Cochins, Self Blue (lavender) rooster over barred hens?

[BreanneRN]

Anyway, I bought some Cochin chicks in an assortment, have 10, the best of them seem to be a large self-blue splash rooster, has type/disposition and nice color, 2 nice barred hens, and a black hen. I know what I will get from the black hen with this breeding (all slate blue splash), but what will I get from the barred hens with this rooster? As for the rest of them, 2 partridge roosters and the 4 silver laced, the quality was poor, no type/disposition/faulty color. Can anyone help me out? I would like to find a barred rooster, but it is hard to find Cochin chickens in my area. Hope a color guru can help me out? They are 2 months old now.

 

[sylviethecochin]

seem to be a large self-blue splash rooster—wait, is he Lavender, or splash, or both?

Barred hen with splash rooster will get blue barred cockerels (single factor) and blue females..

Barred hen with Lavender rooster will just get (single factor) barred cockerels and black pullets, as Lavender is a recessive gene.

EDT: Also, here's a great site for your colour-crossing needs—http://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm#kipcalculator

EDT2: Apparently, I have forgotten about sexlinking. Duh. Post amended.

 

[The Moonshiner]

You will get the same colors from a barred as from the black except all cockerel chicks will have barring.
Not sure what you mean by self blue splash?
I know self blue and I know splash. But not sure what you mean by self blue splash.
Same with slate blue splash.
But anyways you will get barred boys from that cross but if you breed them only half their offspring will be barred since they will only have one copy for barring.

 

[BreanneRN]

Thanks so much for the help! Sounds like it won't be bad, and sex-linked too! As for the "splash", I'm kind of a newbie with all the colors, and might be using splash wrong, but he has pale gray coloring with "splashes"? of darker bluish gray. I thought he was white originally, then when he feathered out, turned pale gray on the head. Now, developing more of what I may be mistakenly calling "splash". I'll post a pic if I can get some to download.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Thanks so much for the help! Sounds like it won't be bad, and sex-linked too! As for the "splash", I'm kind of a newbie with all the colors, and might be using splash wrong, but he has pale gray coloring with "splashes"? of darker bluish gray. I thought he was white originally, then when he feathered out, turned pale gray on the head. Now, developing more of what I may be mistakenly calling "splash". I'll post a pic if I can get some to download.

Okay, that sounds like splash. Here's an essay on genetics because I'm trying to put off some work.

BBS
Splash is co-dominant with black, and it's basically a mutated black gene. A chicken can have a copy of splash and a copy of black (blue) or have two copies of black (black) or have two copies of splash (splash, or "true-blue"). Blue, Black, and Splash chickens are commonly raised and bred together, which is why you'll sometimes see eggs advertised as BBS (Blue/Black/Splash.)

Lavender
Lavender, or "self-blue" is a recessive gene that dilutes black. Unlike splash, it isn't a mutation of black. That means that an individual chicken can have two copies of black and two copies of Lavender. Lavender is recessive, so a chicken needs two copies of lavender to be lavender.

Sex-links work like so:
Rooster carries two "W" Chromosomes. Only W chromosomes can carry barring, gold/silver, chocolate, etc. Having two W's makes him a boy.
Hen carries "W" and "Z" (only one of each.) Z does not carry barring, gold/silver, or chocolate. The Z makes her a girl.
A chicken passes on one chromosome to each of its offspring. The Rooster passes W's by necessity, but a hen can pass a W or a Z, making her chicks little cockerels or pullets.

The rooster carries two W's that don't have barring. (W^b, W^b) The pullets and the cockerels inherit one of the W^b's from him. Because neither this W^b nor the Z contains barring, the girls are not barred.

Mum carries barring (W^B, Z). She passes a W^B onto half of her offspring. which must, by necessity, be cockerels because they have two W's (one from dad). That W she passed contained barring, and so the chicks are barred (W^B, W^b) They are single factor barred, though, because they only have one copy of barring. They're darker-colored than roosters that have two copies (double factor.)

Lavender vs Blue vs splash

Lavender often has a yellow tint, and it's pale the whole way up to the head.

Blue has a lot of varying shades, ranging from light to very dark (almost midnight), but the neck is darker than the body.

Splash is basically pretty pale, though the appearance can vary a lot. I have a splash who looks almost white, and I would have assumed she was cream with a few dark feathers except for the chicks she kept hatching. I've seen some online that look like paintings.

 

[The Moonshiner]

The BBS gene is blue.
Two copies of black equals black
One copy black one copy blue equals blue
Two copies of blue equals splash.
Blue is a dilute of black so one copy dilutes it to blue. Two copies dilutes it to blue then dilutes it again. That's why splash looks kinda white because it has diluted so much of the color away.

Unlike blue self blue/ lavender dilutes everything.
A solid black bird would be solid lavender.
Like attached pic....

With the pic from above.

The yellowish is from the lavender gene diluting a red/gold area.
A rooster like that would be a rooster like this with the lavender genes.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Breed you splash rooster to your black hen and barred hens.
They will produce blue pullets and blue males ( from black hen) and blue barred males from the barred hens.
Breed one of your blue barred cockerels to your black hen you will get 1/2 blacks and 1/2 blues. 1/2 barred and 1/2 non barred.
Bred to barred hens you will get 1/2 blacks and 1/2 blues. All males will be barred. Some single gene barred and some double gene barred. Pullets with be 1/2 barred and 1/2 non barred.
Bred him to blue pullets and you will get 25% blacks 50% blues and 25% splash.
1/2 will be barred and 1/2 non barred.

 

[BreanneRN]

I am going to try to post a picture.... Not real techy, but giving it a try! And Wow! Thanks for all that information and pictures, it is really above and beyond, and I really appreciate it. Will be saving it to refer back! I agree that he definitely most resembles the splash, seems to be darkening a bit and developing more "splashes". So far, attempts with the picture have failed, but I will keep trying! Really appreciate all the information and the pics from all!

 

[BreanneRN]

Managed to download the pic as an avatar... Not the greatest pic but you can see. Note to self, must take tech class this summer...

 

[sylviethecochin]

Managed to download the pic as an avatar... Not the greatest pic but you can see. Note to self, must take tech class this summer...

View attachment 1372619

I don't show birds, but I'm pretty sure that's splash. Crossed with black gets the prettiest chicken color—BLUE! (though I admit to a certain weakness for silver-laced.)