What does "splits" mean?

[6Happiness]

Sorry, that probably looks like a stupid question, but I have never seen this in my other animal fanciers (rats, gerbils, cavies etc)

What does "splits" mean? I keep seeing it in auctions... So if an auction says it is for " Split Black Lavendar Orps"

Does it mean the chicks are heterozygous for Lav (they will all be black but carry lavender)?
Does it mean that you are getting two varieties in the auction (6 black chicks, 5 lavs)?
Does it mean they put a black orp and a lav orp together, and you get whatever results (which could be blacks carrying lav, OR blacks carryign lav AND lav if the black carries lav)
Does it mean that the eggs came from two or more pens/hens, so that the chicks won't all be full siblings?
Does it mean yet some other thing I have not thought of?

And is there a glossary someplace so that when I encounter another word like this I can just go look it up? (I tried google, but "split" is such a very common word...)

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

It means the chicks are black but carry the lavender gene. They need 2 lavender genes to produce the lavender feathering. Usually this means one parent was black and one pure lavender. If you breed the offspring together you'll get lavender, black and splits. If you breed the splits to a lavender you'll get some lavenders and some splits. Breeders are crossing the blacks with the lavender to create genetic diversity and as an attempt to improve feather quality. But one of the traits of the lavender gene is poor feather quality so it can be a battle to improve.

 

[6Happiness]

Okay, so it does mean they are heterozygous.

Besides genetic diversity, it seems that this is also a less expensive way to get birds if you are interested in a certain project (like the lav orp example)

Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Henk69]

heterozygous and not expressing = carrying. Applies to recessive mutations.

 

[corancher]

Quote:
Yes. It is a less expensive way since most people don't want the splits. It's the immediate lavender color that most want and they don't want to bother with splits, however by crossing them back to good quality Black Orpingtons is the only way to fast improvement. You can cull from the Lavenders and breed back to best but that will take a lot longer and you still may not get improvement.

 

[OSUman]

The split doesnt just apply to Lav color but also people have done it with BC Marans and Wheaten marans, Silver and Light Sussex, now ive seen Buff and Lemon Cuckoo Orps. and there are probably many others. When you breed two split birds together you will get Aprx %25 that will be the color that are you looking for.