I started this a couple years back and I really like what I’m developing.
Goal: Silkie broodiness, friendliness, laid-back personality in a Leghorn (or larger) sized, smooth feathered, crested, black-skinned bird with hardiness and vigor, in blue /black/splash with no gold leakage.
First...
I’m trying to improve my birds with each spring’s hatches, so there’s a lot of variation in what I do with older hens.
1. If she’s still laying fairly well but my growout pullets are significantly better, I sell her to someone just wanting backyard layers, with full disclosure of age and where...
I agree that he looks to be splash, but if you’d like to be sure you can breed him to black hens. If he’s truly splash, all offspring from this breeding should be blue. If he’s a weird blue and you breed him to black hens, the offspring should be about half blacks and half blues.