New Member - Lavender Olive Egger Question

[amontano916]

Hi, I'm new to raising chickens. I've got a mini mixed flock of heritage pullets from a quality breeder, all are right about 6 months old. One of which is a beautiful lavender ameraucana. In the Spring, i'm purchasing a few other breeds, and am hoping to land a lavender maran cockerel.

The lav maran eggs are not as chocolate as the FBCM, but is it possible to get a lavender OE with this combo? How does the lavender recessive genes work? I'm excited for the new additions, and considering a color project for kids' 4H. Thanks in advance.

 

[Old Rando]

The lavender gene is a recessive gene so a chicken needs two copies for it to be expressed. Breeding a self blue (lavender) chicken with any other self blue chicken will ensure all chicks will have two copies and therefore self blue (lavender).