So I have a lavender Orpington roo with only 3 lavender girls. He needs more girls so I'm thinking of a what a good breed would be to mate with him. From what I read partridge orpingtons with lavenders will make Isabel, is that correct? I have some SL Wyandottes his size/age I could put in there, could I get lavender wyandottes by doing that? Open to any suggestions and feedback.
You can eventually create Isabel (or Isabella) with lavender X partridge, but the first generation will be all black. Raise those and cross them (brother to sister) to get your F2's, which will segregate into many variations of black, lavender, partridge and isabel. Statistically, you will get about 1/16 Isabel, so expect to have to hatch at least 50 to get a pair of Isabels, you could easily need to hatch 100 chicks to get 6 Isabels, the number you need to make if very likely of having a pair. What are you going to do with all the extra chicks? There are ways to do this more efficiently (in terms of the number of chicks you need to hatch) by carrying some into a 3rd generation, but now it should be clearer why the breeders creating these new colors want such high prices for their stock.
So that first cross gives a black orpington? Neat! After that I get four different colors of orpingtons by mating the blacks? I like that, I already have a waiting list for Lav Orpington chicks so I would be able to sell my extra chicks as well as keep some Lavs & Partridge to improve my stock. I have lots of room but not many birds I'm just getting my breeding stock up and going. Thanks for the reply!
Its not going to be quite as black and white as youre thinking. Though the F1s will appear as blacks they will all be carriers of other genes that you wont want in a black line and those genes will keep popping up so they wony breed true black. The F2s will be even worse with hidden genes so they will have hidden genes you wouldnt want to bring into your lavender and partridge lines. All your F1 blacks will have extended black and partridge. The exended black will hide the partridge and some birds will carry it sight unseen for generations. Lavender is recessive so same thing will happen there. You try to make a black line youll have things popping up forever. Same with your F2s. Some of your lavenders will carry the partridge gene. And some of your blacks will too. Some partridge and blacks will also carry lavender unseen. If youre going to be selling the chicks make sure to let the buyers know they are not from color pure lines. Alot of breeders wouldnt touch a mixed color bred bird for their breeding program. If im breeding blacks and I purchase some of your blacks unknowing they could be carriers of partridge and lavender and I breed them into my pure black lines now all of a sudden my line is throwing odd ball colors then ive just ruined my line. Your chicks will be fine to sell just give a heads up so no one get suprised later.
