Opal Legbar Roo over Blue Copper Maran Hens

[too_many_chickens]

Hi there,

Currently planning my future breeding programs and I have two new (to me) breeds that I have added to my flock.
I was wondering what I should expect to get from crossing an opal legbar rooster over blue copper maran hens. Would I be correct in assuming blue/black chicks?

 

[nicalandia]

Hi there,

Currently planning my future breeding programs and I have two new (to me) breeds that I have added to my flock.
I was wondering what I should expect to get from crossing an opal legbar rooster over blue copper maran hens. Would I be correct in assuming blue/black chicks?

Opal Legbars are Just cream legbars with recessive white. All chicks will hatch with a headspot due to single barring and they 50% will be black with headspot that grow to be Dark Golden cuckoo like in color and 50% will hatch blue with a headspot that will grow to be Blue Dark Golden in color

 

[The Moonshiner]

Opal Legbars are Just cream legbars with recessive white. All chicks will hatch with a headspot due to single barring and they 50% will be black with headspot that grow to be Dark Golden cuckoo like in color and 50% will hatch blue with a headspot that will grow to be Blue Dark Golden in color

Opal Legbars are lavender (self blue) gold duckwing. They should have cream but some lost it along the way.

 

[nicalandia]

Opal Legbars are lavender (self blue) gold duckwing. They should have cream but some lost it along the way.

Oh I keep mixing Opal OEGB and Opal Legbar...

 

[RememberTheWay]

Hi there,

Currently planning my future breeding programs and I have two new (to me) breeds that I have added to my flock.
I was wondering what I should expect to get from crossing an opal legbar rooster over blue copper maran hens. Would I be correct in assuming blue/black chicks?

Personally I wouldn't do that crossing because you would be mixing a lavender and blue line together. The resulting birds typically do not look right for either color and it's difficult to breed out. Both blue and lavender can express at the same time resulting in a very "muddy" looking color mismash. You wouldn't see any of the lavender on the first generation bc it's recessive and requires two copies to express. The first generation would be black and blue yes. They all would also be split to lavender. If you bred any of those chicks back to the lavender parent or to one another you would then see the lavender start to express. Mixing both lavender and blue also can make it very difficult to correctly identify between a true lavender chick and a light blue one. Problems would arise later because each of the genes behave differently. Blue is incompletely dominant and only requires one copy to express and lavender is recessive requiring two copies (one from each parent) if you sell the chicks to anyone that would definitely be a potential issue in a breeder pen or for your own pens.

Of course with all that said at the end of the day, It's your barn, Your choice! And you can do whatever makes you happy and I fully support it. If you've already done this and would like to know how to correct lav/blue mixed lines let me know and I will help with that too

Good luck! Did you hatch any chicks yet?