You're confusing two genes here. Lavender is the lavender gene and it's different than blue (technically andalusian blue gene). Haven't spent any time studying it other than I know it's recessive and requires two genes to express (many Self Blue [aka Lavender] OEG breeders will split them to black and then breed the offspring back to the Self Blue/Lavender which gives them 50/50, where as blue requires one copy to express. A bird that is homozygous for the blue (andalusian) gene is splash.
We all start somewhere. But basically there are two different blues in the US. Blue (Andalusian blue) is a laced pattern, where every feather is blue laced around the edge with a darker blue. When breeding this type of blue, which is a dilute of black, one copy of the gene makes blue, and two copies make splash which (usually) looks like a light blue with splotches of dark. When you breed blue to blue you end up with (in theory) 50% blue, 25% splash and 25% black. Which is also why novices and beginners improperly use the acronym BBS for black, blue and splash. Self Blue is the lavender gene. As mentioned above it only expresses visually when two copies are present. It is an even light shade of lavender blue. I think it is also a different form of dilute but not experienced with this one. Often people will use black bred to lavender to improve feather quality as something about the lavender gene causes narrow poor feather quality, someone else might be able to tell you why. That breeding is a two generation process. When you go black to lavender all the offspring are split try carry one copy of each black and lav, you can either breed those chicks back to the lavender parent and get 50% black (carrying lav) and 50% lavender, or you can breed brother to sister of the first generation together and get 25% pure black, 50% black carrying lav and 25% lavender. Edit: hopefully clears up confusion on the two types of "blue" Edit 2: there are blue Langshans as pictured in thread. Nobody has made a lavender yet to the best of my knowledge although I admit it'd be pretty. Would probably track down a lavender maran to start the project...shoot now I'm thinking...[COLOR=696969]And now I am just confused!! lol They are pretty!I am new to chickens, and have not looked into genetics of the colors/breeds, although it seems the deeper I get with chickens the more I need to read. I am by no means looking to breed, just an egg connoisseur! But it is all very interesting and when I speak to people about chickens they are amazed at how much there is to know about them!! [/COLOR]
Blue it is then!
I will figure all this chicken stuff out!!! None the less I am tickled with how my 2 babies turned out and can't wait to see how they continue to develop!
