Blrw x Silver lace Orpington project

[StarThistle]

Hello all, I am creating this post to document a little project I have going. I have a very beautiful blue (black) laced red wyandotte roo and 2 equally beautiful silver laced orpington hens that I decided to cross. The goal is for sex link chicks that will have a rounder orpington-like body but with a rose comb and laced females with that lovely mahogany coloring.

So far I have hatched 9 babies from this cross and there are 10 more eggs incubating

Here is a pic of the parents and what the chicks look like
The babies have the down pattern of the orpington mother

At first I was disappointed that the sex of the chicks was not immediately apparent, but upon closer inspection there are key differences:

This cross is able to be feather sexed. The mother is slow feathering and the father must be faster feathering. Note the males have a much lighter feather color.

There is also a difference in the face. The females have a vibrant reddish beak and darker red face down. The males all have a lighter beak and a more blonde tone to the face down near the beak:

And one more pic of side by side comparison

Chicks in above pics are 1 week old.

Here is a pic of a 2 week old female. She has some red lacing coming in near her shoulders. I'm excited to see how she will turn out

Thats all I have for now. I will keep this post updated as they grow.

 

[StarThistle]

Oh I forgot to add- The temperment of these chicks is very calm and sweet. Super cuddly. They are notably very quiet and not easy to startle. I think the word to describe them is "chill" So far I am in love with them

 

[LadiesAndJane]

What a cool project. The chicks are gorgeous! Found this on the kippen calculator. The chicks should be sex linked by coloring, but may not be apparent until they feather in.
Genotypes:

	Gender = Female, Ratio = 1/2 = 50%, minimum of animals to breed: 2 black patterned red laced•tail
	Gender = Male, Ratio = 1/2 = 50%, minimum of animals to breed: 2 black patterned yellow/golden laced•tail

 

[StarThistle]

What a cool project. The chicks are gorgeous! Found this on the kippen calculator. The chicks should be sex linked by coloring, but may not be apparent until they feather in.
Genotypes:

	Gender = Female, Ratio = 1/2 = 50%, minimum of animals to breed: 2 black patterned red laced•tail
	Gender = Male, Ratio = 1/2 = 50%, minimum of animals to breed: 2 black patterned yellow/golden laced•tail

Thanks for that!

 

[NatJ]

This cross is able to be feather sexed. The mother is slow feathering and the father must be faster feathering.
...Here is a pic of a 2 week old female.

With the fast and slow feathering, it would be interesting to have photos of both genders at several ages, to see how many weeks the differences remain visible.

 

[StarThistle]

With the fast and slow feathering, it would be interesting to have photos of both genders at several ages, to see how many weeks the differences remain visible.

Here is one of them @ 3 weeks. They wouldnt stay still so pic is a bit blurry. Male is on the right female left. Male still has no shoulder or tail feathers

Will post again at 4 weeks!

 

[StarThistle]

Interesting development- I put 6 more eggs in the incubator of what I thought were Silver laced orpington and Wyandotte cross( was hoping to get an even 10 females) but lo and behold- looks like my only other

little Pavlovskaya roo got a little action with the ladies when King's (wyandotte roo) back was turned. All six chicks hatched with feathered feet and faces full of fluffy muffs and beards. Well... My pavlovskay IS laced.. And he's gold too so the chicks are still sex linked... Lol! This should be quite intersesting.

Not gonna lie they are super adorable...

 

[StarThistle]

Ok here is an update on the original chicks of this post


I gave away the males so no longer have them to compare to but the girls are filling in/feathering out beautifully. And compared to other chicks the same age they are huge!

10-11 weeks old

So far they are everything I wanted out of this cross and I couldnt be more pleased. The coloration and contrast of the feathers is just stunning!

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Stunning is absolutely the term for them! Absolutely stunning!

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

What do the newer chicks look like now?