Lavender Orpingtons x Black = ?

[Rhonda0115]

I have some gorgeous Lavender Orp girls and a great LO Roo. I've heard I should cross him with black 'chickens'. Like...?? Australorps or Black-Sex Linked. Which would be best to cross him with? What would this produce? Has anyone done this and what were your results?

 

[featherhead007]

This rooster will mate with just about any hen. I'm very careful as to which eggs I allow to hatch! "Little monsters"

 

[junebuggena]

Black Orpingtons of course, if you want to maintain the body shape. The reason for breeding Lavenders with Blacks is because Lavenders tend to have brittle feathers. It's a side effect of the dilute gene. Crossing back to black after a few generations helps improve the feather strength.
Lavender Orpingtons are still a major work in progress. Most don't come close to right build for the Orpington breed. Crossing to a good recessive white line or black line can really help a Lavender project.

 

[chickendreams24]

Okay lavender or self blue breeds true. It is a diluted form of black but requires two of the lavender gene to show. If you breed your rooster to black hens(I would suggest all black hens for the easiest way to tell what you will get) you will get black birds that carry one copy of the lavender gene(aka black split to lavender).

Its a simple punnett square.

Lavender x lavender =lavender
Lavender x black= black lavender splits
Lavender x black/lav split = 50% black/lav splits and 50% lavenders
Black/lav splits can also be bred together which will give you approximately 25% lavender, 25% black/no split, 50% black/lavender splits.

Now the reason people told you to breed your lavender with blacks is because while lavender is a stunning color bred for generations the gene that causes the lavender color weakens and ruins feather quality. Periodically breeding back to blacks or keeping some blacks in your breeding pool helps keep feather quality.

If you want to to continue getting pure Orpingtons I would suggest finding some pure black Orpingtons and breeding them to your roo.

If that's impossible I would suggest the black Australorp.

 

[Rhonda0115]

Thank you to everyone for your explanations and advice. I truly appreciate it. I believe I have some hens that might just move into the 'love shack' this weekend. LOL

 

[featherhead007]

Okay lavender or self blue breeds true. It is a diluted form of black but requires two of the lavender gene to show. If you breed your rooster to black hens(I would suggest all black hens for the easiest way to tell what you will get) you will get black birds that carry one copy of the lavender gene(aka black split to lavender).

Its a simple punnett square.

Lavender x lavender =lavender
Lavender x black= black lavender splits
Lavender x black/lav split = 50% black/lav splits and 50% lavenders
Black/lav splits can also be bred together which will give you approximately 25% lavender, 25% black/no split, 50% black/lavender splits.

Now the reason people told you to breed your lavender with blacks is because while lavender is a stunning color bred for generations the gene that causes the lavender color weakens and ruins feather quality. Periodically breeding back to blacks or keeping some blacks in your breeding pool helps keep feather quality.

If you want to to continue getting pure Orpingtons I would suggest finding some pure black Orpingtons and breeding them to your roo.

If that's impossible I would suggest the black Australorp.

Hey, I would suggest ME for a rooster, I'm stunningly handsom I'm a good watch dog, and I will work for chicken feed!

 

[Connoisseurchick]

I have a question that I'm not quite sure.I'm understanding after reading this thread
I have a gorgeous lavender rooster with leakage , Is blondish color saddle feathers
Is there hope for him if I breed to a black orpington Or should I get rid of him
I have a Isabella lavender hen.But I wondered if I should breed to black worping ten because of the leakedge
I know some are adamant about culling someone like him but I didn't know at the time when I bought him

 

[BGMatt]

I have a question that I'm not quite sure.I'm understanding after reading this thread
I have a gorgeous lavender rooster with leakage , Is blondish color saddle feathers
Is there hope for him if I breed to a black orpington Or should I get rid of him
I have a Isabella lavender hen.But I wondered if I should breed to black worping ten because of the leakedge
I know some are adamant about culling someone like him but I didn't know at the time when I bought him

There’s an old adage “start where you are with what you’ve got” so if you have a male with leakage and for whatever reason don’t want to cull him or find another one, the best course to correct it in your line would be to breed to black or even lavender without any leakage. Then cull heavy from there for leakage going forward.

 

[carrollj]

This is probably a dumb question but since it takes a year or longer to see the result, I figured I would ask some experts.
Can you get the same result by using a Black Roo with Lavender hens?
I Have what I thought and purchased was a Black Split to lavender Rooster and I have him with my lavender hens, the resulting offspring have all been Black (which I am now assuming) are truly black split babies and I originally had a pure black roo.

 

[BGMatt]

This is probably a dumb question but since it takes a year or longer to see the result, I figured I would ask some experts.
Can you get the same result by using a Black Roo with Lavender hens?
I Have what I thought and purchased was a Black Split to lavender Rooster and I have him with my lavender hens, the resulting offspring have all been Black (which I am now assuming) are truly black split babies and I originally had a pure black roo.

Yes it does not matter if the lavender is the cock/cockerel or the hen/pullet. Both can have zero, one, or two copies of lav since it is not sexlinked like barring or gold/silver