Lavender is an exquisite and still relatively unusual color in chickens that is inherited as a recessive trait.
Denoted by the symbol “lav”, the lavender gene requires two copies to be expressed and this means lavender birds will breed true, producing 100 per cent lavender offspring.
This article will explore the genetics of lavender plumage in chickens including how to breed lavender chickens and the difference between lavender and blue.
Is The Lavender Gene In Chickens Dominant Or Recessive?
Lavender-colored feathers are caused by an autosomal recessive mutation in chickens that affects neural crest-derived melanocytes.
Let’s have all that in English:
“Autosomal” just means the gene involved is not located on a sex chromosome and therefore its inheritance is not affected by gender — it affects both sexes equally.
The neural crest is an embryonic cell type.
Melanocytes are cells that produce and contain the pigment known as melanin.
In chickens, just two types of melanin pigments account for all the various plumage colors we see today: black pigments (eumelanin) and red pigments (phaeomelanin).
The lavender gene causes the dilution of both black pigments (eumelanin) and red pigments (phaeomelanin).
It dilutes, or lightens, black to the pastel blue or light gray we call lavender.
(Note the lavender gene should not be confused with the blue gene. Lavender breeds true in chickens, whereas blue does not, involving a mix of blue, black and splash birds.)
In another beautiful permutation, the lavender gene also lightens red to a buff or creamy color known as isabel and red/orange to straw.
Cream Legbars with the lavender gene are referred to as Opal or Pearl Legbars, but can also be called Isabel Legbars, as the plumage color is the same as isabel.
These chickens are autosexing and lay blue eggs — pretty special!
Now to the recessive nature of the lavender gene.
Because lavender is inherited in a recessive fashion, two copies of the gene must be present (one inherited from each parent) for the color lavender to show in the phenotype (appearance) of the bird.
Chickens that are heterozygous for lavender (have only one copy of the lavender gene) are carriers but won’t look lavender.
Black birds, for instance, can carry the lavender gene (be “split” for lavender or heterozygous for the lavender gene) but they will look black.
These birds can be a useful step along the way of creating a lavender bird (as explained in the next section).
Heterozygotes may produce a percentage of lavender offspring if paired with another bird that is either lavender (hom*ozygous for the lavender gene) or not lavender but carriers one copy of the lavender gene.
A heterozygote paired with a lavender bird will result in lavender offspring 50 per cent of the time.
How To Breed A Lavender Chicken
The easiest way to breed lavender chickens is to start with lavender chickens.
If you have a lavender chicken, you know that bird is pure, or hom*ozygous, for the lavender gene (since lavender is only expressed in the phenotype when the bird has two copies in its genome).
If both parents are lavender i.e. both aacarry two copies of the lavender gene, they can each only pass lavender to their offspring.
This means all offspring will receive two copies of the lavender gene, and therefore also be lavender.
But what if you don’t already have lavender chickens and want to make them?
Or what if you have a lavender chicken of one breed but want to introduce the color into another breed?
You will need to get your lavender gene from somewhere, i.e. from a bird that is lavender, or at least carries the lavender gene, even if they are phenotypically black, say.
If you can’t get your hands on a lavender bird, two black birds that are “split” for lavender will produce a mix of black, split and lavender offspring.
You could then move forward with the lavender offspring, which would produce 100 per cent lavender chicks when bred together.
Likewise, if introducing lavender into one breed from another, you’ll ordinarily use a lavender bird of a breed with similar traits to your chosen breed, and cross them with a bird of your currently non-lavender breed.
This creates F1 (first generation) birds that are all split for lavender.
Then, by breeding the F1s together in the next generation, you can create some lavenders which then become your seed fowl, ready for for further refinement.
The challenge will be eliminating the other traits introduced by the outcross.
What Is The Shredder Gene In Chickens?
Although breeders aren’t exactly sure why, lavender plumage can be associated with some problems in chickens.
The lavender gene can come with a “shredder” effect, causing a ratty appearance due to a shrivelling or narrowing of the long feathers of the tail and wing.
This shredding is most pronounced in soft feathered breeds.
The linkage between lavender and feather shredding can be broken by careful selective breeding, to produce well feathered lavender birds.
Another defect associated with the lavender gene is the “shoulder patch” or “wing patch” where feathers stop growing on the shoulders, wing bows or tail.
The chick down looks normal but the problem becomes apparent when the first feathers develop.
The feathers start growing but after half an inch or so, the pin feathers seem to dry up in what’s called “feathering stop”.
According to Dutch breeder and amateur geneticist Sigrid van Dort this fault is very persistent and can ruin whole lines of birds.
Van Dort advises culling such birds.
This shoulder patch trait seems to be recessive and, notably, only expresses in males.
The sisters of roosters with shoulder patch will have normal feathering.
What Is The Difference Between Lavender And Self Blue In Chickens?
Lavender and self blue are actually two different descriptions of the same color in chickens.
Note, however, that the lavender gene is distinctly different to the blue gene.
Blue genetics in chickens work a very different way to lavender genetics.
Blue is an incompletely dominant gene, meaning it is not completely expressed over other alleles.
Rather, it produces a phenotype that is a combination of the two alleles.
Unlike lavender, blue does not breed true.
A blue bird crossed with a blue bird will produce 50 per cent blue offspring, 25 per cent black and 25 per cent splash.
Splash in chickens refers to a white or very muted gray with splotches of “splashes” of black.
100 per cent blue offspring are produced by a black x splash mating.
The incomplete dominance of the blue gene is why blue birds produced in a breeding pen of black, blue and splash birds are all a slightly different shade of blue.
Crossing lavender and blue birds is not recommended because the presence of both genes creates a further dilution, resulting in offspring that don’t adhere to the American Poultry Association standard for either lavender or blue varieties.
What Chicken Breeds Come In Lavender?
The origins of the lavender gene are not entirely clear.
According to some sources, it was first discovered in 1972 in Belgian D’Uccle bantams where it turned the “mille fleur” pattern into the “porcelain” variety.
Others point out that self blue was described as a standard color in the first ABA, Bantam Standard in 1965 when self blue Old English Games were admitted to the APA American Standard of Perfection.
Either from Belgian D’Uccles or other sources, the lavender gene has now been introduced into several breeds of chicken.
Lavender can be bred into any self-colored fowl (“self” just means the bird is totally that color).
Equally, lavender can be introduced into any kind of patterned bird, where lavender will replace black in the plumage.
Unlike the blue gene, the lavender gene will also affect red/brown plumage, turning it to cream/straw i.e. the non-standard but very pretty variety being called “isabel”.
Though still relatively rare compared to the more standard chicken colors, and considered special, quite a few breeds of chicken are fairly readily available in lavender, including:
- Lavender Orpingtons
- Lavender Araucanas
- Lavender Ameraucanas
- Lavender Polish
- Lavender Silkies
- Lavender Marans
- Lavender Pekins
- Lavender Wyandottes
- Lavender Cochin bantams
Not all breeds available in lavender are officially recognized in that variety.
Do Lavender Chickens Breed True?
Lavender chickens breed true because the recessive nature of the gene means all lavender birds are pure (hom*ozygous or lav/lav) for the lavender trait.
This means they can only pass the lavender gene to their offspring.
Therefore, when two lavender parents breed, all offspring will inherit one lavender gene from each parent, making them also hom*ozygous for lavender.
Sometimes lavender birds can show “leakage” e.g. straw-colored highlights on the hackle, wings and saddle of a lavender rooster.
This is a fault and due to the underlying base color (black for lavender) not being uniform.
The straw feathers are where the lavender gene has diluted feathers that would otherwise be red or gold.
Some keepers of lavender birds do like to breed their birds back to black chickens every so often, saying it improves feather quality.
It then takes some generations to breed the birds back to pure lavenders.
Until then, you’ll have black but “split for lavender” birds being produced.
There is now a DNA test for the lavender gene that will tell you whether a bird carries lavender.
Is Lavender A Recognized Color In Chickens?
Lavender is called “self blue” in the standard, and many breeds are accepted in that variety by both the American Poultry Association and the American Bantam Association.
Lavender has also been standardized by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, since at least 2014.
The color “isabel” (produced by the lavender gene’s effect on red/brown pigments) is not yet officially recognized in the United States.
Isabel chickens can be shown but as a “non-standard” variety.
They could only be judged against their own variety i.e. an Isabel chicken couldn’t compete for best of breed or a higher award.
Conclusion
The gene for lavender plumage is recessive, causing lavender plumage when two copies are present.
Birds that are lavender due to the presence of the lavender gene breed true — unlike blue-based lavenders which have completely different genetics and always produce a proportion of black and splash (white or muted gray with blue or black flecks) offspring.
The lavender gene can be associated with some problems including the shredder effect that can make tail and wing feathers look ratty.
But a well-bred lavender chicken? There’s nothing prettier.
References
Brumbaugh JA, Chatterjee G, Hollander WF: Adendritic melanocytes: a mutation in linkage group II of the fowl. J Hered 1972, 63:19-25
Crawford, RoyPoultry Breeding and Genetics, Elsevier, 1990
Helton, Lindsay, The Blue Gene and Breeding Poultry, American Poultry Association, 2021
Vaez M, Follett SA, Bed’hom B, Gourichon D, Tixier-Boichard M, Burke T. A single point-mutation within the melanophilin gene causes the lavender plumage colour dilution phenotype in the chicken. BMC Genet. 2008 Jan 15;9:7
Van Dort, Sigrid and Hancox, David et al, Genetics of Chicken Colors, Tuinvee, Netherlands, 2011
