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- #531
Sommer, I've been looking at lavender Orps and wondering how you would feel about me setting up a breeding pen with a lav Orp roo and some Aloha hens. I know we are still focusing on the bright colors but it seems to me since I have the space and plenty of Alohas to start with maybe I could go ahead and start that breeding program as well. I'm still looking forward to more eggs in June/July from the Alohas but if I started the lav Orps around the same time as that group, I think it would work out nicely. Let me know what you think.
Actually, that would be a big help.
This isn't something I've really "pushed" because we have SO much to work on as it is. But one thing that bugs me about the current (pure) Swedish Flowers, is the "blue" gene that is prevalent. Oh, don't get me wrong, I think blue is pretty! But like Barring, and Black, it's also a dominant gene - which means it can take over - and the result is "Splash". If you look at the Swedish Flower thread, you will see more and more WHITE chickens over there in the new generations. That's because in its dominant form, Splash appears as a white chicken with a few random darker flecks.
My thoughts are, if the point is spotted chickens, you don't want a "white out" where the Blue comes in and becomes Splash. But, the gray feathers on the Swedes with the Blue gene makes them unique.
Lavender (sometimes called "self blue") also turns black feathers gray, but it is a recessive. You only get black feathers or Lavender feathers when both parents carry the gene. I thought it would be nice if Alohas had Lavender to produce gray, instead of Blue. So, I've picked out a pure Swedish hen and rooster with NO gene for "blue" in hopes that someday I'd be able to introduce Lavender.
(Would also love to bring in Chocolate, but that's another story. LOL.)
Now, the Lavender is "just black" under that recessive gene. Plus Orps are fluff balls with short short short tails. Hmm, I would also recommend crossing Lavender Orps with Sussex, to try to tighten the feathers and add the long tails?
Keep the pens seperate, but full steam ahead. Your first chicks are going to be mostly black, but once you can break that up and other colors start to "leak" in, then you could start to outcross those to the regular Alohas, in the hopes that someday many of them could carry the gene for Lavender. I'd much prefer that over Blue so we can avoid the all-white Splash chicks!