Yellow Lavender Orpingtons?

[picklepat]

I need some help here. My mother passed away and I inherited her trio of English Lavender Orpingtons. This is their first year laying and I hatched out 1 batch of 8 eggs and they were gorgeous and fluffy, typical Lavender orp chicks. The second batch last week hatched and 2 of them were yellow with a Lavender stripe down their back and head, definitely not what I was expecting! So I thought maybe I marked eggs wrong or something and let it go. 3rd hatch today and 2 yellow babies with Lavender on their back and head. I am 100% sure there was no other rooster that could have gotten in and they have been housed together for at least

6 months. I will post pics of the parents and the one baby. What the heck is going on with this? Can anybody help me figure out how I am getting yellow chicks from Lavender parents?

 

[nuthatched]

They look more Isabel to me. Most lavender birds can be yellowish at hatch.
Edit for spelling

 

[picklepat]

They look more Isabel to me. Most lavender birds can be yellowish at hatch.
Edit for spelling

Thank you for replying. Everyone seems to think that one of the hens parents or grandparents was an Isabel so the chicks are carrying the recessive gene for Isabel. I am definitely gonna grow some out cause they are gonna be pretty whatever they are! I just need to figure out what to tell people if I sell any. Thanks again

 

[laboroflove]

What is an Isabel? Is that a type of color? I have just never heard of it.

 

[nuthatched]

What is an Isabel? Is that a type of color? I have just never heard of it.

It's lavender with a soft buff on the head and wings.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Agreed those parents are Isabel not lavender.

 

[laboroflove]

It's lavender with a soft buff on the head and wings.
View attachment 3422754

Oh my goodness, so pretty!! I want some now

 

[NatJ]

Agreed those parents are Isabel not lavender.

I think it's more likely that OP's chickens are lavender, most of the chicks are lavender, and the yellow chicks are Isabel.

Due to which genes are dominant and recessive, it would be pretty easy for two Lavenders to carry the right genes to produce about 25% Isabel chicks. Depending on whether one or both of the Lavender hens has those genes, I would expect either 1/8 or 1/4 of chicks to be Isabel. Since the OP didn't say how many normal chicks were in some of the batches, and the total number of yellows is still small, I can't say whether it's more likely that one or both of the hens has those genes. The rooster certainly does.

 

[picklepat]

OK. To update for you guys, the hen on the left in the pic has all grey/lavender babies. The hen on the right, out of the 5 that I hatched, 3 were lavender and 2 were the yellow with gray spotting. So most of you believe they are Isabel and not Lavender or half each but not full lavender? Also, sadly the hen on the right was killed by a raccoon last night so all I have are the eggs left in the incubator now. I am so upset by this as you can imagine.

 

[NatJ]

OK. To update for you guys, the hen on the left in the pic has all grey/lavender babies. The hen on the right, out of the 5 that I hatched, 3 were lavender and 2 were the yellow with gray spotting. So most of you believe they are Isabel and not Lavender or half each but not full lavender?

I would guess that the yellow ones are Isabel, but that opinion could change depending on how they look as they grow up.

For what I think is going on genetically, breeding two "yellow" ones to each other would produce only "yellow" chicks, and no solid lavenders at all. If you end up with a male and a female of them, and want to test it, I'd be curious to hear the results whenever it happens.

The lavender-looking chicks have a good chance of carrying those recessive genes too. (This goes for the chicks from both mothers, as either set could inherit it from the father.)

Also, sadly the hen on the right was killed by a raccoon last night so all I have are the eggs left in the incubator now. I am so upset by this as you can imagine.