Lavender patterned Isabel duckwing barred - lavender brown cuckoo barred - project and genetic dis

cjwaldon said:

I haven't gotten alerts in probably three months. I forget and keep thinking nobody's posting.

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It is like the twilight zone...LOL -- when I get them -- they seem to be from long ago threads that I'm not interested in. Went in and unwatched everything.....
except a couple.
Does make one feel-- like a space-head sometimes.
ETA ---
CJ -- any difference in the mature males plumage from the single barred? Does the added barring gene fade the colors ?? I'm so curious.
Here's today's shot of the hooligans - one has some nice barring going on. As I recall, Cream Legbar males show a lot of nice barring at this same age, but of course the CL is black and white and not lavender and white......
Also--- anyone who sees this-- does that split in the boy on the right's chest mean that I'm not giving these little guys enough feed? Is he skinny or is that just normal growth?

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to everyone!

ChicKat said:

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to everyone!

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Happy holidays back.
Cold here so eagerly waiting for spring myself.

This guy got out yesterday... while I was in his pen breaking the ice on the waterer -- and bundled up in a hood with a giant weapon in my hand -- (the ice smasher), someone came over and neither the cockerel nor I saw him -- so when the visitor started to speak we both jumped.
Cockerel flew to the roof of the cattle panel hoop coop, and from there over the little netting fence to the nearby hill. Who wouldn't be freaked in that scary situation? So he spent a couple of fun hours roaming around the yard and to the edge of the woods.

Gave me a photo op - that wasn't through the wires so to speak. One picture I got of him.....

is pretty representative. It's interesting to compare him to my Avatar "Ice"..

Please feel free to weigh in with any observations or comments that you may have about this guy. I'd be interested in what chicken observers may think of his type. I guess I'm most familiar with what the proposed type of legbar is and so that is the mental yardstick that I used...but maybe Leghorn type could be applied as a template too.

Here are some of the advantages that I see:

• Color is a definite and defined Isabel with barring
• Back is long with a slight slope
• Tail is held at an angle of approximately 45-degrees
• Wing bar for duck-wing is very defined.

My view is that this is a definite "upgrade in quality", if you will, from my avatar guy. Tail angle and back length especially--although the avatar is at a bit of a 3/4 angle, therefore the back length will appear shorter. There's no doubt the the Legbar stock had/has a more upright tail.

To my mind the upgrade is due to the quality of the chicks that I got from CJWaldon and Cree57i to start the introduction of Isabel color. And I think since only Buddy Henry had the Isabel Leghorns, then his breeding skills to get really nice examples of the breed to go forward. It's remarkable -- and they all were strong contributors to the improvements.
This pose, he has the sun shining on him - as you can tell by the shadow, but he doesn't look 'washed out'. -- You can see that his wing triangle would be the gold/brown of a regular crele (gold crele) chicken -- but the lavender genes have diluted it to a peach color. His neck is diluted to what I would call cream -- and his saddle is a shiny golden hue, and the shoulder from autosomal red is a bit darker....
ONce I figure how I used to load a youTube, I could put a short MP4 video of him up too -- because a snap shot only captures a fraction of a second...and seeing the bird in motion is a bit different.

So again, any chicken fancier that would care to weigh in about this guy -- and he is from the previous generation -- not the double barred males...sadly-- because he is both pretty and well behaved.... Please give me your observations on this guy.
Thanks!
Happy 2018- all around to all - Live long and prosper. (or maybe just be happy!).

Too big, too big, too big.


Not sure which is the greater cruel and unusual punishment. Keeping these guys in this water trough that is now a bit small for them -- or putting them outside with weather in the teens. By Friday we are supposed to have a break in temps...so that will give me time to relocate two hens, clean a little coop and put these guys where the hens were.
Split the 6 into these 4 and two others. Of the two others they will probably be culled -- one has a comb with a bit of a flop over, although seems to be the largest cockerel and one has a comb that has fewer points. Too many and too big, I guess. They need to go outside. They will bounce/fly up against the screen, and try to bust out of the brooder. They are really smart. When the trough was in the garage, they got out one night and proceeded to poop all over the garage floor, especially in front of doors...making more work -- so now I have to put a weight on the screens that contain them in the brooder.
Not so long ago it was like this in there:

11-17-17
and these are a month and a half later. Same water trough.

These little cockerels are just so adorable to me....

They are moved outside, long overdue--- and tonight with the temps set to sink to 19-degrees, I'll bring them in for an overnight in their watering trough/brooder -- then back to the world of the big kids.

They are in that awkward teenage phase, still have some of the sweetness of their chick days and showing some of what their adult appearance will be.

Of their plumage changes, most notable to me is that the autosomal red is starting to put patches of color on their plumage, they are getting their 'pointy' male adult hackles in the neck. Their neck plumage shows a tighter smaller barring than their single-barred counterparts at the same age. Really I am eager to see what their adult 'look' will be!!

Awkward stage for cockrels looking like baby dinosauers with their funky combs and big eyes. This guy has more of the lightest fluffiest feathering, compared to the others that have a tighter and more hard-feathered plumage. Seems like the Leghorn side of the family would have passed the hard-feathering and the Legbar side would pass along soft-feathering -- and he leans toward the Legbar plumage texture. Also, his comb takes a turn at the end.... so he has a couple of 'strikes' against being the one (or one of the ones) used for breeding the next generation.

Growing in pointy neck feathers.

Strongest barring pattern, and the beginning indications of red (diluted to that peaches-and-cream color) showing in their plumage. The background cockerel has the best barring I think. Foreground left -- is the photo-bomber. He has the blue leg band and is the friendliest. He was the last to hatch and at 24-hours younger than the other young ones, was behind for the first few days. He was nearly stuck to his shell -- I don't really know how he made it out, and because some of that gunky stuff from the shell was glued to his chick down--it took more handling to get it off -- and he has been 'handled' more than the others and is more confident with humans.
Even one of the guys with more subtle barring has nice definite barring in his neck-hackles. You may also see the faintest warm tone in gray of the breast feathers on this guy -- to mimic the salmon on the females breast.

Two cockerels at the feeder side-by-side. The one in front has more 'saturation'. Does that mean that his lavender gene is less strong to suppress the black?

Another comparison between the 'darker' and the 'lighter' versions of lavender showing up.

This shot gives you an idea of their size. Threw one on a scale and it was about 2#.
Never really got a 'beauty shot' like you would use for a magazine article or a calendar.... Just note-taking kind of bits and pieces. Love it when they dig in at meal time and act like they like their feed...

whoops - an inadvertent post.

Yesterday I started thinking.... if eggs were set at the end of January, they would hatch the third week of February, and then 4 weeks of brooding would put them ready to go outdoors the third week of March. Second week of Feb. set would hatch the last week of Feb and be ready for outdoor living the beginning of April - right?

Yep, that's how fast time is going.

Just looked on the spreadsheet -- because I had been thinking early November was hatch date for the 4-remaining cockerel-babies...but they hatched on 10-21 -- so they are 3 months old day after tomorrow. 12-weeks. Meanwhile, "Iris" and another pullet in her coop have come back into lay. They molted heavily. "Iris" is my best example IMO -- The boys will be nearly ready soon.... and time is getting away.

Just need some pen moves, some coop clean-ups and time to maybe make some introductions. I know for certain that all 4 boys are the right genetics. I don't know what their adult plumage will look like...so a longer wait would be better...but then again -- If I am making this move.....

Have to say when I am making this move don't I? LOL -- I need to get going on a lot of fronts.

Got totally derailed while my niece who was supposed to live in the Oregon house until I got there took an out of town job - surprise! - and the house was left vacant for long enough to have break ins - dealing with the police, researching burglar alarm systems, getting a house sitter, who later backed out, talking to property management companies to lease the house, talking to the realtor to see if I should resell it, getting another and far better house sitter *yay* Andrew!! - and making the repairs from the break-ins - (damage to doors, broken windows etc)--- and now a sigh of relief and regroup while the house as fixer-upper is in at least stable and protected condition and a basement window will go from boarded up to reglazed, hopefully!

Now getting back to the unfinished things -- the glass shower walls for th bathroom above the garage in the studio, and replacing a broken ceiling fan in the house etc. so this house will become ready for marketing. -- so what do I think about? Of course hatching chicks this spring!!

ChicKat said:

Now getting back to the unfinished things -- the glass shower walls for th bathroom above the garage in the studio, and replacing a broken ceiling fan in the house etc. so this house will become ready for marketing. -- so what do I think about? Of course hatching chicks this spring!!

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Glad to see you're keeping your priorities straight.