Orpington pairs

[letitiah81]

I am dividing ny orpingtons for breeding. I have a pair of jubilee orpingtons, a pair of buff orpingtons, and a pair of lavender orpingtons (although I'm not sure the lavender are pure as the rooster looks like he might have some buff mixed in). I also have one black orpington hen. I'm not sure which pair would be best for me to put the black hen in with. Thoughts?

 

[The Moonshiner]

If the lavender rooster isn't pure then I wouldn't bred her with any of them.
If he is pure then I'd put her with him. The chicks would be black split to lavender. Which means they would carry one copy of the lavender gene. If those chicks are bred you would get about 25% lavenders. If the chicks are bred back to a lavender you would get about 50% lavender offspring..
If he is mixed or crossing her with a buff or jubilee you would get mixed colored offspring and even crossing them together or back to a parent would continue to give mixed colored offspring.

 

[Sneebsey]

Agree with @The Moonshiner. Birds should be kept with others of their e-series, so extended black in this case.

Pictures of the bird in question could help make some identification as to his background, as I would expect a buff/black mix to show a lot of leakage. Lavender tends to yellow in the sun, which could also cause him to look impure on the e-locus.

Another consideration; if he is impure on the e-locus and bred to a black hen, half his offspring would be pure for extended black, split to lavender. With this in mind, a black cockerel showing no leakage could be put over your lavender hens for pure lavender and black-split offspring. Hens can hide leakage, though again, buff tends to show more than the other e-series.

 

[letitiah81]

These are my lavender orpingtons. Do they look pure? If so, then the black hen should go in with them?

I also uploaded a picture of because she is not really dark so also maybe not pure.

 

[Sneebsey]

The black hen appears to be chocolate. If she is not carrying lavender and the lav cockerel not carrying choc, all their offspring will be black, hiding both choc and lav. Can't recall what the two colours are called when expressed in the same bird; platinum?

It would take test breeding to identify any hidden genetics in the lavenders. I'm more concerned by the dark head on the hen than I am by the yellowing of the cock; @The Moonshiner, any thoughts on her? Possibly blue?

This lav cock was very yellow before moult, but I know from breeding that he is pure for extended black. I was told once, by a late Araucana breeder here, that for Lavender cocks to be showable, they must be kept under cover to protect from the sun.

What size pens are they in? I can't gauge from the pictures, but they seem a little small, particularly for big ole Orpingtons.

 

[letitiah81]

The orpingtons are in a round pen with a circumference of approximately 4.5 feet and 4 feet high. After reading some of the comments, I have decided to try having a "girls" coop and putting the boys in with my mixed flock for a few weeks to get my girls clear rather then dividing the pairs and trios in small pens for the 4 weeks. That way no one is in small pens for so long. This is my first year trying to breed pairs and trios so I'm learning. Thank you everyone for the help. I love reading the responses!