Orpington Genetics/Breeding

[BuergsChickens]

Okay, so I am new to chickens, or sort of, I am definitely new to breeding and genetics, I am obsessed with the orpingtons primarily (Marans and Ameraucana's are right up there as well)
I've been doing a lot of research into genetics and I do have a basic understanding of genetics, though sometimes the science-y words can be a bit overwhelming for me to fully get it. So bare with me with all questions.

I want to breed all different types of orpingtons, some I understand breed true, while others you need to breed back to certain colors in order to get a specific type. Ie lavender is a breed true, while blue is from black X white pairings, then usually back to black, or at least from what I've read.
Here are the list of colors/types i would like to know what breeds true and what doesn't and then I'll follow up with some specific questions at the end.

Types:
Buff
Cuckoo
Black
Black Cuckoo
White
Lavender
Lavender Cuckoo
Blue
Splash
Chocolate
Chocolate Laced
Chocolate Cuckoo
Jubilee
Black Mottled
Lavender Mottled
Lemon
Lemon Cuckoo
Isabel
Isabel Laced
Isabel Cuckoo
Crele
Partridge
Blue Partridge
Red
Red Cuckoo
Silver Laced
Golden Laced
** is there such a thing as a Wheaten Orpington?? Or do they fall under the Buff colors?

There could be a few colors I am missing, but these are varieties and types I will be able to get or I am getting them this year.

*Some i listed knowing are true breed colors(Buff, Black, Lavender, white.) and some i listed knowing they do not breed true (Blue and Splash)
But even for those that breed true, is it just breeding the best to the best, or should you cross with another color to continue bringing in the right shades?

*I haven't seen this type out there for the orpingtons yet, then again I haven't specifically looked. But for the blue/Splash Laced Wyandotte color, i want to get that onto an Orpington, so i had two ideas i remember reading blue/Splash Wyandottes came from crossing silver laced x golden laced, so could that work for the orpingtons crossing silver laced x golden laced? Or would it be better to breed a Splash laced/blue laced to either blue/Splash orpingtons or blue/Splash Laced wyandottes to silver or golden laced orpingtons?

* Okay I need help understanding the barring gene and how it works, I've tried to read and reread some information on it and I just end up confusing myself, from what I understood of the barring gene is that females are usually darker because they have a single barring gene and Males are lighter because they have a double, so double = more white = lighter, and the opposite for the females which is why they are darker. But then I've read about jf both male and female have x2 barring they will produce 100% barred female and males, but then if you cross a double barred to a single barred the ratio starts changing, and then if you do barred to solid it can do half and half or a different ratio, all of which I don't understand how can you tell if a female or male has a double barring gene?
I'm asking because I am raising up black cuckoo orpington hens(unfortunately didn't hatch any males) and black orpington roosters and hens, if it have a solid male over barred females, will all the barred chicks be female and then the solids could be either male or female, or is there a chance i could get a male barred orpington?

* now with all this information for pens and crossing for certain coats/colors, would most of these tips or advice apply to other breeds IE Marans, and Ameraucanas or do they each have their own rules and guidelines for getting certain colors/types?

If you have made it this far and did not give up on reading then bless you! Because I understand it's probably a lot and if anyone has some answers if not all, then any answers will be better then none!

Thank you all already and have a great day!

 

[Amer]

Blue isn't from blackxwhite, it's from blackxsplash. Blue is best bred to blue if you want to produce the most precise dark edging though. It's no good breeding a blue with great lacing genetics to a black with terrible ones (that you can't see because it's totally black.) You just don't know what edging genetics a black has. It could be great but it might not be.
I don't believe there is such a thing as a "lemon" Orpington (lemon cuckoo is just buff cuckoo.)
Every other color you listed here breeds true except the blue partridge. I guess I'd recommend breeding those with regular partridge because edging in this variety is less important (unless you want to get splash partridge.)
The Wheaten base is present in buffs but I have no idea if anyone has isolated wheaten as a variety.
But even for those that breed true, is it just breeding the best to the best, or should you cross with another color to continue bringing in the right shades?
Breed best to best.

*I haven't seen this type out there for the orpingtons yet, then again I haven't specifically looked. But for the blue/Splash Laced Wyandotte color, i want to get that onto an Orpington, so i had two ideas i remember reading blue/Splash Wyandottes came from crossing silver laced x golden laced, (that would be impossible) so could that work for the orpingtons crossing silver laced x golden laced? Or would it be better to breed a Splash laced/blue laced to either blue/Splash orpingtons or blue/Splash Laced wyandottes to silver or golden laced orpingtons?
You could cross blue Partridge Orpingtons with laced Orpingtons. Or you could use Wyandottes, though breeding away from the yellow skin can be tricky.

Okay I need help understanding the barring gene and how it works, I've tried to read and reread some information on it and I just end up confusing myself, from what I understood of the barring gene is that females are usually darker because they have a single barring gene and Males are lighter because they have a double, so double = more white = lighter, and the opposite for the females which is why they are darker. But then I've read about jf both male and female have x2 barring they will produce 100% barred female and males, but then if you cross a double barred to a single barred the ratio starts changing, and then if you do barred to solid it can do half and half or a different ratio, all of which I don't understand how can you tell if a female or male has a double barring gene?
Chickens have ZW sex chromosomes. (Which work the opposite way from XY)
Female chickens have ZW and males have ZZ.
Barring is on the Z chromosome. Since males have two Z chromosomes they can get a double copy of barring which will make them lighter. However, if they have only barring allele, they will be just as dark as a barred female.
Barred females are only ever single barred since they only have one Z chromosome.
Double barred males to single barred females produce all barred offspring since all offspring can only ever recieve a copy from its parent.
However, Single barred males to single barred females will produce double barred males (recieving a barred Z from both parents)
single barred males (recieving the only Z from mom (which is barred) and the nonbarred Z from dad)
single barred females (getting a barred Z from dad)
non-barred females (getting a non-barred Z from dad)

 

[BuergsChickens]

Blue isn't from blackxwhite, it's from blackxsplash. Blue is best bred to blue if you want to produce the most precise dark edging though. It's no good breeding a blue with great lacing genetics to a black with terrible ones (that you can't see because it's totally black.) You just don't know what edging genetics a black has. It could be great but it might not be.
I don't believe there is such a thing as a "lemon" Orpington (lemon cuckoo is just buff cuckoo.)
Every other color you listed here breeds true except the blue partridge. I guess I'd recommend breeding those with regular partridge because edging in this variety is less important (unless you want to get splash partridge.)
The Wheaten base is present in buffs but I have no idea if anyone has isolated wheaten as a variety.
But even for those that breed true, is it just breeding the best to the best, or should you cross with another color to continue bringing in the right shades?
Breed best to best.

*I haven't seen this type out there for the orpingtons yet, then again I haven't specifically looked. But for the blue/Splash Laced Wyandotte color, i want to get that onto an Orpington, so i had two ideas i remember reading blue/Splash Wyandottes came from crossing silver laced x golden laced, (that would be impossible) so could that work for the orpingtons crossing silver laced x golden laced? Or would it be better to breed a Splash laced/blue laced to either blue/Splash orpingtons or blue/Splash Laced wyandottes to silver or golden laced orpingtons?
You could cross blue Partridge Orpingtons with laced Orpingtons. Or you could use Wyandottes, though breeding away from the yellow skin can be tricky.

Okay I need help understanding the barring gene and how it works, I've tried to read and reread some information on it and I just end up confusing myself, from what I understood of the barring gene is that females are usually darker because they have a single barring gene and Males are lighter because they have a double, so double = more white = lighter, and the opposite for the females which is why they are darker. But then I've read about jf both male and female have x2 barring they will produce 100% barred female and males, but then if you cross a double barred to a single barred the ratio starts changing, and then if you do barred to solid it can do half and half or a different ratio, all of which I don't understand how can you tell if a female or male has a double barring gene?
Chickens have ZW sex chromosomes. (Which work the opposite way from XY)
Female chickens have ZW and males have ZZ.
Barring is on the Z chromosome. Since males have two Z chromosomes they can get a double copy of barring which will make them lighter. However, if they have only barring allele, they will be just as dark as a barred female.
Barred females are only ever single barred since they only have one Z chromosome.
Double barred males to single barred females produce all barred offspring since all offspring can only ever recieve a copy from its parent.
However, Single barred males to single barred females will produce double barred males (recieving a barred Z from both parents)
single barred males (recieving the only Z from mom (which is barred) and the nonbarred Z from dad)
single barred females (getting a barred Z from dad)
non-barred females (getting a non-barred Z from dad)

Thanks for responding first of all! It's appreciated!

* I thought if you bred white to black and then the offspring back to black you would get blue?(from somewhere i read) My plan is to do blue to blue, as I am able to get blue orpington chicks.

*I know Lemon is technically a buff, but it's more on the lighter yellow shade, it was more for my terminology I guess though Genetically there probably isn't much of a difference.

* Okay my primary focus will be to breed best to best.
I know someone who breeds Isabel Cuckoo orpingtons and said every 2nd year you need to breed to a crele to keep the Isabel Cuckoo gene looking good, which is what had me question if there were other types/colors i would need to do that with.

*See I didn't see nor understood how breeding and silver laced to a golden laced would produce splash laced red Wyandotte.
I'll have to play around with the idea some more and see if I can come up with a better plan for a Splash/Blue Laced Red Orpington.

*See this is the first time someone explained the barring gene on the sex chromosomes, but with you explaining it that why, I understand it a lot more! So thank you very much

Now I have more questions that maybe you can answer? But I will include those additional questions in a second reply so hopefully not to Clutter everything as much.

 

[BuergsChickens]

Okay, so I am new to chickens, or sort of, I am definitely new to breeding and genetics, I am obsessed with the orpingtons primarily (Marans and Ameraucana's are right up there as well)
I've been doing a lot of research into genetics and I do have a basic understanding of genetics, though sometimes the science-y words can be a bit overwhelming for me to fully get it. So bare with me with all questions.

I want to breed all different types of orpingtons, some I understand breed true, while others you need to breed back to certain colors in order to get a specific type. Ie lavender is a breed true, while blue is from black X white pairings, then usually back to black, or at least from what I've read.
Here are the list of colors/types i would like to know what breeds true and what doesn't and then I'll follow up with some specific questions at the end.

Types:
Buff
Cuckoo
Black
Black Cuckoo
White
Lavender
Lavender Cuckoo
Blue
Splash
Chocolate
Chocolate Laced
Chocolate Cuckoo
Jubilee
Black Mottled
Lavender Mottled
Lemon
Lemon Cuckoo
Isabel
Isabel Laced
Isabel Cuckoo
Crele
Partridge
Blue Partridge
Red
Red Cuckoo
Silver Laced
Golden Laced
** is there such a thing as a Wheaten Orpington?? Or do they fall under the Buff colors?

There could be a few colors I am missing, but these are varieties and types I will be able to get or I am getting them this year.

*Some i listed knowing are true breed colors(Buff, Black, Lavender, white.) and some i listed knowing they do not breed true (Blue and Splash)
But even for those that breed true, is it just breeding the best to the best, or should you cross with another color to continue bringing in the right shades?

*I haven't seen this type out there for the orpingtons yet, then again I haven't specifically looked. But for the blue/Splash Laced Wyandotte color, i want to get that onto an Orpington, so i had two ideas i remember reading blue/Splash Wyandottes came from crossing silver laced x golden laced, so could that work for the orpingtons crossing silver laced x golden laced? Or would it be better to breed a Splash laced/blue laced to either blue/Splash orpingtons or blue/Splash Laced wyandottes to silver or golden laced orpingtons?

* Okay I need help understanding the barring gene and how it works, I've tried to read and reread some information on it and I just end up confusing myself, from what I understood of the barring gene is that females are usually darker because they have a single barring gene and Males are lighter because they have a double, so double = more white = lighter, and the opposite for the females which is why they are darker. But then I've read about jf both male and female have x2 barring they will produce 100% barred female and males, but then if you cross a double barred to a single barred the ratio starts changing, and then if you do barred to solid it can do half and half or a different ratio, all of which I don't understand how can you tell if a female or male has a double barring gene?
I'm asking because I am raising up black cuckoo orpington hens(unfortunately didn't hatch any males) and black orpington roosters and hens, if it have a solid male over barred females, will all the barred chicks be female and then the solids could be either male or female, or is there a chance i could get a male barred orpington?

* now with all this information for pens and crossing for certain coats/colors, would most of these tips or advice apply to other breeds IE Marans, and Ameraucanas or do they each have their own rules and guidelines for getting certain colors/types?

If you have made it this far and did not give up on reading then bless you! Because I understand it's probably a lot and if anyone has some answers if not all, then any answers will be better then none!

Thank you all already and have a great day!

Okay so the additional questions/clarifying questions are:

*So because of the barring gene being on the sex chromosomes. Breeding my barred black orpington to my solid black orpington, I should be able to get either black barred females or black single barred males? Which if i bred those single barred males back to my barred females, it would have those offspring males back to a double barred?

* I have a couple Chocolate barred orpingtons both hens and roosters, so if I breed them together I will get chocolate barred offspring, would it be better for me to breed my chocolate barred males to my black barred females for the double barring in the offspring? Will I get half chocolate barred and half black barred babies or will I get more barred then chocolate?

*I want to produce Buff Cuckoo orpingtons, it's one of the few I don't have around me that I can buy from already existing stock. What would be the simplest way for me to get a buff barred. I currently have Buff orpingtons, as well as Black and Chocolate cuckoo, what i am getting though are Isabel Cuckoo, Lavender cuckoo, and red cuckoos would it be best to breed a buff over just the red cuckoos? Or should I have a buff cover a few of those types of Cuckoo orpingtons? As i thought the Isabel carry both a diluted black and red gene, and was curious if the chocolate or Lavender cuckoo would allow the buff to come through, but curious if it would just be best to keep breeding it between red Cuckoo and buff, or if the other colors would be good to include.

*when breeding for a certain mix between two types of chicks, does it matter if the hens or the roosters are a specific type? Like breeding for blue, would it matter if it's a Splash rooster covering black hens, or a black rooster coving Splash hens, like would the offspring come out similar or would it see big difference in the offspring, I could even use the example of an orpington over an ameraucana, would the EE chicks look more like 1 parent or the other based off of who the mom/dad is, like take on more of one breeds traits over the other, like if I wanted a specific feather color, would it be better to have the rooster or the hens as the color type, and then the other one as the body type?

*So I am curious about the genetic dominance in patterns. So I know there is solid, laced, Mottled/speckled, barred, pencil, Partridge, there are probably more, but if I crossed different patterns of the same color, would there be some patterns where that would be dominant or would you start getting mixed patterns of these types?

*for dominance in colors, I know there is black, white, and red, but then there is diluted red, and diluted black, and some colors you need two recessive genes to get it, while others you only need 1 dominant gene, is there any great resources that explains the dominant and recessive colors and their genes? I've seen some articles, but haven't found any yet that have a complete guide, more so specifically for orpingtons (assuming there are different genetic rules for orpingtons, compared to other breeds)

* I have a solid chocolate orpington rooster and I was going to breed him over my chocolate hens, but I also have 2 chocolate laced hens and 1 silver laced hen, unfortunately with no male laced orpington. So if I breed my chocolate solid over my 3 laced hens, would i just get solid babies or would there be chances at chocolate laced babies?

*For the Jubilee orpingtons and the Mottled orpingtons, I know the Jubilee is supposed to be a nice Mahogany red, but if someone covered their Jubilee hens with a black Mottled orpington, would they get either the Jubilee or the Mottled look or would they all come out Mottled? Or a darker red almost black look?

 

[Amer]

*I know Lemon is technically a buff, but it's more on the lighter yellow shade, it was more for my terminology I guess though Genetically there probably isn't much of a difference.

It's possible they are calling buff Orpingtons that are diluted by the Lemon gene "lemon", but a google search yielded only the buff barred birds so I decided it didn't exist. But Google doesn't show everything.

*So because of the barring gene being on the sex chromosomes. Breeding my barred black orpington to my solid black orpington, I should be able to get either black barred females or black single barred males? Which if i bred those single barred males back to my barred females, it would have those offspring males back to a double barred?

With a black male over barred females you'll get single barred males and black females but breeding the sons back to their mothers will produce some double barred males.

* I have a couple Chocolate barred orpingtons both hens and roosters, so if I breed them together I will get chocolate barred offspring, would it be better for me to breed my chocolate barred males to my black barred females for the double barring in the offspring? Will I get half chocolate barred and half black barred babies or will I get more barred then chocolate?

Is your goal to get double barred black males? Double barred chocolate males plus barred black females will produce barred chocolate daughters and double barred black sons (carrying chocolate.) Chocolate is sexlinked recessive.

would it be best to breed a buff over just the red cuckoos?

Yes

*when breeding for a certain mix between two types of chicks, does it matter if the hens or the roosters are a specific type? Like breeding for blue, would it matter if it's a Splash rooster covering black hens, or a black rooster coving Splash hens, like would the offspring come out similar or would it see big difference in the offspring, I could even use the example of an orpington over an ameraucana, would the EE chicks look more like 1 parent or the other based off of who the mom/dad is, like take on more of one breeds traits over the other, like if I wanted a specific feather color, would it be better to have the rooster or the hens as the color type, and then the other one as the body type?

This only has an effect in certain instances. In general, however, the male will have more of an effect than the female (due to sexlinked genes).

*So I am curious about the genetic dominance in patterns. So I know there is solid, laced, Mottled/speckled, barred, pencil, Partridge, there are probably more, but if I crossed different patterns of the same color, would there be some patterns where that would be dominant or would you start getting mixed patterns of these types?

These all have different genes involved with various dominance levels so I can't really answer such a generic question.

*for dominance in colors, I know there is black, white, and red, but then there is diluted red, and diluted black, and some colors you need two recessive genes to get it, while others you only need 1 dominant gene, is there any great resources that explains the dominant and recessive colors and their genes? I've seen some articles, but haven't found any yet that have a complete guide, more so specifically for orpingtons (assuming there are different genetic rules for orpingtons, compared to other breeds)

Genetics work the same for all breeds
Check out the link in my signature and also here and here

* I have a solid chocolate orpington rooster and I was going to breed him over my chocolate hens, but I also have 2 chocolate laced hens and 1 silver laced hen, unfortunately with no male laced orpington. So if I breed my chocolate solid over my 3 laced hens, would i just get solid babies or would there be chances at chocolate laced babies?

You'd get solid babies with some color leakage that vaguely resembles lacing.

*For the Jubilee orpingtons and the Mottled orpingtons, I know the Jubilee is supposed to be a nice Mahogany red, but if someone covered their Jubilee hens with a black Mottled orpington, would they get either the Jubilee or the Mottled look or would they all come out Mottled? Or a darker red almost black look?

They'd come out black mottled with red leakage

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Okay, so I am new to chickens, or sort of, I am definitely new to breeding and genetics, I am obsessed with the orpingtons primarily (Marans and Ameraucana's are right up there as well)
I've been doing a lot of research into genetics and I do have a basic understanding of genetics, though sometimes the science-y words can be a bit overwhelming for me to fully get it. So bare with me with all questions.

I want to breed all different types of orpingtons, some I understand breed true, while others you need to breed back to certain colors in order to get a specific type. Ie lavender is a breed true, while blue is from black X white pairings, then usually back to black, or at least from what I've read.
Here are the list of colors/types i would like to know what breeds true and what doesn't and then I'll follow up with some specific questions at the end.

Types:
Buff
Cuckoo
Black
Black Cuckoo
White
Lavender
Lavender Cuckoo
Blue
Splash
Chocolate
Chocolate Laced
Chocolate Cuckoo
Jubilee
Black Mottled
Lavender Mottled
Lemon
Lemon Cuckoo
Isabel
Isabel Laced
Isabel Cuckoo
Crele
Partridge
Blue Partridge
Red
Red Cuckoo
Silver Laced
Golden Laced
** is there such a thing as a Wheaten Orpington?? Or do they fall under the Buff colors?

There could be a few colors I am missing, but these are varieties and types I will be able to get or I am getting them this year.

*Some i listed knowing are true breed colors(Buff, Black, Lavender, white.) and some i listed knowing they do not breed true (Blue and Splash)
But even for those that breed true, is it just breeding the best to the best, or should you cross with another color to continue bringing in the right shades?

*I haven't seen this type out there for the orpingtons yet, then again I haven't specifically looked. But for the blue/Splash Laced Wyandotte color, i want to get that onto an Orpington, so i had two ideas i remember reading blue/Splash Wyandottes came from crossing silver laced x golden laced, so could that work for the orpingtons crossing silver laced x golden laced? Or would it be better to breed a Splash laced/blue laced to either blue/Splash orpingtons or blue/Splash Laced wyandottes to silver or golden laced orpingtons?

* Okay I need help understanding the barring gene and how it works, I've tried to read and reread some information on it and I just end up confusing myself, from what I understood of the barring gene is that females are usually darker because they have a single barring gene and Males are lighter because they have a double, so double = more white = lighter, and the opposite for the females which is why they are darker. But then I've read about jf both male and female have x2 barring they will produce 100% barred female and males, but then if you cross a double barred to a single barred the ratio starts changing, and then if you do barred to solid it can do half and half or a different ratio, all of which I don't understand how can you tell if a female or male has a double barring gene?
I'm asking because I am raising up black cuckoo orpington hens(unfortunately didn't hatch any males) and black orpington roosters and hens, if it have a solid male over barred females, will all the barred chicks be female and then the solids could be either male or female, or is there a chance i could get a male barred orpington?

* now with all this information for pens and crossing for certain coats/colors, would most of these tips or advice apply to other breeds IE Marans, and Ameraucanas or do they each have their own rules and guidelines for getting certain colors/types?

If you have made it this far and did not give up on reading then bless you! Because I understand it's probably a lot and if anyone has some answers if not all, then any answers will be better then none!

Thank you all already and have a great day!

ok. solid male over Barred female means link. all males will be Barred. all females will be solid.
that is because barring is on the male gene. roosters have male gene + male gene, and hens have male gene + female gene.
so all females will have a copy of the solid male gene and solid female gene, and look solid. all males will have a solid male gene, and a copy of the Barred gene, which is always male, and will therefore be single Barred.

 

[BuergsChickens]

It's possible they are calling buff Orpingtons that are diluted by the Lemon gene "lemon", but a google search yielded only the buff barred birds so I decided it didn't exist. But Google doesn't show everything.

With a black male over barred females you'll get single barred males and black females but breeding the sons back to their mothers will produce some double barred males.

Is your goal to get double barred black males? Double barred chocolate males plus barred black females will produce barred chocolate daughters and double barred black sons (carrying chocolate.) Chocolate is sexlinked recessive.

Yes

This only has an effect in certain instances. In general, however, the male will have more of an effect than the female (due to sexlinked genes).

These all have different genes involved with various dominance levels so I can't really answer such a generic question.

Genetics work the same for all breeds
Check out the link in my signature and also here and here

You'd get solid babies with some color leakage that vaguely resembles lacing.

They'd come out black mottled with red leakage

That's fair! I mean I just assumed that there might be a "lemon" color, but i also know that sometimes one will call a certain chicken one name and another will call it another name, but still the same bird at the end of the day, like Spangled or Mottled, or silver laced / Black Laced Orpingtons..

*thanks! So since the barring gene is on the Z chromosome, females that are barred can't pass on the barring gene to female chicks, so the only way to get a barred hen from a solid hen, is to have the rooster cover the solid hens, and then the barred chicks (all single barred) would need to be bred back to a barred rooster to double up the barring gene on the males?

* Yes my goal is to get double barred black orpingtons, the only breeder in my province/area does a Combo pen between solid chocolates, solid blacks, and then chocolate barred, and Black Barred, but my goals is to be able to offer separate colors for people who want a certain pattern, so I want to use her stock as my base, but also be able to add genetic diversity to my birds without compromising their patterns/appearances.

*Thank you, I will go check out the resources! Unfortunately I'm unsure how to make the questions more specific, but I do imagine there is a loaded response opposed to a simply one

* Ah okay, I was afraid that would be the answer for the chocolates

* thanks you! I thought that would be the case, I'll have to let my friend knows, but before I said anything I wanted to double check!

 

[BuergsChickens]

ok. solid male over Barred female means link. all males will be Barred. all females will be solid.
that is because barring is on the male gene. roosters have male gene + male gene, and hens have male gene + female gene.
so all females will have a copy of the solid male gene and solid female gene, and look solid. all males will have a solid male gene, and a copy of the Barred gene, which is always male, and will therefore be single Barred.

So because the female barred only has one Z, every male chick will be a single barred chick, there will be no solid males? That will help with my breeding project! So I find this useful! Thank you!

 

[Amer]

*thanks! So since the barring gene is on the Z chromosome, females that are barred can't pass on the barring gene to female chicks, so the only way to get a barred hen from a solid hen, is to have the rooster cover the solid hens, and then the barred chicks (all single barred) would need to be bred back to a barred rooster to double up the barring gene on the males?

Breeding a single barred male with solid females produces barred and solid females.
Breeding a double barred male with a solid female produces barred females.
In other words, with sexlinked genes the hen's genetics has no effect on daughters genetics.

 

[kwarren6271]

Okay, so I am new to chickens, or sort of, I am definitely new to breeding and genetics, I am obsessed with the orpingtons primarily (Marans and Ameraucana's are right up there as well)
I've been doing a lot of research into genetics and I do have a basic understanding of genetics, though sometimes the science-y words can be a bit overwhelming for me to fully get it. So bare with me with all questions.

I want to breed all different types of orpingtons, some I understand breed true, while others you need to breed back to certain colors in order to get a specific type. Ie lavender is a breed true, while blue is from black X white pairings, then usually back to black, or at least from what I've read.
Here are the list of colors/types i would like to know what breeds true and what doesn't and then I'll follow up with some specific questions at the end.

Types:
Buff
Cuckoo
Black
Black Cuckoo
White
Lavender
Lavender Cuckoo
Blue
Splash
Chocolate
Chocolate Laced
Chocolate Cuckoo
Jubilee
Black Mottled
Lavender Mottled
Lemon
Lemon Cuckoo
Isabel
Isabel Laced
Isabel Cuckoo
Crele
Partridge
Blue Partridge
Red
Red Cuckoo
Silver Laced
Golden Laced
** is there such a thing as a Wheaten Orpington?? Or do they fall under the Buff colors?

There could be a few colors I am missing, but these are varieties and types I will be able to get or I am getting them this year.

*Some i listed knowing are true breed colors(Buff, Black, Lavender, white.) and some i listed knowing they do not breed true (Blue and Splash)
But even for those that breed true, is it just breeding the best to the best, or should you cross with another color to continue bringing in the right shades?

*I haven't seen this type out there for the orpingtons yet, then again I haven't specifically looked. But for the blue/Splash Laced Wyandotte color, i want to get that onto an Orpington, so i had two ideas i remember reading blue/Splash Wyandottes came from crossing silver laced x golden laced, so could that work for the orpingtons crossing silver laced x golden laced? Or would it be better to breed a Splash laced/blue laced to either blue/Splash orpingtons or blue/Splash Laced wyandottes to silver or golden laced orpingtons?

* Okay I need help understanding the barring gene and how it works, I've tried to read and reread some information on it and I just end up confusing myself, from what I understood of the barring gene is that females are usually darker because they have a single barring gene and Males are lighter because they have a double, so double = more white = lighter, and the opposite for the females which is why they are darker. But then I've read about jf both male and female have x2 barring they will produce 100% barred female and males, but then if you cross a double barred to a single barred the ratio starts changing, and then if you do barred to solid it can do half and half or a different ratio, all of which I don't understand how can you tell if a female or male has a double barring gene?
I'm asking because I am raising up black cuckoo orpington hens(unfortunately didn't hatch any males) and black orpington roosters and hens, if it have a solid male over barred females, will all the barred chicks be female and then the solids could be either male or female, or is there a chance i could get a male barred orpington?

* now with all this information for pens and crossing for certain coats/colors, would most of these tips or advice apply to other breeds IE Marans, and Ameraucanas or do they each have their own rules and guidelines for getting certain colors/types?

If you have made it this far and did not give up on reading then bless you! Because I understand it's probably a lot and if anyone has some answers if not all, then any answers will be better then none!

Thank you all already and have a great day!

How barring was explained to me and I've proven to be true is this....
Males have double barring because the females give one barring gene only to male offspring while the rooster gives one barring gene to all of his offspring.

As far as mixing patterns....you can get some really cool stuff doing that. Ex: Crele x Gold Laced, breed female offspring (F1) back to the Crele rooster. Then breed the male offspring (F2) of that mix back to gold laced...keep females (F3)and breed them back to the (F2) rooster....you'll have Candy Corn Orpingtons.

I do all the crazy mixing on the off season so I learn how each color and pattern reacts with another. Just know that you have to get really good stock to mix things up. I made the Candy Corn but the Crele boy I used was carrying the Chocolate gene and it was expressed in his female offspring...so I had to terminate that project.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask, I'm always happy to help