Lavender Splash Orpington?

[MuscovyMadness]

Hello everyone. ........was hoping for some advice/critique on an Orpington pullet I bought. This little girl was sold to me as a Lavender which is what i was searching for. She looked a bit different from my current Lavenders but i just figured she was better quality than my flock. LoL. Well, she is now clear not a Lavender but a definite Splash. Her breeder said one of her Splash or Blue cockerels may have bred one of her Lavender hens. She was just as surprised as I was when she saw the pictures I sent her. Im attaching a photo of the day i btought her home (on top the priority box).......and a few pics from the other day. Also......one of my Lavender Orpington rooster and one of my hens.

My biggest question is........would she be considered a Lavender Splash or is she a Blue Splash? I bought her to breed with my Lavender or my Black split to Lavender Roos.


Thank you guys!

 

[Ravynscroft]

She is a splash, from blue... and there is more than a splash or blue over lavender mix up going on there... it takes 2 copies of blue to make splash, and lavender is recessive so must have 2 copies to show lavender...

 

[MuscovyMadness]

Thank you so much for replying. ....ok, so what di you mean by so much more going on there? The breeder swears she is from a Lavender hen....sooooo, what are YOUR thoughts?

 

[Ravynscroft]

The splash coloration can't happen from just mixing up any color birds, it has to come from parents that are blue, 1 copy blue, or splash, 2 copies blue...

Lavender, being a recessive of black, needs to be bred with lavender or one with a copy of lavender (split) to show lavender otherwise it is black... when you breed lavender to another color, it breeds as black...

And splash to black could only produce blue... make sense?

 

[MuscovyMadness]

Ty so much Ravyn.......With the little reading i have done on these colors; I have the basics down with BBS and Lavender. .......but the breeder still says 100% that this pullet came out of a lavender hen. LoL
Soooo interesting.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Very welcome... The best way to learn is ask, and I did tons of asking and still do, lol!

It could just be a simple mix up of eggs from her pens, or a very light blue that might look lavender, or if she crossed the colors who knows? We're only human and do make our fair share of mistakes... just is odd she is so insistent about it...

You do know not to breed the BBS colors to Lavs and splits, too? It becomes way to easy to mix up the blues and lavenders...

 

[MuscovyMadness]

LoL. Well good.....makes me not feel so bad asking another question! Not the best luck lately.....this chick was sold to me as a Blue Orpington....I bought it pretty young and all seemed fine but then I noticed light feathering on the legs!! And of course......the breeder swears up and down I did not get a mixed breed chick. They have other breeds, including Cochin but they insist nothing was mixed. So then.....do I have a Blue Orpington with feathers on the legs........or is this a poorly feathered Cochin? Oh and BTW.....not the same breeder I got my Splash from.

Thanks again

 

[junebuggena]

LoL. Well good.....makes me not feel so bad asking another question! Not the best luck lately.....this chick was sold to me as a Blue Orpington....I bought it pretty young and all seemed fine but then I noticed light feathering on the legs!! And of course......the breeder swears up and down I did not get a mixed breed chick. They have other breeds, including Cochin but they insist nothing was mixed. So then.....do I have a Blue Orpington with feathers on the legs........or is this a poorly feathered Cochin? Oh and BTW.....not the same breeder I got my Splash from.

Thanks again

If that's an Orpington she is a very poorly bred one. If she's a Cochin, she is a very poorly bred one. Likely she is a cross between the two breeds.
And your Lavender rooster is very, very leaky and should not be used for breeding.

 

[MuscovyMadness]

Thanks June......I agree that its a mix (though the breeder keeps telling me no). Will not be using that bird of course. And with regard to my Lavender Roo......not showing, just breeding for backyard pets and so far he has been crossed with Lavender hen and Black split to Lavender hen with offspring holding nice solid color. As I'm still learning chicken lingo. .....what does the term leaky mean.

 

[junebuggena]

It's referring to the yellowish coloring through his hackle, saddle, and cape feathers. That's red leakage being diluted by the Lavender gene. It's a major fault and birds exhibiting that coloring should not be bred, at all, for any purpose. It just perpetuates a very undesirable trait, and corrupts an already fairly small breeding pool. Lavenders are still a fairly new 'project' color. And you are doing the entire breed a major disservice by breeding him. It's a variety that needs dedicated, responsible breeders. Most lines of Lavender Orpingtons are in pretty bad shape due to uneducated backyard breeding. It's led to birds that barely resemble Orpingtons at all. And leakage is a huge problem as well. And while you don't intend for your birds to be used as breeding stock, there is no way for you to guarantee that they won't be. This is a big reason why most serious breeders kill any birds that aren't up to their standards. It's the only way to be sure that those poor genetics don't make it back into the gene pool. Leakage is a trait that doesn't show up until cockerels start to get their male specific feathers. You won't see it in the offspring unless you are keeping them past 14 weeks.