How to breed colors and patterns in Chickens - Orpingtons Specifically

[pricechris]

I have 2 lavender roo's (one looks more like a lemon blue), 3 buff hens, one Uk blue hen (My daughter got her for a dollar!) and 2 buff roos. How bad would it be crossing some of these? Would I do more damage and create a messy colored chick or could I use buff hens to breed lavender chicks. I know some are not big fans of the British Orps but that is all we have and not the money to track done more. I would love to have more Blues and more Lavenders. But is it good to mix? Or am I asking for more problems?

Also, how do you go about breeding things like cukoo's. I would guess bring in a different breed but how many times do you have to breed back to the point it is called an orpington again.I saw a guy in tx on Craig's List that advertised Rhode Island blues, but they were just a cross and not a true breeding chicken. He crossed a Blue Splash Hamburg hen with a RIRed rooster and the off spring he said was a RIBlue. This woud not be a true breed as a Rhode Island would it?

Give a novice and his 12 yr old daughter some help. We have only been chicken crazy about 3 months.

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
You wil be better off keeping Buff to Buff, that is a very complex color with many other colors embedded, hidden, and diluted and enhanced.

As for the Lav. you can use them with the blue but a person is often better off using them black as it is much easier to know what you hatch when the next generation comes about as to whether you have a Lavendar (self Blue), Blue, Black. You see the Blue not lavenedar is a combination of a dilute gene that dilutes black to blue. One No copy and you get black, one copy and you get blue and two copies you get splash. So when you mate to them again or run a F1xF1 you will get some Lavendar and some Blue, as well the potential for black and splash.

 

[TNBarnQueen]

I have F6 Lavender Orps. I agree crossing with buff is not going to give you a good result. If you cross your lavender to black....of the chicks half will be lav. and half split black meaning they have the lavender gene. If you use your blue....cross with the split black then cross back with Lavender. It can be tricky and of course there are always surprises! Hope this helps.
It was suggested to me by a reputable breeder of Lavenders to add some of the English Orp blood in for better confirmation.
Good luck!

 

[TNBarnQueen]

I have F6 Lavender Orps. I agree crossing with buff is not going to give you a good result. If you cross your lavender to black....of the chicks half will be lav. and half split black meaning they have the lavender gene. If you use your blue....cross with the split black then cross back with Lavender. It can be tricky and of course there are always surprises! Hope this helps.
It was suggested to me by a reputable breeder of Lavenders to add some of the English Orp blood in for better confirmation.
Good luck!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I would never started a breeding of different colors your just going to have a big mess with no specific pattern . I have 6th generation Lavenders and raise blacks, blues, splash and buffs. Would never cross anything as it means a barnyard mess. Good black type orpingtons in american standard or english will improve your lavender type as it is still a project bird.

 

[pricechris]

thanks everyone. Sad thing is I was told when I bought my lavender rooster that if i breed him to buffs I would get Lav's. Oh well. I guess live and learn expensively. Lots to learn and not like rabbits. We started those last year.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
Nope, breeding pure lavender rooster to BLACK orps hens will give you a % of pure lavender color, black chicks and split black lavs that carry the lavender gene. Can't say enough about studying up on the project for lavender color in Orpingtons. It's a project and people are calling them pure orps when they are not as yet. Some are being taken down the road thinking they have a standard and it's not.

 

[K8Aspen]

I have a lavendar mottled roo and a black mottled hen. My hen was the product of a B/B/S pen so I assume she may carry blue back there. If I breed her to him, I should get 50/50 black/lavendar, correct? What are my odds of getting Mottled vs. Solid?

 

[keesmom]

I have a lavendar mottled roo and a black mottled hen. My hen was the product of a B/B/S pen so I assume she may carry blue back there. If I breed her to him, I should get 50/50 black/lavendar, correct? What are my odds of getting Mottled vs. Solid?

If your hen is black, then she does not carry blue. Blue is an incomplete dominant gene and will show with one copy of the gene.

Breeding her to a lavender will result in all black offspring split for lavender (carrying one copy of the lavender gene). If you breed those pullets back to their lavender father then half will be lavender and the other half black splits. I am less familiar with the mottling gene, so I am less sure on those genetics.