Lavender Genetics???

[GracefulBantams]

I finally got a pair of gorgeous Splash Silkies, and the hen is split Lav. Now that I have these great birds... how do I utilize the Lavender gene? What should I breed her with?

 

[Krys109uk]

If only one of your birds is split for lavender you are going to have a bit of a job getting it back out. In the region of half of her offspring will inherit the gene but you won't be able to tell which half.

If you could obtain a lavender or split male it would be a lot easier.
Otherwise you'll need to individualy breed her male offspring back to her, starting with the nicest bird & so on, until you get to a male which give some lavender offspring.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Best bet is to get a lavender or porcelain cock or a black cock split for lav. Try to not use blue and especially not splash. If you use a lavender or porcelain, half the chicks should visibly be lavender-blue or porcelain. If split, a quarter should be lavender.

 

[hinkjc]

I would think even breeding a lavender to her would create some challenges. The offspring would be blue and lavender? It the case of very light blues, it may be difficult to tell which is which. Plus the blues would carry the lavender gene. Next generation will be blue, lavender and splash (some with and without the lav gene depending on what you cross). It seems like it would be tough figuring out who is actually lavender. Why would someone add lavender to a splash program? Is there a benefit to that?

 

[Krys109uk]

Why would someone add lavender to a splash program? Is there a benefit to that?

IMO splash & lavender look nasty in the same bird. How does OP know the splash bird is split for lavender? In order to get splash split for lavender one of the parent would need to have been both lavender & one of blue or splash.​

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Lavender is in a lot of blue & splash silkies. Yes, it should probably be bred out, and you will do that by breeding to lavender or black split for lav, and selecting. The splash are pretty easy to identify as splashing is apparent; blues are harder, but darker hackles & saddles help with ID.

 

[GracefulBantams]

Thanks for all the replies! There must be more to this gene than I realized

I know that she is split Lav because I talked to her original breeder/owner about it.