Splash Orpington??

[donrae]

I'm with speckledhen--I can't give the exact genetic codes that cause it or allow it, but it's a sign of less than careful breeding, if you're breeding purebred birds. I liken it to a purebred dog like a Labrador having excess white. It doesn't effect the animal in any way, but the standard calls for a minimal amount of white, and excess white shows the animal has not been bred to the breed standard. Same thing with the blue or lavender birds, the red leakage is undesirable and to be culled for when breeding pure breds.

That said, I have an up and coming splash Ameraucana cockerel with a decent amount of leakage I'm very happy with. I'm using him for a blue sex link project, not breeding Ameraucanas, so to me the extra color from the leakage just means I might get hens with some of the reddish color, also. Again, it's just about the standard you hold your birds to.

 

[Eggwell]

Can anyone say why this breed (Splash Orpington) is not recognized by the APA? They are such remarkable creatures, it's hard to believe that someone hasn't achieved a standard.

 

[malndobe]

Can anyone tell me if my guy would be considered a blue or a splash? I thought he was blue, but he's developed some "splashes" of blue/black and white. You can see a couple on his chest, and also on the feathers in his wings. So would he be a very dark splash, or do blues also sometimes have these "off color" spots?

 

[donrae]

I would call him blue, just not the best quality coloring (sorry).

 

[malndobe]

I would call him blue, just not the best quality coloring (sorry).

No problem, it is what it is . I was kind of hoping he was splash, I have a mainly mix breed group of hens with a number of blue and black ones, was hoping he'd make blue and splash chicks (not black)

 

[donrae]

Well, breed him to a blue and you still have a 25% chance of getting spalsh. 50% blue and 25% black.

 

[malndobe]

Well, breed him to a blue and you still have a 25% chance of getting spalsh. 50% blue and 25% black. 

I know, would just prefer blue and splash only. 1/3 of the current flock is already black.

 

[donrae]

It would only take a generation or so to get rid of the black. Don't breed him to any black hens this year, and next year only set eggs from him over the splash birds. That would remove your black.

Or, get a few splash hens now, to breed to this spring (not that I'm an enabler or anything, lol).