lavender orpington

[cptbahama]

I just ordered a lavender orpington cockerel. Very excited to have him. We have a dozen or so really cool breeds this go around and think he will be a neat addition. I'd like to hear from you if you have experience with a lav orp. They came highly recommended for roosters if you have kids, which we do, a 3 and 6 year old. Can I see some pics of your lav orps?
And this might sound like a silly question but when he fertilizes an egg and we hatched them they would be some kind of mutt right? Like a cross btw a lav orp and say a polish tophat.

 

[QueenMisha]

I don't own any Lav Orps but there were a couple at my workplace. Their growth is crazy - they have a fully Mediterranean body type for most of their adolescence, then grow out the fluff later. All the other Orps I've worked with are huge, stocky balls of fluff from the moment of hatch, but not the Lavs. When I first saw them I was convinced they were the poorest quality Orps I'd ever seen - skinnier than a hatchery Buff! But I checked the original breeder's website, and sure enough they had dozens of pictures of these skinny, scrawny birds growing out into 10 pound lumps of fluff. I was shocked, to say the least.

The female I work with has a horrid temperament, extremely flighty. The male was quite a bit more docile, though still not very friendly. I think they would have tamed down nicely with a bit more handling, but they definitely act pretty wild if they aren't worked with at least a few times a week.

Lavender is a recessive gene, so no, unless he's breed with another Lavender Orp he will produce neither purebred Orpington nor Lavender-colored offspring. Though, if you breed any of his female offspring back to him, some of those chicks would likely show some Lavender coloring (depending on exactly what you cross him with, of course).

 

[cptbahama]

stopped reading at
Quote: I don't own any Lav Orps

 

[QueenMisha]

Well in that case I can't help you. I mean, I work with them daily to the point where I have as much experience with them as my own fowl, but no, they are not physically in my flock or on my property. Your loss.

 

[keesmom]

And this might sound like a silly question but when he fertilizes an egg and we hatched them they would be some kind of mutt right? Like a cross btw a lav orp and say a polish tophat.

If you do not have lavender Orpington pullets, but have other breeds instead, then yes you will have mutts. A cross with a Polish should result in a partial crest and V comb.

Orpingtons tend to be docile. Whether or not your cockerel will be so, time will tell. There are bad eggs in every breed.

 

[junebuggena]

Lavender is basically a black bird, with two recessive blue dilute genes. In order to reproduce the Lavender color, you need to breed him with another Lavender or a bird that carries Lavender. Otherwise, he will produce mostly black chicks. They will be mixed breeds.

 

[georgiayankee]

Lavender is basically a black bird, with two recessive blue dilute genes. In order to reproduce the Lavender color, you need to breed him with another Lavender or a bird that carries Lavender. Otherwise, he will produce mostly black chicks. They will be mixed breeds.

so if I hatch some buffs and cross breed to my lavenders they won't produce lavenders, but they would still be purebred orpingtons right.

 

[QueenMisha]

Lavender is basically a black bird, with two recessive blue dilute genes. In order to reproduce the Lavender color, you need to breed him with another Lavender or a bird that carries Lavender. Otherwise, he will produce mostly black chicks. They will be mixed breeds.

This is incorrect. Lavender and Splash are two different genes. The Blue gene in its homozygous form results in Splash, which while sometimes appearing similar to Lavender, is caused by a different gene than Lavender, which is an autosomal recessive. Splash birds will produce Blue or partial Blue offspring in most all crosses, whereas Lavenders will not produce Lavenders unless bred to a Lavender.

 

[junebuggena]

This is incorrect. Lavender and Splash are two different genes. The Blue gene in its homozygous form results in Splash, which while sometimes appearing similar to Lavender, is caused by a different gene than Lavender, which is an autosomal recessive. Splash birds will produce Blue or partial Blue offspring in most all crosses, whereas Lavenders will not produce Lavenders unless bred to a Lavender.

Blue/Black/Splash is a dominant gene. I specifically said that a Lavender bird is recessive blue.

so if I hatch some buffs and cross breed to my lavenders they won't produce lavenders, but they would still be purebred orpingtons right.

They would no longer be 'purebred' because they will no longer breed 'true.' Plus you might end up with a lot of 'leakage' in the roosters. When it comes to chickens, breed is not dependent on pedigree. If you start crossing colors of a certain breed, they no longer meet the breed standard, and therefore, can not be claimed to be purebred.

 

[georgiayankee]

Blue/Black/Splash is a dominant gene. I specifically said that a Lavender bird is recessive blue.
They would no longer be 'purebred' because they will no longer breed 'true.' Plus you might end up with a lot of 'leakage' in the roosters. When it comes to chickens, breed is not dependent on pedigree. If you start crossing colors of a certain breed, they no longer meet the breed standard, and therefore, can not be claimed to be purebred. 

Thank you...I wasn't sure how those genetics worked.