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In Silkies, that color (which is the same as self blue), has been arrived at two different ways, if I understand it correctly. I DO know for certain that the strain of lavenders I prefer was begun some 15 or so years ago by a gentleman in Texas, who introduced a Dutch Bantam of some sort into the genetic makeup to bring in the lavender gene. It is officially called self blue, but probably should be called lavender, because in other parts of the world, there is a HUGE difference between lavenders and self blues, but the powers that be in the U.S. insisted on self blue. Donnie worked on them for all those years, and two women from Texas carried on his work and brought them to the stage they are in now. They also worked very hard, recruiting others, to raise and perfect them and to get them accepted into the standard, which occurred at the Shawnee show this year. The other strain appears to have been developed from more and more dilute splashes; this is the one I'm not certain of. I do have one hen from that line that was supposed to be lavender, but is a lovely splash. It is my understanding that breeding the two strains together does NOT produce lavenders until they are bred back to a parent.
Lavender in other types of chicken is undoubtedly arrived at by other means. I've had self blue OEGBs that are the same color as lavender in the U.S., but I don't know how that color was developed.
I recently bought two very definitive books by Norwegian Sigrid Van Dort, "Color Genetics in Chickens" and "Silkies and Silkie Bantams." These were privately printed and are costly, but well worth it, though much of the information is waaaay over my head. If any of you have any interest, I can give you information how to acquire them.
Hope this helps a little.
