I have been thinking about starting with this breed and reading through the thread. It is tedious and I have had to do it with a few threads. My first go was the Marans thread and it took a while - I work full time and like everyone on here have a life beyond the computer. It really helped me understand the breed. The search option can be a bit tedious so I actually copy and pasted information into a word document for my personal records as I read through. I do the same for my Legbars. I think folks just get tired of repeating themselves sometimes, I know I've felt my head bitten off a few times. First was when I posted what i did not then know was my EE roo on the Ameraucana thread. It's hard to sometimes really get the true gist of someone's post as emotions don't always flow correctly online.Hello! New to the blrw, I acquired 10 blrw chicks from a local breeder and 2 blue lace, gold lace cross chicks roughly the same age. They are between 10 and 12 weeks old now, and I'm pretty sure I can discern genders. Both the crosses are male. Then I have a splash male and an incredibly light laced male. Some of my birds that are blue laced are so light in the lacing, it looks almost buff or honey colored. A few of the birds look "buttery" they are beautiful, but it's very light lacing. I will try to get some pictures soon, but obviously I don't need 4 Roosters. What color rooster is the most advantageous to keep? If the lacing on the birds is light. Is that a bad thing? Should I try to reintroduce some dark lacing? Or is the lighter nearly white lacing on the red birds ok or desirable. I certainly think it's pretty, but I want to keep the best stock possible, like everyone I'm sure. So I plan to keep all the females and one rooster. Possibly 2 roos if I were to break them up into trios or quads but right now everyone shares a coop and a large free range fenced area. Please lend me some insight as to which rooster to keep.the light one is huge and beautiful, the splash is a little flighty but pretty, the two that are cross have very dark almost black, if not entirely black lacing, but one has a single comb. I have no intentions of keeping the single comb roo, the other cross has the appropriate comb. Sorry again no pictures it has rained for days and the gloomy atmosphere doesn't lend itself well to photography.
In regards to your birds. If I had your birds I'd cull anything that was not pure at the start of my breeding program. Why try to weed out those genes right at the get go. I'd cull the single comb also, why perpetuate something no one wants. I'd choose the best laced birds, male or female. If the light boy is the best then start with him and keep the splash as a back up. I'd try to get some black laced to try to improve your lacing going forward. Perhaps if you cull all the males and get a black laced or dark blue laced rooster that might help your flock going forward. I had a really nice darker blue laced boy I was contemplating keeping but re-homed instead to concentrate on my current flock as I realized I really did not have the time or inclination to take on the challenges of these right now ... maybe next year. If you have to start with what you have, and not everyone can afford to re-buy and re-home to get the ''ideal' starter flock, choose the best and only the best even if you cull down to just a trio or a quad. Posting pics might give everyone a better and clearer idea of what you have and be more helpful with the choices you have ahead of you. Good luck. These are really beautiful birds. Good luck!
