Buffs in my black gold flock

[bryngyld]

I bred my black gold bantam hens (and brown red large fowl hen) to a large buff rooster.  I don\'t know what offspring to keep.  I got a few dark legs, so I can cull the lighter legs and chicks without muffs and beards, but I have some variation in the buff color, too.  Do I look for lacing in the buffs?  I also have a creamy buff.  This creamy buff was my cafe aulait chick with chocolatey legs.

[Mike Gilbert]

I would guess the top bird to be a splash blue gold, but I don\'t know what cafe aulait is as I don\'t speak or write French.
The bottom one I have no clue.  It appears to be some kind of white.   Not sure why you would have crossed in buff on your black golds?   What were you trying to accomplish?

[John]

Do I look for lacing in the buffs?

No.  Look for even color...the most even buff in both males and females.  You don\'t want white, black or blue feathers, but only buff.  Although some buffs are lighter or darker than others as long as it is an even buff you can work with it.  Also avoid buff that are really red, not buff.  Check out the under color of the feathers and feather shafts also.  They should be buff too, so cull if they are white or grey.  
The buff to brown red should give you something to start with in developing LF black gold and if there is a lacing gene there it is all the better to work with.
The bird in the bottom photo looks \"smoky\" to me.  

[bryngyld]

I crossed the buff large fowl rooster with the bantam black gold hens to try another pathway to get black gold large fowl.  Everything looks buff (bantam and large fowl) so I will have to see what the next generation brings.

Very interesting that I might have a splash blue gold.  The two blues weren\'t together very long.  

I have a wide range of buff coloring, but I don\'t know exactly what making sure they aren\'t red means.   Part of one of the darker buffs is in one of the photos.  Is that dark buff still buff and not red?

I meant \"cream in your coffee\" by saying cafe aulait.  I have three or four of these smoky critters.  How close is it to lavender?

[John]

Is that dark buff still buff and not red?

Yes.
smoky critters. How close is it to lavender?

There is no relationship that I know of.  Lavender is recessive and you need it on both sides to get it.  Smoky is incompletely dominant.  Did it come from your buffs?

[bryngyld]

I have to assume it came from the buff rooster I got from Jay.  I never had it before.  The hens were black gold.  It must be a smokey buff, I guess.  

Does the smokey cover brown red the same way or can you still see the faded colors?  But the buff rooster was vividly colored - not faded.  I could keep them a year and see if they produce the same color in their chicks.  

The color is fun.  The chicks are unusual - like chocolate milk.

One more question... when selecting for good solid color in the buff offspring, I am assuming that the first generation should be solid buff - not be showing the black gold characteristics... I shouldn\'t see blue or red until the next cross back to black gold (or each other)?  Then I would start selecting for black (or blue) gold?

[Guest]

They look to be dominant white. Hard to tell from the picture but they could be blue as mike said.

Tim

[John]

dominant white

The bird in the second photo could be dominant white as Tim said.  It could be a combo of dominant and recessive white too.  Dun and Smoky are just some other possibilities.
I\'ve raised them for several years and still don\'t know for sure what matings they originally came from.
I have experimented by mating them with some recognized varieties.