How to create good lavender color in chickens?

[WinterSkyMoonRanch]

I have just purchased some lavender cochin hatching eggs. I want to know how to maintain the best lavender color in the birds...do I cross black with the lavender chicks to create splits and then cross those again to lavender colored hens or roos? How do I create better blues if I have blue and black chickens of this same breed?

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
Lavender is Self Blue so crosses are used for type improvement only, there is no need to cross lavender with another color to maintain blue. Black is the best color to use when making a cross with lavender and often the best color to find good type in regardless of breed. if you make a cross with Black for type you will want to breed the resultig offspring back to each other and selct the lavender colored birds with better type.

 

[WinterSkyMoonRanch]

Thank you for the great response; it was very much appreciated. I still have a question. If I wanted to get more contrast (black) on my blue rooster, not lavender, just dark slate blue roo, would I cross with a black hen, create splits and see what I get in the form of a blue roo? The roo I just lost had some rust colored feathers, especially around his neck. Are the standard blue cochins like the other blue birds in that the black/blue contrast is desirable? Or is the show standard just an even color of blue with a slightly darker blue on the different points?

Also do feather in the hind end of the hen have to be plucked on standard sized cochins in order for them to breed and fertilize eggs? May sound silly, but that is what I heard

 

[Henk69]

That's is the second reason to cross with black: to get more melanizers for an even solid color (no groundcolor leakage).

If you cross for type and the crosslings pick up the good type, you could backcross them to the lavender (parent) to get a bigger percentage of lavenders.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Blues do not create splits, although in a way you could say that blue IS the split. Blue is an incompletely dominant gene. One copy of the gene is a blue bird; two copies is a splash. Zero copies is a black. The standard for blue requires lacing. Yes, contrast is desirable.