How to breed for Calico Chickens

[Dalea]

Does anyone know in "LAYMEN'S" terms what 2 chickens (colors) are needed to start breeding Calico Cochins? I'm new to breeding so I could also use info on help with breeding as far as what to breed to get a certain type of chicken. I have some calicos & black/white right now and want some additional calicos. 1st time posting

PS ALSO what 2 colors make a Lavender...Black & .......

 

[sylviethecochin]

Welcome to BYC!

You need two lavender chickens or two chickens that carry lavender genes to get lavender.

Lavender is a recessive dilution of black. All Lavender chickens are black chickens, but with two genes that dilute black into lavender. You need two diluting genes to get lavender; if you only have one, there are no visible effects.

If you cross a black chicken with a Lavender chicken, what you will get is 100% Lavender splits, which will be black, but carry the recessive Lavender gene. If you breed those splits together, you will get 25% black non-splits, 25% splits, and 25% lavender chickens.

Lavender phenotype: E/E bl+/bl+ lav/lav
Black Phenotype: E/E bl+/bl+ Lav/Lav
Split (appears black): E/E bl+/bl+ Lav/lav

(E is the solid color pattern gene. bl+ is black. lav dilutes black to lavender. Lav does not dilute black to lavender.)

As for Calico, give me half an hour to figure it out.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Apparently, Calico is Millefleur that has been successively bred until there's too much white for it to really look like Millefleur. You can't cross two colors to get Millefleur without a lot of trial and error. I would just buy Millefleurs.

 

[frontyard chickens]

Welcome to BYC!

You need two lavender chickens or two chickens that carry lavender genes to get lavender.

Lavender is a recessive dilution of black. All Lavender chickens are black chickens, but with two genes that dilute black into lavender. You need two diluting genes to get lavender; if you only have one, there are no visible effects.

If you cross a black chicken with a Lavender chicken, what you will get is 100% Lavender splits, which will be black, but carry the recessive Lavender gene. If you breed those splits together, you will get 25% black non-splits, 25% splits, and 25% lavender chickens.

Lavender phenotype: E/E bl+/bl+ lav/lav
Black Phenotype: E/E bl+/bl+ Lav/Lav
Split (appears black): E/E bl+/bl+ Lav/lav

(E is the solid color pattern gene. bl+ is black. lav dilutes black to lavender. Lav does not dilute black to lavender.)

As for Calico, give me half an hour to figure it out.

Whoa cool