Mixed Orpington Pen

[Beachin]

Hi, I have a broody hen in a mixed orpington pen and curiosity.
This is the first year we have had any roosters, so this is the first time they could hatch chicks! The babies will either be used for meat or kept for eggs - so the coloring is not especially important to us. We are very excited to see what comes out and I am hoping to use this to supplement last year's lesson on genetics. If you feel up to sharing your knowledge, thank you, and here is what we have:
Roosters
1. black (split lavender) orpington
2. white leghorn (was mounting hens but culled last week)

Hens (all orpingtons except last one)
a. black (split lav) (2)
b. buff (2)
c. lav
d. chocolate
e. splash
f. choc cuckoo
g. black star

I did the number/letter to make it easier. 1a. 1b. 1c., etc.

We also have (5) white leghorn hens who are not laying yet, but some info on what to expect if they ever hatch out would be cool, too.
Thank you in advance! Looking forward to seeing answers because google has my brain about to explode!!
Photo of our handsome guy who has no name.

https://imgur.com/a/igGb2az

 

[NatJ]

Roosters
1. black (split lavender) orpington
2. white leghorn (was mounting hens but culled last week)

With the White Leghorn rooster: expect white chicks, with some flecks of black or maybe flecks of blue, from any hen.

We also have (5) white leghorn hens who are not laying yet, but some info on what to expect if they ever hatch out would be cool, too.

With the White Leghorn hens, I would also expect white chicks, with some flecks of black, from your Orpington rooster. If they mated with the White Leghorn rooster, then of course they would produce pure White Leghorn chicks. Pure Leghorns should have yellow legs & feet, Leghorn x Orpington should have white legs & feet.

Hens (all orpingtons except last one)
a. black (split lav) (2)
b. buff (2)
c. lav
d. chocolate
e. splash
f. choc cuckoo
g. black star

With the Orpington rooster (black split to lavender), and those hens, I would expect:

a. black split lav hens, 75% of chicks black, 25% of chicks lavender
b. buff hens, all chicks black with large amounts of gold or silver leakage
c. lav hens, 50% of chicks black, 50% of chicks lavender
d. chocolate hens, all chicks black
e. splash hens, all chicks blue
f. chocolate cuckoo hens, all daughters black, all sons black with white barring (sexlinks)
g. black star, all chicks black, some probably with red or silver leakage

Most non-lavender chicks have a 50% chance of carrying lavender.
From the lavender hen, all non-lavender chicks will carry lavender.
From the black split lav hens, about 2/3 of the non-lavender chicks will carry lavender.

From the chocolate hen and the chocolate cuckoo hen, all sons will carry the chocolate gene but the daughters will not.

 

[SourRoses]

I notice your Orpington roo has dark legs? Orps are supposed to have white legs. It's no big deal since you're mixing anyway, but I wonder where he got them from?
If you can, waiting a few weeks would clear the leghorn roo from potential fatherhood.

I'm on the second generation of English Orp x Leghorn cross. This gen has some cute colors. The first gen was kinda boring, they were supposed to be paint but had so few spots they just looked white. Many of the second gen are barred, which is apparently in the background of white leghorns. We're keeping the chocolates and mottled chicks, colors they got from their grandfather the orp, and breeding the girls back to him. The goal was producing larger eggs with some of the pretty traits from orps.

 

[Beachin]

With the White Leghorn rooster: expect white chicks, with some flecks of black or maybe flecks of blue, from any hen.



With the White Leghorn hens, I would also expect white chicks, with some flecks of black, from your Orpington rooster. If they mated with the White Leghorn rooster, then of course they would produce pure White Leghorn chicks. Pure Leghorns should have yellow legs & feet, Leghorn x Orpington should have white legs & feet.


With the Orpington rooster (black split to lavender), and those hens, I would expect:

a. black split lav hens, 75% of chicks black, 25% of chicks lavender
b. buff hens, all chicks black with large amounts of gold or silver leakage
c. lav hens, 50% of chicks black, 50% of chicks lavender
d. chocolate hens, all chicks black
e. splash hens, all chicks blue
f. chocolate cuckoo hens, all daughters black, all sons black with white barring (sexlinks)
g. black star, all chicks black, some probably with red or silver leakage

Most non-lavender chicks have a 50% chance of carrying lavender.
From the lavender hen, all non-lavender chicks will carry lavender.
From the black split lav hens, about 2/3 of the non-lavender chicks will carry lavender.

From the chocolate hen and the chocolate cuckoo hen, all sons will carry the chocolate gene but the daughters will not.

Wow! thank you so much. This is perfect.

 

[Beachin]

I notice your Orpington roo has dark legs? Orps are supposed to have white legs.

Black, blue, and lav have darker legs.

I would love to see pictures!! When you say second gen, does that mean you're breeding the first gen babies. If so, who are they breeding with and what color are their eggs?

 

[SourRoses]

Black, blue, and lav have darker legs.

I would love to see pictures!! When you say second gen, does that mean you're breeding the first gen babies. If so, who are they breeding with and what color are their eggs?

My Black mottled Orp has mottled legs, but the first gen cross (I named them LegOs, LOL) have white legs. Some of the second gen seem to have yellow.

Yes, I bred the F1 hens with a roo from the same cross. To double up on certain genes before breeding back to their Orp grandfather. The F1's lay a cream colored egg. Not quite tan, but often beige. It depends on the hen and how large the egg is, the bigger ones are lighter colored. I'm hoping the F2 eggs are more white.
After only 2 months of laying, the biggest gal (Big Bertha) went broody. I relented and gave her some of another pens eggs, but they failed in the awful heat we've had (95f +). I suspect first time broodies don't know to cool the eggs off. They were all developing more than a week when they quit.
Now that she's back to laying, Berthas eggs are XL size. I hope they (or the next gens eggs when they're old enough) make it to jumbo size.
According to my research, Leghorns have thin bones that make for a wider pelvic opening (seen in their thin legs), which is how they lay such large eggs for their smaller body size. My theory was that mixing in an extra-large breed would yield some hens which are both large and thin boned. By selecting for both the eggs should get bigger.

I don't have pictures of the F2's yet, but here's Bertha.

 

[Beachin]

Hey y'all! I wound up with one chicken from this batch of eggs, which is a buff/black. Pic attached. Feet look weird because this was pulled out of a group photo.

 

[NatJ]

Hey y'all! I wound up with one chicken from this batch of eggs, which is a buff/black. Pic attached. Feet look weird because this was pulled out of a group photo. View attachment 3729470

Interesting bird!

Do you remember what color it was when it hatched?

I'm guessing it came from the black-split-to-Lavender father, and a Buff mother. I see that predicted "black with large amounts of gold or silver leakage" from that cross, but I certainly was not expecting THAT much gold/buff color to show!

Either it is "black" with enormous leakage, or one of the roosters was carrying a different gene than I expected.

 

[Beachin]

Here are some baby pics. Wound up hatching her myself bc mama was not a good mama - she ate a couple other chicks.

 

[NatJ]

Here are some baby pics. Wound up hatching her myself bc mama was not a good mama - she ate a couple other chicks.


View attachment 3731846View attachment 3731847View attachment 3731848View attachment 3731849

That looks quite a bit like some of the chicks in this thread, that are a cross of Buff Orpington and Barred Rock:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/buff-orpington-plymouth-rock-cross.319500/

Barred Rocks are genetically "black" chickens, just like your rooster, so crossing with a Buff Orpington gives some chicks that look the same (in that thread, daughters of a Buff Orpington rooster and a Barred Rock hen) and some that are different (ones that show the white barring are obviously very different-looking than yours!)

Thank you very much for sharing photos-- it is nice to see the results of the crosses