Chocolate V.S. Muave

If you’ve spent any time in chicken genetics groups or breeder circles, you’ve probably heard someone say, “This one might be mauve!” But what does that even mean?

Is mauve a gene? A color? A myth?
Let’s break it down.

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🟤 What Is the Chocolate Gene?

The chocolate gene is a sex-linked recessive mutation that dilutes black pigment (eumelanin) to a rich, warm chocolate-brown. It can appear in multiple breeds, including Silkies, and is highly desirable for breeders working with rare or unusual colors.

Because it’s sex-linked, it’s located on the Z chromosome — and chickens don’t have XY sex chromosomes like humans. Instead:

• Males are ZZ
  
• Females are ZW
  

This means:

• A male must have two copies of the chocolate gene to show chocolate coloring.
  
• A female only needs one copy to show the trait.
  

So if a male bird has just one copy, he won’t look chocolate — but he can pass it on.
This is why testing is so helpful: visual cues don’t tell the whole story.

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💙 So Then… What Is Mauve?

Here’s where it gets fun (and confusing).

Mauve is not a separate gene.
It’s what you get when a bird inherits both the chocolate gene and the blue gene.

The blue gene is a separate dilution gene — also known as the Bl gene.
On its own, it dilutes black to slate blue. Combine it with chocolate, and you get a cooler-toned, sometimes smoky brown-lavender mix that breeders call “mauve.”

It’s a double dilution.

So the recipe for mauve looks like this:

Blue gene (Bl/bl+) + Chocolate gene → Mauve coloration

Mauve birds often appear lighter and more muted than chocolate birds. But here’s the catch — without knowing what genes they actually carry, you might confuse a lighter chocolate for a poorly expressed mauve (or vice versa).

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👀 Why You Can’t Rely on Visuals Alone

Feather color can be deceptive. Lighting, molting, age, and feather type (especially in Silkies) all change how a color looks. You might think you have a mauve pullet… but she could just be a light chocolate. Or maybe she’s not chocolate at all — just blue on poor background genetics.

Here’s a quick example:

Genotype	Appearance	Notes
bl+/bl+, ch+/ch+	Black	Wild type
Bl/bl+, ch+/ch+	Blue	1 copy of blue gene
bl+/bl+, ch/ch	Chocolate	Males need 2 copies
Bl/bl+, ch/ch	Mauve	Double dilution
Bl/bl+, ch+/ch	Carrier (male)	Can pass chocolate, won’t show it
bl+/bl+, ch+/ch	Carrier (male)	Again — no visual clue

Only genetic testing can tell you if your bird:

• Is carrying chocolate but not showing it
  
• Has 1 or 2 copies
  
  

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🧬 Why the Sex of Your Bird Matters in All of This

Let’s say you have a cockerel that looks mauve. But he could just be blue, and if he only has one copy of chocolate, he won’t express it visually. That’s because males must have two chocolate alleles to show the color.

So unless you know his sex-linked genotype, you may never breed what you’re aiming for.

DNA testing solves this.

We recommend doing two tests if you want to confirm mauve:

1. Chocolate Gene Test – reveals if the bird has 0, 1, or 2 copies
   
2. DNA Sexing Test – confirms if the bird is male or female, to interpret chocolate expression properly
   

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🔍 Want to Know What Your Birds Carry?

We’ve made it easy.

• ✅ Feather or blood-based testing
  
• ✅ Fast turnaround
  
• ✅ Trusted by breeders nationwide
  

👉 Order the Chocolate Gene Test » https://thesilkielab.com/product/dna-testing-chocolate-feather-gene/
👉 Need to know the sex first? Get a DNA Bird Sexing Test » https://thesilkielab.com/product-category/dnagender/