Silver Laced Orpingtons (LF)

[McCoyPoultry]

Hello everyone I am starting this thread to talk about Silver Laced Orpingtons! I have purchased a pair of these lovely birds and wanna share and discuss the genes and genetics so we can improve this color and make new colors with this color of Orpingtons I will be getting my Orpingtons in the mail in a week or so!

 

[boykin2010]

At that age it's really not best to be judging the head shape I've found.
You'd be better off waiting until maturity to make judgements on type because these birds make a lot of changes as they age.
I don't have a problem with the head shape of my breeding stock, that being said... I would vote that you keep the genetics purely Silver Laced to Silver Laced to reduce the problems of introducing genes you don't want (or don't necessarily know exist) when outcrossing to new stock.

Glad to be a part of this thread.
Here's some pictures of my birds!

 

[orpingcrazy]

Here are those same two pullets about 5 months old one is a silver laced blue

 

[OnceInaBlueMoon]

Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Heartful]

These babies are about 5-6 weeks old and one thing I've noticed with the birds I have is that they need improvement on their head shape...What is the best way to go about this? Can I cover some nice black hens with the SLO rooster? Or should I only breed SLO to SLO? Is this common amongst SLO since they are still relatively "new"...

 

[McCoyPoultry]

Well I went and asked the most professional Silver Laced Orpington Breeder I know! Keith Gibbons. I have great news! He said that to get more genetics in the Silver pool so they aren't as in-breed put a Silver Laced Roo over Gold Laced Hens! He said since the Silver Laced Gene is dominant all the Rooster from the Silver/Golden mix will be gold DONT USE! These are barnyard mix basically! He said that the hens will be Pure Silver! He said you can breed those back to the silver Roo to get more genetics!

 

[boykin2010]

Like I said, I don't believe there is a problem with genetics or in-breeding here in the US. There are 3-4 known bloodlines and I've been working with same line for 3 years now with no problems whatsoever! The problem with outcrossing is you are going to introduce genes you don't want or don't even know exists at the time. Unless you are seeing obvious genetic deformities, there's no need to want to outcross and create more of a headache down the road. There also is a slight difference between line breeding and inbreeding. If you are careful about pairings, working with the same small gene pool can be advantageous in a breeding program.

 

[boykin2010]

Silver Laced carry the columbian gene naturally (they are columbian laced.) If you hatch enough Silver Laced you *will* hatch birds that lack the necessary lacing genes and they will just be columbians. Not Delawares, because those are columbian cuckoo.

 

[tiga70]

Hello everyone,
my name is Anja, I am new to this forum and I love your SLO pictures. I am from Germany and my English is not very good but I hope you can understand me. My SLO birds are from 2013 - I bought some hatching eggs from a breeder in England (this breeder bought the parent birds from Keith Gibbons). Currently I have two roosters and four hens (one of them is broody now) and lots of babies. Hopefully I can post some pictures.
The silver lacing of my birds is not very good - this is something I will work on in future generations. Also I must improve the combs.
In my avatar picture you can see my rooster Erik. He is one year old and father of some of my babies.

 

[Heartful]

Getting prettier by the day! And sweeter! All 4 pullets came running up to me and literally climbed in my lap!