Orpington Chicken become one of the most favored chicken types among breeders. The reason is apparent: they can make a colorful flock. Plenty of Orpington colors exist, but the American Poultry Association recognizes only some. They acknowledge only four: buff, black, white, and blue. However, we all know that unrecognized Orpington varieties are so great. Colors like lavender, diamond jubilee, splash, etc., intrigued every breeder to try. If you want to know some colors of Orpington chickens, I will drop the color chart below.

• Mauve

  You can breed chocolate roosters and blue hens to produce a mauve Orpington. There are three available breeds kinds. See below:

  • Chocolate Roo x Blue Hen: These combinations can produce four possible color results, including mauve hen, blue split chocolate roo, chocolate hen, and black split chocolate roo.
  • Chocolate Roo x Blue Splash Hen: Combining this formula will result in two-color Orpingtons, including a mauve hen and blue split chocolate roo.
  • Blue split Chocolate Roo x Mauve Hen: After getting some unique unrecognized Orpington colors, you can breed them to get numerous new breeds. Some of the results are mauve roosters and black hens.
     

  

• Lavender

  Lavender Orpington is among the favorite types of Orpingtons. Aside from giving off striking color, they are also great in producing eggs. FYI, the lavender gene is recessive. In that sense, only Orpingtons with pure copies of the gene will look lavender. Many breeders tend to combine lavender with black Orpington. And these are what might happen if you cross them:

  • Lavender x Black: If only one carries the lavender gene, the result will be a standard color called split lavender orpingtons.
  • Lavender x Split Lavender: Remember that split lavender is a layer combination of lavender and black. That being said, the offspring will instead result in lavender or split (chance 50%). 
  • Black x Split Lavender: These two combination will result in either 50% black or 50% split. 
  • Split Lavender x Split Lavender: You can also try to breed split and split. The offspring may give you 50% of split, 25% of black, and 25% of lavender.

  

• Diamond Jubilee

  Did you know? Many have been looking for ways to breed Orpington to produce a Diamond Jubilee color. This rare breed was first created to commemorate the Queen of Victoria. For this reason, no one knows the exact formulation for breeding this color. Some say it comes from the cross of buffers, but no precise proof exists.

  Diamond Jubilee Orpingtons stand out with their unique mahogany-colored feathers with white splashes on their body. Thanks to their consistent egg supply, they are one of the favorite backyard flocks. You can hatch their egg to get this rare color instead of combining some coloration. It is a well-known method to maintain their production across generations.

  

• Blue

  Luckily, Blue Orpington has been recognized by APA. However, getting blue Orpingtons is relatively complicated due to the genetics of the blue color. FYI, a blue rooster and a blue hen will produce 50% blue chickens; the rest will be black and splash-colored. See the color combinations below:

  • Blue x Blue: This breeding will result in a 50% chance of blue and 25% black and splash chicks. 
  • Black x Blue: It will come out as 50% black and 50% blue chicks.
  • Black x Splash: The chicks will often appear blue if you breed a blue Orpington with a splash Orpington. That is just how all blue poetry genetics work. A combination of black and splash genes genetically creates the blue coloration.
  • Blue x Splash: When combined, the offspring may be 50% blue and 50% splash.

  

• Chocolate

  A chocolate chicken Orpington is another unique breed you must know. They have a friendly temperament and are slightly heavier than most Orpingtons. Here are the breeding combinations to get chocolate Orpington:

  • Chocolate Roo x Chocolate Hens: This will get you perfectly chocolate-colored chickens.
  • Black Roo x Chocolate Hens: Once you combine this, the offspring may consist of 50% black roos carrying chocolate and 50% black hens.
  • Chocolate Roo x Black Hens: This also results in 50% of black roos carrying chocolate, but you may have a 50% chance of getting a chocolate hen.

  

Conclusion

While combining some Orpington chicken color seems fun, you can’t just randomly breed any color. To get a color aligned with your preferences, there are chart combinations you can follow. I have listed them above, and I can’t wait for you to try those formulations!