Self Blue (Lavender) Silkie Thread

[Brody's Broodello]

Quote:
It could be the new designer color "Blav" lol

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Three Cedar's bird looks like a dark self blue (as in the head & hackles are not darker than the body colour); Dylan's looks pretty typical lavender to me.

Note: while self-blue indicates a uniformly coloured light blue bird, it does not require the lavender gene; lavender is simply the most common gneotype for creating the phenotype.

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Quote:
I have seen Dylan's bird in person, it isn't Lav & it isn't Blue either.

 

[jen5680]

Brody's Broodello :

Quote:
It could be the new designer color "Blav" lol

"Blav"!!!! Love that!!

 

[BetsyOK]

Remember, though, that a self blue that does NOT have the lavender gene and a self blue WITH two copies of the lavender gene will NOT produce self blue/lavender babes until bred back to one of the parents. I know a couple of people who have learned that through experience.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
My comment was that self blues can be bred without using lavender at all. The genes reproduce in the typical blue/black/splash percentages.

Breeding lavenders to blues will make it very difficult to differentiate which offspring are blue without lavender versus those that are lavender and blue.

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Oh boy I think I'll just stick with Lav & Black/Lav splits because I don't have the time it requires or effort to put in if I want to add Blue lol. Just seems too much for me right now. Those Blue/Lavs are beautiful but I don't think I know enough to be able to distinguish between the two and I would never want to misinform somebody else if I sell some of the chicks/adults. Good luck on your project

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Isn't "self-blue" the same exact thing as "lavender"?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Yes and no. All lavenders are self-blue, but not all self-blues are lavender. The term "self" in the name of a colour means a uniformly solid coloured bird. Self-black is a solid coloured black bird, and while not usually used, is occasionally used in reference to a solid black polish, as compared with a white crested black polish. Ditto for self-chocolate with polish. For self-blues, the standards calls for a uniformly light blue coloured bird. No lacing, no darker head, hackles, saddle, tail as is present in regular, andalusian blue birds.

A lavender bird without the presence of patterns is self blue, and bred to another unpatterned lavender will always produce self blue offspring: true breeding. However, you can create a bird that meets the self blue standard using the blue gene instead of the lavender gene. But due to the nature of the blue gene, it breeds predictably, but not true. Two self blues created with blue and not lavender will not give 100% self blue offspring, but only 50%. I've never spent any time researching exactly what has to be bred out of or into blues to lighten the darker heads/hackles/etc., so I really can't speak knowledgeably about breeding them, just that they do exist, more commonly in other countries, but in the US some of the self-blue OEGB are built with the blue gene rather than lavender.

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Thanks Sonoran, I understand now