Understanding Orpington Genetics - Buffs, Lavender, Chocolate, Black, White

[peachridgechicks]

Hello,

I've been reading other forums regarding Orpingtons and how all their colors mix, but I'm still a little confused.

Our flock right now consists purely of Buff Orpingtons, plus a Rhode Island Red lady that's earned her spot. We recently picked up some Lavender Orpingtons and I was hoping to add, black, white, and chocolate to the mix.

Now, I'm trying to understand the best way to still end up with solid colors but without having to keep five separate coops.

From what I understand, the Buffs will have to be kept entirely separate? Is it true that they will mix unpredictably with all other colorways? Or is there a color that would mix well with a Buff rooster?

And then the rest, how would they mix together if the lavender, black, white, and chocolate were all kept in one coop? From what I understand, the rooster would have to be either Black or Chocolate to throw true?

Overall, I'm very confused and very new to trying to understand the genetics of it all. I do want to do some experimentation, but it's also been nice to be able to sell the pure Buff chicks quickly because everyone wants some.

Please help!

 

[peachridgechicks]

I'm not opposed to multiple coops, but five sounds like a lot of work!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Here you go.... https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fairy-tail-farms-english-orpingtons.1435390/

 

[NatJ]

Overall, I'm very confused and very new to trying to understand the genetics of it all. I do want to do some experimentation, but it's also been nice to be able to sell the pure Buff chicks quickly because everyone wants some.

Yes, single colors do have their good points

If you mix colors, you can get chickens that show one color (usually black) and carry the genes for another color (such as lavender or chocolate.) If you are selling to people who want to breed specific colors, they may not want such chicks. But if you are selling to people who just want pretty hens, it should be fine.

From what I understand, the Buffs will have to be kept entirely separate? Is it true that they will mix unpredictably with all other colorways?

Yes, keep the Buffs separate.

And then the rest, how would they mix together if the lavender, black, white, and chocolate were all kept in one coop? From what I understand, the rooster would have to be either Black or Chocolate to throw true?

White would probably be best by themselves. I don't know exactly which white genes are in Orpingtons, but I don't think any of the options are going to give chicks of colors that you want.

For the others, I would probably not put chocolate and lavender together, but either one could go well with black in some cases.

Crossing black x lavender will give birds that look black and carry lavender. You could keep a lavender rooster with some lavender hens and some black hens, and you would get chicks of both colors (pure lavenders, blacks that carry lavender.)

For a later generation, if you keep a black x lavender rooster, you could put him with lavender hens and get chicks of both colors. Again, the blacks would carry lavender.

The sex-linked chocolate gene will give different results depending on whether the mother or the father has it: daughters will match their father, and sons will always be black but carry chocolate.

A chocolate rooster with black hens will produce sexlink chicks: chocolate daughters, and sons that look black but carry chocolate. That could be handy if you want to sell sexed chicks.

A black rooster with chocolate hens will give black daughters, and sons that look black but carry chocolate.

For a later generation, if you keep a black x chocolate son (either parent could be either color), you could put him with black hens and get daughters of both colors. All the sons would look black, with half carrying chocolate. Or the same crossed rooster (chocolate x black) could be put with chocolate hens, and would produce offspring of both colors in both genders.

Now, I'm trying to understand the best way to still end up with solid colors but without having to keep five separate coops.

Keeping each color separate would certainly work.

I would probably go with four coops:
Buff
White
Lavender
Chocolate

I would put black with either the lavender or the chocolate, or maybe both. I would probably try to keep track of what color the blacks are mixed with, and not mix them up (so no black-carries-lavender going into the chocolate coop, or vice versa.)

 

[peachridgechicks]

Yes, single colors do have their good points

If you mix colors, you can get chickens that show one color (usually black) and carry the genes for another color (such as lavender or chocolate.) If you are selling to people who want to breed specific colors, they may not want such chicks. But if you are selling to people who just want pretty hens, it should be fine.


Yes, keep the Buffs separate.


White would probably be best by themselves. I don't know exactly which white genes are in Orpingtons, but I don't think any of the options are going to give chicks of colors that you want.

For the others, I would probably not put chocolate and lavender together, but either one could go well with black in some cases.

Crossing black x lavender will give birds that look black and carry lavender. You could keep a lavender rooster with some lavender hens and some black hens, and you would get chicks of both colors (pure lavenders, blacks that carry lavender.)

For a later generation, if you keep a black x lavender rooster, you could put him with lavender hens and get chicks of both colors. Again, the blacks would carry lavender.

The sex-linked chocolate gene will give different results depending on whether the mother or the father has it: daughters will match their father, and sons will always be black but carry chocolate.

A chocolate rooster with black hens will produce sexlink chicks: chocolate daughters, and sons that look black but carry chocolate. That could be handy if you want to sell sexed chicks.

A black rooster with chocolate hens will give black daughters, and sons that look black but carry chocolate.

For a later generation, if you keep a black x chocolate son (either parent could be either color), you could put him with black hens and get daughters of both colors. All the sons would look black, with half carrying chocolate. Or the same crossed rooster (chocolate x black) could be put with chocolate hens, and would produce offspring of both colors in both genders.


Keeping each color separate would certainly work.

I would probably go with four coops:
Buff
White
Lavender
Chocolate

I would put black with either the lavender or the chocolate, or maybe both. I would probably try to keep track of what color the blacks are mixed with, and not mix them up (so no black-carries-lavender going into the chocolate coop, or vice versa.)

This is exactly the answer I was looking for, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

 

[peachridgechicks]

Yes, single colors do have their good points

If you mix colors, you can get chickens that show one color (usually black) and carry the genes for another color (such as lavender or chocolate.) If you are selling to people who want to breed specific colors, they may not want such chicks. But if you are selling to people who just want pretty hens, it should be fine.


Yes, keep the Buffs separate.


White would probably be best by themselves. I don't know exactly which white genes are in Orpingtons, but I don't think any of the options are going to give chicks of colors that you want.

For the others, I would probably not put chocolate and lavender together, but either one could go well with black in some cases.

Crossing black x lavender will give birds that look black and carry lavender. You could keep a lavender rooster with some lavender hens and some black hens, and you would get chicks of both colors (pure lavenders, blacks that carry lavender.)

For a later generation, if you keep a black x lavender rooster, you could put him with lavender hens and get chicks of both colors. Again, the blacks would carry lavender.

The sex-linked chocolate gene will give different results depending on whether the mother or the father has it: daughters will match their father, and sons will always be black but carry chocolate.

A chocolate rooster with black hens will produce sexlink chicks: chocolate daughters, and sons that look black but carry chocolate. That could be handy if you want to sell sexed chicks.

A black rooster with chocolate hens will give black daughters, and sons that look black but carry chocolate.

For a later generation, if you keep a black x chocolate son (either parent could be either color), you could put him with black hens and get daughters of both colors. All the sons would look black, with half carrying chocolate. Or the same crossed rooster (chocolate x black) could be put with chocolate hens, and would produce offspring of both colors in both genders.


Keeping each color separate would certainly work.

I would probably go with four coops:
Buff
White
Lavender
Chocolate

I would put black with either the lavender or the chocolate, or maybe both. I would probably try to keep track of what color the blacks are mixed with, and not mix them up (so no black-carries-lavender going into the chocolate coop, or vice versa.)

I have someone nearby offering hatching eggs from a mix of Lavender roo and chocolate hen. These seem like they're both recessive, so would it just end up a colorful hybrid?

 

[NatJ]

I have someone nearby offering hatching eggs from a mix of Lavender roo and chocolate hen. These seem like they're both recessive, so would it just end up a colorful hybrid?

They will look black.
The males will carry both lavender and chocolate.
The females will carry lavender but not chocolate.

If you keep some of them for breeding:

A female could be put with a lavender rooster to give some lavender chicks and some chicks that look black but carry lavender. A hen inherits chocolate (or lack of chocolate) only from her father, so such a hen will not have the chocolate gene at all.

A female could be put with a black rooster to produce black chicks (some will carry lavender).

A female could be put with a chocolate rooster to produce black sons (will carry chocolate, might carry lavender) and chocolate daughters (some will carry lavender).

A male could be put with black hens to produce some black chicks (either gender) and some chocolate chicks (female only). Any of those chicks could carry lavender but might not, and the males may carry chocolate or might not.

A male could be put with chocolate hens to give some blacks (both genders) and some chocolates (also both genders.) The black males will carry chocolate, the black females will not. Some of the chicks will carry lavender and some will not.

A male could be put with lavender hens to produce quite a variety of chicks:
lavender (males might carry chocolate, females will not)
black carrying lavender (males might also carry chocolate, females will not)
chocolate females that carry lavender
females that are both chocolate and lavender (I do not know how these will look.)

 

[ColtHandorf]

Hello,

I've been reading other forums regarding Orpingtons and how all their colors mix, but I'm still a little confused.

Our flock right now consists purely of Buff Orpingtons, plus a Rhode Island Red lady that's earned her spot. We recently picked up some Lavender Orpingtons and I was hoping to add, black, white, and chocolate to the mix.

Now, I'm trying to understand the best way to still end up with solid colors but without having to keep five separate coops.

From what I understand, the Buffs will have to be kept entirely separate? Is it true that they will mix unpredictably with all other colorways? Or is there a color that would mix well with a Buff rooster?

And then the rest, how would they mix together if the lavender, black, white, and chocolate were all kept in one coop? From what I understand, the rooster would have to be either Black or Chocolate to throw true?

Overall, I'm very confused and very new to trying to understand the genetics of it all. I do want to do some experimentation, but it's also been nice to be able to sell the pure Buff chicks quickly because everyone wants some.

Please help!

NatJ made an excellent suggestion. Personally, I'd have five breeding pens, but I'm nuts. lol

 

[peachridgechicks]

NatJ made an excellent suggestion. Personally, I'd have five breeding pens, but I'm nuts. lol

We do want to eventually get to that point, as it would be fantastic to be able to sell pure offspring. But that might take awhile, we've been working on our second coop now for a couple months lol. Pure Orpingtons in our future though!