has anyone ever tried to breed a PURPLE chicken

[Guitartists]

It sounds like it varies colorwise based on the thickness of the film that overlaps the color, if indeed bird feathers DO have a film, I still can;t get a straight answer on that one.

So possibly certain colors are linked to different thicknesses of film?

 

[Guitartists]

http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/15C.html

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I guess it depends upon whether all of the body feathers would take on the iridescence trait or if it is isolated to tails, heads, and wing feathers for the most part . . . are there chickens with iridescence all over?

 

[mikarod]

Not that this will help you at all...but...

If you use too much Bluing solution on a white bird...they come out an AWESOME shade of purple!

 

[Guitartists]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=100213

This one has some info on sheen

http://www.pekinbantams.com/black_pekins.asp

and this also....

http://books.google.com/books?id=OA...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Ummm... I haven't read this whole thread because I'm not up on chicken genetics, but I believe that one of the BYC members had parents who bred a purple chicken. I believe the BYC member's name IS PURPLE CHICKEN. The one and only!

 

[Guitartists]

It appears that it is a genetic trait, and that by finding the purplest of birds and breeding the together, something that has been avoided like the plague in black varieties... one might secure a purple/black bird

Katy apparently has a purple orp... lol Maybe we could start there

Also, it appears that one would use a black bird with a little red in it to bring back a green sheen to a line. That would explain why the black on my red birds is GREEN and not purple.


So, maybe we need to cross a nice purple sheened black with a buff and then breed back to get blacks with a nice gold base???

 

[Blisschick]

I had an EE once that had more purple than green sheen in his black feathers, so I called "Aubergine" (eggplant in French). I would have kept him just to see if I could have bred more EE's with the purple, but he was mean as sin and ended up on the BBQ pit.

I have one little mutt bantam right now that is gold laced and has a lot of purple sheen on him. I wasn't planning on using him for anything since he's actually a cull from a side project I'm doing, but I guess I could start something with him to see if I can't end up with a purple chicken.

FWIW...there are peafowl that are bred to have a purple sheen instead of blue and blue-green.

Purple Peafowl http://www.clnjr.com/Purple%20Peafowl%20Booklet.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/westsideaviary/

 

[BeardedChick]

Interesting question. I thought it would be cool to work on emerald green chickens. But green and purple - oh that would be nice, too!

 

[fiftyfifty]

I have 2 black ameraucana 9-week-old chicks from a breeder. I also happened to hatch out some chicks from my Prissybator at the same time. One of the hatched chicks looks exactly like the ameraucanas but with a beautiful purple sheen instead of the green. He is the most handsome bird of the bunch! Everyone who sees my birds notices him right away and comments. He is friendly, curious, calm and much bigger than any of the other chicks.

I have no idea what breeds his parents were, because they were just random eggs that I got from someone selling them on Craigslist as eating eggs. He came from a light brown egg so I know his mother wasn't an ameraucana. But with his pea comb and puffy cheeks he probably has some ameraucana or EE in him somewhere--maybe the rooster.

We sure wish we could keep him, but our town doesn't allow roosters. So I guess in a few weeks I'll be able to report to you all how a purple chicken tastes!