Last year I paired a normal Cobalt cock to an Opaline Violet hen and got 14 youngsters. Each youngster was either a Cobalt of a visual Violet, no Skys or Mauves were produced. In fact, 11 Cobalts and 3 Violets was the final outcome.

Since the genetics of the youngsters are purely due to chance, this is a possible outcome (on average of the youngsters produced there should be 1/4 Sky, 1/2 Cobalt & 1/4 Mauve with a half of each being Violet as well). So out of 14 youngsters, 3 or 4 Skys, 7 Cobalts and 3 or 4 Mauves would the average. It could be that some of the Cobalts are really Violet Skys as only a close inspection can tell them apart, but why are there no Mauves?

One possibility is that the pair that bred them are not what they appear to be, the Cobalt cock could be a Violet Sky? Or is the hen a DF Violet Sky, or are both Sky Blues with Violet factors in single and double forms?

I'm not sure I care too much about what the answer is, but eventually I would like to breed some Mauves!