Chicken breeds

[catjac1975]

Here are my Lavender Orpingtons. They are a beautiful gentle bird.

 

[Smart Red]

Lovely ladies.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i sooo love the lavender color! i have 2 bantam lavender cochins in my flock and wish i had a couple more.

 

[ninnymary]

Those are so pretty. How many do you have? Do you breed them? Do they go broody often?

Mary

 

[catjac1975]

They have never been broody. They are very hard to hatch. They are very pricey from the hatcheries. We have been hatching them for 3 years. I think they make a big chick in a too small egg as we get many dead in the shell at the last minute. We found the same problem with blue cochins. The roosters end up 3 times the size of he hens with giant spurs. But they are so gentle. I swear the hens are psychic . We hatched them every 4 weeks over the summer. A week before a hatch was done I would begin saving eggs for another hatch. They would promptly quit laying for a couple of days. They are a sweet and beautiful bird. Show me yours!

 

[thistlebloom]

They're so pretty! My Wyandottes were going broody every other minute it seemed like. I've never had such a broody bunch. I wonder if it's more prevalent in certain families or if it's a general breed characteristic. If it's a breed thing I don't want Wyandottes again.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Out of curiosity, when you breed your Lavender Orpingtons do you get any splashes, whites, etc from them? In other words, do they not breed true like any blue-colored fowl? Those are beautiful birds.

Sometime today I'll have to go out and get pictures of the Delawares.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They're so pretty! My Wyandottes were going broody every other minute it seemed like. I've never had such a broody bunch. I wonder if it's more prevalent in certain families or if it's a general breed characteristic. If it's a breed thing I don't want Wyandottes again.

Thistle, that's a strain thing more than a breed thing. If you only keep your breeding chickens from hens that go broody a lot, you soon get a flock where most of them go broody a lot. If you hatch chicks only from hens that don't go broody, soon you have a flock where most hens don't go broody. While the rooster doesn't go broody, he contributes genetics to that too. According to Henderson's Breed Chart, Wyandottes are infrequent brooders. Sounds like someone had been breeding broodies so don't get any more Wyandottes from them again. it's still pot luck as to what you get.

Henderson's Breed Chart
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

A few years back I had a flock where I might get one or two broodies all year. I hatched chicks mostly from the ones that did go broody and kept those, including roosters. This year all seven hens went broody, some two or three times. I was too successful. That broody buster stayed busy.

Seedo, the blue gene and lavender gene act differently. With the blue gene, if you get two copies of that gene at the gene pair, you get splash. If you get one copy of blue at that gene pair, you get blue. If you get no copies, you get black. That affects only the black feathers or black parts of feathers. That's why when you cross Blue chickens you get such a range. You don't know if the parent is contributing blue or not-blue genetically so you can get all three combinations.

The lavender gene is just a dominant-recessive gene. If two recessives pair up, you see lavender. If you only get one recessive at that pair you don't see anything. It also only affects black, so Cat's Lavender Orps are based on a black bird. If she crosses those with anything else she will probably get black chicks. If she breeds them to lavender, the recessives will always pair up and give you lavender.

 

[catjac1975]

Out of curiosity, when you breed your Lavender Orpingtons do you get any splashes, whites, etc from them? In other words, do they not breed true like any blue-colored fowl? Those are beautiful birds.

Sometime today I'll have to go out and get pictures of the Delawares.

They only breed true.

 

[baymule]

Mine is a mixed flock. I haven't been able to have a rooster, so no breeding my own. We bought some Blue Laced Red Wyandottes from a breeder and she said her birds went broody. I got some fertile eggs for the first one and hatched 5 out of 7. They were mixed breed chicks, but it was fun to watch mom and chicks. I also have half dozen Red Stars, one Silver Laced Wyandotte (hatchery quality) and my Queen of the Coop, a black sex link named Robin.

Blue Laced Red Wyandotte with chicks

Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and 2 BLRW Splash hens

Robin, our Coop Queen. Her hatchmates have gone to the stew pot, but her bad attitude guarantees her place forever!

Our grand daughter holding a Red Star. These are gentle, sweet, super layers! they are molting now and still not missing a day on laying!