What color is my rooster?

[MayhemFlock]

My rooster, Gandalf, was given to me as a "lavender Orpington". He came with a black cockerel and another gray cockerel that eventually got some red patches. I've recently hatched out chicks from this guy over my Chocolate Orp, Wyandotte, and Dominique hens. The chicks are all black or gray so I'm inclined to belive Gandalf is "blue". My main question is, is it possible he carries a barring gene? Some of the chicks are black or gray/blue barred and if he's solid I believe that would make them sexlink cockerels out of my Dominique hen, but I also sometimes think I see some very subtle barring in him.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

he just looks like a poor quality lavender to me, with leakage, plus maybe some extra corn ;D my lavender get a "corn necklace" we call it lol

Lav + Barred Black = black pullets, black barred cockerels
Lav + choc = black chicks, carrying choc + lav
Lav + SLW = black chicks, carrying lav + lacing & the other genes that make SLW look like that, I think Columbian?

Regardless, you're working with a bunch of recessive genes. If you want lavender you'll either need to get a lavender hen or breed back his daughters to get a 50% chance of lavender chicks from one of his offspring that carry the lavender gene

 

[MayhemFlock]

he just looks like a poor quality lavender to me, with leakage, plus maybe some extra corn ;D my lavender get a "corn necklace" we call it lol

Lav + Barred Black = black pullets, black barred cockerels
Lav + choc = black chicks, carrying choc + lav
Lav + SLW = black chicks, carrying lav + lacing & the other genes that make SLW look like that, I think Columbian?

Regardless, you're working with a bunch of recessive genes. If you want lavender you'll either need to get a lavender hen or breed back his daughters to get a 50% chance of lavender chicks from one of his offspring that carry the lavender gene

Thank you for your response. What I'm confused about if he is lavender, then how are the majority of the chicks also visibly gray and not all black or black barred?

 

[CascadiaRiver]

It didn't show the pic with the chicks, they certainly aren't all black so there's definitely some other hens or genes your boy carries! Barring is obvious, I would assume the barring is sex linked from your hen, not him. I believe the pattern on his neck is something different but I can't remember exactly, here's another normal lav with it though!

As for the chicks, can you get some in the sunlight, individual pics of some of them?

 

[MayhemFlock]

It didn't show the pic with the chicks, they certainly aren't all black so there's definitely some other hens or genes your boy carries! Barring is obvious, I would assume the barring is sex linked from your hen, not him. I believe the pattern on his neck is something different but I can't remember exactly, here's another normal lav with it though! View attachment 4170520

As for the chicks, can you get some in the sunlight, individual pics of some of them?

Such a handsome bird! I won't be able to get good pics for a few days but can definitely try!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

My rooster, Gandalf, was given to me as a "lavender Orpington". He came with a black cockerel and another gray cockerel that eventually got some red patches. I've recently hatched out chicks from this guy over my Chocolate Orp, Wyandotte, and Dominique hens. The chicks are all black or gray so I'm inclined to belive Gandalf is "blue". My main question is, is it possible he carries a barring gene? Some of the chicks are black or gray/blue barred and if he's solid I believe that would make them sexlink cockerels out of my Dominique hen, but I also sometimes think I see some very subtle barring in him.

Your rooster isn’t lavender, and he does look barred (barring is often very faint on blue chickens). His coloring looks mauve (blue chocolate), but I’m not completely sure.

 

[MayhemFlock]

It didn't show the pic with the chicks, they certainly aren't all black so there's definitely some other hens or genes your boy carries! Barring is obvious, I would assume the barring is sex linked from your hen, not him. I believe the pattern on his neck is something different but I can't remember exactly, here's another normal lav with it though! View attachment 4170520

As for the chicks, can you get some in the sunlight, individual pics of some of them?

 

[CascadiaRiver]

I am not familiar with Mauve, other than knowing people often breed Mauve while they also breed Chocolates & Lav lol. So I cannot ID him as I haven't really worked with or seen many, but genetically it appears they'd be a Chocolate/Blue mix (similar to Lilac in dogs). In which case:

Mauve + Barred Black = pullets would be 1/2 mauve 1/2 choc, cockerels would be 1/2 blue barred and 1/2 black barred
Mauve + Choc = 1/2 mauve, 1/2 choc
Mauve + SLW = pullets would be 1/2 mauve 1/2 choc, cockerels would be 1/2 blue and 1/2 black (honestly lacing genes are not my strong suit, they'd likely all be some sort of lacing but the genes tend to vary a bit in how they present so if you get any laced ones please share ;D)

That's just for if he's normal Mauve, not barred. If he is barred you'd lose the sex link but every pairup would just have a 50% for any chick to be barred (~75-100% for the barred pairing)