Lavender Orpington Thread

[Moxieleigh]

My kindle does not do them justice and all my pics and message did not make it.

 

[Flaisure]

I have read that chicks with little to no flight feathers tend to be males.

The one I just got last week, has no flight feathers. Does any one have any input?

 

[wynn4578]

I doubt it's universal but in my line the males will tend to be slightly darker and develop much thicker shanks than the females at a couple weeks old. That's how I tell. Occasionally I'm wrong but most of the time I nail it.

Just out of curiosity. Why doesn't anyone cross blue with lav. Someone has to have tried it.

 

[jerryse]

I doubt it's universal but in my line the males will tend to be slightly darker and develop much thicker shanks than the females at a couple weeks old. That's how I tell. Occasionally I'm wrong but most of the time I nail it.

Just out of curiosity. Why doesn't anyone cross blue with lav. Someone has to have tried it.

I have done this . It makes a genetic mess . You can not always tell which color you have . You can get birds that are both Lav and blue . It does not make a lighter colored bird when they are both . That rumor was around for awhile . I got some lavender with ink spots like blues can have . That was the best way to tell they were both . They do not always have ink spots when they have both genes .

 

[Faraday40]

I have read that chicks with little to no flight feathers tend to be males.

The one I just got last week, has no flight feathers. Does any one have any input?

It depends on the line. The differences are very subtle the younger they are. Most breeders will know what to look for so sending pics to the breeder around 4-6 weeks old would probably be the easiest. In the meantime, you can enlarge the pics below to see some gender differences.


With my 1st orps, I noticed that the males grew their back feathers in slower than the females. At about 3 weeks, the females had feathers on their back while the males looked like porcupines with some remaining chick fuzz. The males also had bigger combs & they began turning pinkish around 5-6 weeks. Their legs were thicker, but some females also had thick legs.

1= female 2=male
3.5 weeks



Here they are again at 6wks




With my current orps, feather development means nothing. It's all about the comb/wattles! By 3 to 3.5 weeks, my male orps have taller pinkish combs & their wattles are dropping down. By 5 weeks, the gender's obvious.

Here are some 4 week old chicks
females


males

5 wks - male

 

[Faraday40]

Just out of curiosity. Why doesn't anyone cross blue with lav. Someone has to have tried it.

I have done this . It makes a genetic mess . You can not always tell which color you have . You can get birds that are both Lav and blue . It does not make a lighter colored bird when they are both . That rumor was around for awhile . I got some lavender with ink spots like blues can have . That was the best way to tell they were both . They do not always have ink spots when they have both genes .

x2 I was just about to say this. Record keeping would be a nightmare. If you're only breeding egg layers for yourself, it doesn't matter what colors or even breeds your chickens are. However, if you plan to breed orps & sell chicks in the future, it's really not a good idea.

 

[Flaisure]

A couple days older then a week. The name is Maui. Its supposed to be a pullet, we will see.

 

[wynn4578]

 x2 I was just about to say this.  Record keeping would be a nightmare.  If you're only breeding egg layers for yourself, it doesn't matter what colors or even breeds your chickens are.  However, if you plan to breed orps & sell chicks in the future, it's really not a good idea.

More just curiosity than anything. I have some pretty good lavs with nice color. I also have some blacks with really nice body type. I'm probably going to mix a few this fall and see if I can't get a better body type on my lavs. Curios how many generations I will have to go before I stop seeing the random black chick in my lavs after I do this though. Out of the 2strings of lavs I have (3 years) and none of my lavs have ever produced a black chick.

 

[WVduckchick]

Lav doesn't work like BBS. Lav to lav will always produce lav. Unless you throw in a black, you should never have a random black from just lavs.

 

[Faraday40]

More just curiosity than anything. I have some pretty good lavs with nice color. I also have some blacks with really nice body type. I'm probably going to mix a few this fall and see if I can't get a better body type on my lavs. Curios how many generations I will have to go before I stop seeing the random black chick in my lavs after I do this though. Out of the 2strings of lavs I have (3 years) and none of my lavs have ever produced a black chick.

Generation 1
Blk x Lav = blk/lav split - all look black but carry lav gene (Pick your best split(s) to breed to your lavs)

Generation 2
Lav x Split = 50% pure lav & 50% splits (Keep your best lavs)

Generation 3
Lav x Lav = all lavs

I remember reading somewhere that intro of a black (or split) will keep the feather quality nice. What I can't remember is how many generations of lav x lav can one breed without seeing a decline in feather quality. Does anyone know?