav = genetic mess no matter what they look like
splash x lav = genetic mess no matter what they look like

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I will disagree that a bird who is lavender and blue or splash is a genetic mess. Both genes breed predictably. My concerns come from the difficulty of distinguishing birds who ARE lavender from those who are not (either split or hom. for not-lavender). From the standpoint of getting the lavender phenotype, you have added a gene that will have to be bred out; from the standpoint of the blue or splash genotype, lavender doesn't add anything to the phenotype.

 

[Megs]

"You might want to consider getting more blacks, different breeder if worried about inbreeding."

i would LOVE more blacks but there is only one breeder i have found in canada with lav and blue, no one has black. i bought 6 blue eggs (as many as she could send at one time) and had 1 black hatch (and 1 blue, 2 splash, 1 dud). i have 6 more on order for early july and hope to get some black chicks from them.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If you raise blues together, you will have some percentage of blacks.