What color can I breed with my lavender and orp red pullets?

[mmmyyykkkeee]

Hi guys,

I have 2 beautiful english lavender pullets who started laying. Unfortunately, the male has been sick for quite some time now so we keep him separated. I have been searching for black orpingtons but all i see are blue and splash orps. I know i should not breed blue to lavender.

Also, i have 2 red orp pullets that have started laying as well. The male died and i cannot find any red orp so i put them with my buff orp male.

Has anyone here who had tried breeding reds to buffs? What was the result?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The only Orpington I ever bred was a Buff and that was to a Speckled Sussex, not what you are looking at. I don't know the genetic make-up of a Red Orpington. There can be different genetic ways to make red. Also there can be different ways genetically to make Buff. What I'd expect to see with that cross is sort of an orange, redder than buff but with more yellow than red. Of course that is just a guess.

Lavender is a recessive gene that affects black so consider a Lavender bird as basically black when you are crossing it to a non-Lavender bird. But that recessive Lavender will be hiding in the background for later crossings. In theory crossing buff with black should give you solid black but it usually (if ever) doesn't. The few times I've crossed black with buff I've gotten black birds but with a lot of yellow on them. I don't have any photos but its usually a pattern of mixed yellow and black. Sometimes it can be quite striking, sometimes it can be kind of muddy. But it is not solid black.

 

[The Moonshiner]

For the most part breeding lavender to blue isn't the best thing to do but if you can't find any blacks then blue will do.
The offspring will be about an even split between blues and blacks and all will carry lavender.
Just keep the black chicks and breed them back to lavender or to each other to produce more lavenders.
Stay away from breeding to splash because of course that would only give you blue chicks.
I agree that buffs and reds can have different genetics. When I crossed buffs and reds I did get a color that was in between the two but closer to red. Save back a few of those and breed back to reds.

 

[mmmyyykkkeee]

Thank you guys for your answers. These are helpful for newbies like me. I will post an update of the chicks that they will produce. Thanks again

 

[KhalSancho]

For the most part breeding lavender to blue isn't the best thing to do but if you can't find any blacks then blue will do.
The offspring will be about an even split between blues and blacks and all will carry lavender.
Just keep the black chicks and breed them back to lavender or to each other to produce more lavenders.
Stay away from breeding to splash because of course that would only give you blue chicks.
I agree that buffs and reds can have different genetics. When I crossed buffs and reds I did get a color that was in between the two but closer to red. Save back a few of those and breed back to reds.

Why is it that you don’t want to breed blue to lavender? Does it weaken genes? Is it just because of the colour they produce (if so what is it)? Asking because my Ameraucana Roo is blue and MY BEST structured hens are all lavender and I want to keep towards breeding for correct structure. But if blue x lav will be to my detriment, I’ll have to try n find a POL blue or black?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll be waiting for The Moonshiner's response. But I'll venture a guess. Blue is partially dominant, Lavender is recessive. I think it will be really hard to know what you have once you mix them without a lot of test breeding. You may not have the standard benefit of a dominant, that you can tell whether it is present or not. While the Recessive can hang in the background forever even when it is not masked.