Breeders and fanciers of chickens accurately describe the colours and patterns of the feathers of chicken breeds and varieties. This is a list of the terms used in this context.
Self Self-coloured chickens are those which display one solid colour without patterning of any kind.
Colour Cock Hen Notes Black Green iridescence is desired for "beetle black" show chickens. Blue Sumatra dark blue-laced Andalusian Splash or Blue Splashed White Sumatra Silkie Splash is the homozygous form of Blue Buff Lavender Red lavender Red Red is the intensified version of Buff White Silkie
Barred and cuckoo Colour Cock Hen Notes Barred Barred Rock Hen Divided into Dark and Light in Australian Plymouth Rocks Crele The cuckoo pattern with black-breasted red pigmentation Silver Cuckoo Golden Cuckoo
Columbian, belted Colour Cock Hen Notes White Columbian Sundheimer Called 'light' in the Brahma and Sussex Buff Columbian Golden Belted Belted resembles Columbian but the head and neck are solid black, not merely striped Silver Belted
Duckwing Colour Cock Hen Notes Golden Duckwing Blue Golden Duckwing Silver Duckwing Blue Silver Duckwing Fawn Silver Duckwing
Laced Colour Cock Hen Notes Black Laced not used; black-laced plumage is named after the red series colour instead: "golden laced" for black and red, "citron laced" for black and buff, "silver laced" for black and white Blue Laced Blue Laced Red Buff Laced also known as Chamois Golden Laced Sebright Silver Laced
Pencilled Colour Cock Hen Notes Birchen Sometimes called Grey in Japanese bantams. Golden Pencilled Silver Pencilled Yellow Pencilled Sometimes called Chamois Pencilled in Friesian chickens.
Mottled, spangled, mille fleur Colour Cock Hen Notes Black Mottled (chicks other color) Blue Mottled other mottled red lavender Citron Spangled Golden Spangled Silver Spangled Mille Fleur mahogany Orpington couple Sussex chick Called 'speckled' in the Sussex, 'jubilee' in the Orpington. Lemon Mille Fleur Porcelain lavender porcelain lavender porcelain A diluted version of Mille Fleur
Black-tailed Colour Cock Hen Notes Black-tailed Buff Black-tailed White Black-tailed red
Black-breasted Colour Cock Hen Notes Black Breasted Red Blue Breasted Red Partridge Wheaten Blue Wheaten
Others
Colour Cock Hen Notes Brassy Back Blue Brassy Back Blue Light Brown Blue-red Brown Brown Red Sometimes called Gold Birchen. Coloured Coronation Cream Light Brown Dark brown Exchequer only in the Leghorn Ginger Red Golden Neck Golden-necked mille fleur Gray Lemon Blue Light Brown Pyle Alternatively spelt Pile. Red Pyle Quail Salmon Silver Blue Silver Gray Splash Tolbunt Seen only in Polish chickens White Laced Red Chocolate Rare; bred in Orpington bantams in the 1990s
References All About Chickens: All the chicken colours under the sun. Archived 6 June 2012.
J. Ian H. Allonby, Philippe B. Wilson (editors) (2018). British Poultry Standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, seventh edition. Chichester; Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. .
W.C. Carefoot (1996). Chocolate: A sex‐linked recessive plumage colour mutant of the domestic fowl. British Poultry Science. 37 (4): 867–868. .
David Scrivener (2014). Popular Poultry Breeds. Ramsbury: Crowood. .
Lewis Wright (1902). The New Book of Poultry. With Forty-Five Plates, by J.W. Ludlow, and the Poultry Club Standards of Perfection for the Various Breeds. London; Paris; New York; Melbourne: Cassell and Company.