Blue Laced Red Wyandotte THREAD!

[ki4got]

Quote: ditto

 

[malndobe]

Been reading through this thread for awhile, had a couple of BLRW unfortunately predators got all but 2, a black Rooster with a great personality, lacing, and straight comb :-( and a splash pullet.

This is the pullet who survived the coyotes, she should start laying any day now.

Just purchased a few more to add to the menagerie.
Little blue pullet

Blue Rooster, about 6 months old

Splash hen, just over a year old

Splash Rooster, 1.5 years old

Blue Hen, just under 1 year old

 

[ki4got]

Been reading through this thread for awhile, had a couple of BLRW unfortunately predators got all but 2, a black Rooster with a great personality, lacing, and straight comb :-( and a splash pullet.

This is the pullet who survived the coyotes, she should start laying any day now.

Just purchased a few more to add to the menagerie.
Little blue pullet

Blue Rooster, about 6 months old

Splash hen, just over a year old

Splash Rooster, 1.5 years old

Blue Hen, just under 1 year old

sorry to hear of your losses, I also suffered similar this year, and currently have only 1 lf roo and hen left. BUT fortunately they are my best 2. LOL I managed to find and buy back 2 of my own chicks. we thought we had 1 cockerel 1 pullet, but both ended up being cockerels. one from each of my girls I had at least, so the other girl's line (from Foley) isn't lost, just slightly misplaced. LOL

as for your birds, the pics don't really show enough to give any hints about type, but I do have a couple comments in regards to their coloration and lacing (i'll leave the type to Delisha to comment, it's too early in the morning for me. LOL_...

several of them look more orange than the desired mahogany red, but if combined up properly that can be worked on. several look to have good lacing as well.

the correct pattern for lacing is a narrow band of blue/black/splash all the way around the outer edge of the feather. a couple looked to be more like Vs with the lacing at the bottom narrow but wider on the sides. that last hen I can't tell if her lacing is just on the bottom edge or if it goes all the way too.

breeding birds with incomplete lacing (just on the bottom, or not even all the way around) will lead to more and sometimes worse lacing...

also, the splash roo, even though his lacing looks good, I would not use him because his hackles appear to be more brassy than red, and that will just further lighten the red, not darken it.
with the hens that are more orange-red, this would only give you more gold laced, not the proper red. also, I don't know if he's just moulting, but I don't like his tail set or his overall profile... though he does have a nice broad breast. but IMO too many negatives to balance out any positives.

you said you had a black laced roo but didn't post any pics of him. if his type is good and the red is a true mahogany red, even if his lacing is only average, I would say use him above and beyond the other roos pictured, personally.

again my comments are mostly regarding the color you're seeing, than type (tho I do like the first 2 splash girls pictured the best - but can't tell about the width of breast, tail, etc from side shots).

if you can get pics of each from front, side, above and behind, that would enable a better assessment of each bird.

I've posted her before, but in a splash, the red has a tendency to fade... dark red IS possible on splash birds, it's just harder to maintain it unless you keep going back to a super dark red (blue/black laced roo would be my preference over splash girls).

then there's my roo and the 2 cockerels. the boys are just 5.5 months old right now so have a lot more growing and filling in to do, but so far I like what i'm seeing. none of these birds is perfect, but the challenge is to get closer to the goal with each generation.

I think Bob Blosl (who died over the weekend, a huge loss to the poultry world) said something along the lines of 'if you're not breeding to improve a line, then you are just maintaining mediocrity'... that wasn't the exact quote, but I can't find it now. LOL


Lacy, who's red is really darker than the pic shows, but the flash didn't help...


Big'Un, who has super dark red and a deep 'navy' blue


Chicken Dinner (aka CD) who's already larger than his sire and showing better type so far - I have hopes for him next year, if I can get some more girls to work with.


and Shim - who looks very narrow when standing next to his brother, but then by himself is showing good width across his back so far.

 

[malndobe]

also, the splash roo, even though his lacing looks good, I would not use him because his hackles appear to be more brassy than red, and that will just further lighten the red, not darken it.
with the hens that are more orange-red, this would only give you more gold laced, not the proper red. also, I don't know if he's just moulting, but I don't like his tail set or his overall profile... though he does have a nice broad breast. but IMO too many negatives to balance out any positives.

I don't know if the splash roo is moulting since I just picked him up, but I can ask the original owner.

you said you had a black laced roo but didn't post any pics of him. if his type is good and the red is a true mahogany red, even if his lacing is only average, I would say use him above and beyond the other roos pictured, personally.

The black laced roo is dark but he has a single comb, so I'm not considering him for breeding, was just leaving him with the layer flock. I've read various things, some say use them sparingly, others say don't use them at all, I figured I'd wait to get a black roo from elsewhere or one of the current hens and use that to keep things dark. I think he was about 4 months in the first photo, and 2 months in the second, I know he hadn't started crowing. The top photo is naturla light, the second one was with a flash.

Which is harder to get/maintain, proper lacing or the deep red color? The last hen has very minimal lacing, on some feathers it's just tips on others it's a thin lace all the way around, but she has a super dark red base color. Darker than the photo shows since I used the flash. So is she worth keeping for the base color or not?

The first pullet (almost hen) does have an orange tint to her, that was also a flash photo but even without the flash it's there, though not as bad.

the correct pattern for lacing is a narrow band of blue/black/splash all the way around the outer edge of the feather. a couple looked to be more like Vs with the lacing at the bottom narrow but wider on the sides. that last hen I can't tell if her lacing is just on the bottom edge or if it goes all the way too.
again my comments are mostly regarding the color you're seeing, than type (tho I do like the first 2 splash girls pictured the best - but can't tell about the width of breast, tail, etc from side shots).

if you can get pics of each from front, side, above and behind, that would enable a better assessment of each bird.

I think there are some pictures on here of the hens from the previous owner, I"ll have to go back and look or get some more today.

Another question, how do you get the Splash with a really white lacing, vs a super pale blue lacing? The splash pullet I lost had white lacing, I thought my other splash pullet and the new hen were blues, alebit very very light blues, until someone told me they are splash because they have a faint blue ting in the lacing in certain light.

 

[malndobe]

and Shim - who looks very narrow when standing next to his brother, but then by himself is showing good width across his back so far.

How old is Shim? His lacing seems to be all over the place with almost no lacing on some feathers, super heavy lacing on others, some wiht the V shape and some nice even lacing. Is this due to age and will it even out with time? One of the BLRW roos I lost looked very similar to Shim in the lacing, but was killed before I found out what he'd ultimately look like.

 

[delisha]

as far as my input about the birds...They do not have Wyandotte type. I would not call them Wyandottes. I do not see any prospects for reproducing. They look like they will make beautiful pets and give you great eggs.

 

[neener92]

How do these two BLRW chicks look, color wise? They are about 5 to 6 weeks old.
I'm thinking the first one is a cockerel, he looks to me to have good lacing and decent color, the orangey-ness of his feathers seem to be turning mahogany red. He's also the largest chick out of 12.





And for the pullet, she has good lacing on her back and wings, but doesn't seem to have much if any on her front/chest and what is there is more orangey/yellow. I've noticed the lacing on her back is starting to come in darker red than it looks in these pics. These two are my personal favorites out of the 12 chicks I have. I know they are kinda young to really evaluate but what do you guys think? I'd like to at least have a breeding pair out the 12 and use the rest of the pullets for egg production.



Here's a picture of the girl above, she is in the bottom left of the picture, and the cockerel in is in the upper right corner.

 

[malndobe]

as far as my input about the birds...They do not have Wyandotte type. I would not call them Wyandottes. I do not see any prospects for reproducing. They look like they will make beautiful pets and give you great eggs.

I'm actually a little amazed at these comments. Maybe it's the photos but I purchased these birds from someone on this forum who has been using them as their breeding stock and people had nothing but positive things to say about the quality of their birds. I was hoping to get some quality birds, even if I just use them for eggs and to produce more layers for myself.

 

[gladahmae]

it's just one person's opinion.

pictures often don't do our lovely birds justice, and angles are hard to get because the darn things won't cooperate!

 

[ki4got]

I don't know if the splash roo is moulting since I just picked him up, but I can ask the original owner.

The black laced roo is dark but he has a single comb, so I'm not considering him for breeding, was just leaving him with the layer flock. I've read various things, some say use them sparingly, others say don't use them at all, I figured I'd wait to get a black roo from elsewhere or one of the current hens and use that to keep things dark. I think he was about 4 months in the first photo, and 2 months in the second, I know he hadn't started crowing. The top photo is naturla light, the second one was with a flash.

Which is harder to get/maintain, proper lacing or the deep red color? The last hen has very minimal lacing, on some feathers it's just tips on others it's a thin lace all the way around, but she has a super dark red base color. Darker than the photo shows since I used the flash. So is she worth keeping for the base color or not?

The first pullet (almost hen) does have an orange tint to her, that was also a flash photo but even without the flash it's there, thought not as bad.

I think there are some pictures on here of the hens from the previous owner, I"ll have to go back and look or get some more today.

Another question, how do you get the Splash with a really white lacing, vs a super pale blue lacing? The splash pullet I lost had white lacing, I thought my other splash pullet and the new hen were blues, alebit very very light blues, until someone told me they are splash because they have a faint blue ting in the lacing in certain light.

regardless of all that, the brassy spash roo, single combed black laced, or anything orangey shouldn't get used unless you have NO OTHER OPTIONS.

Quote: yes, the lacing is all over the place. up until 3 weeks ago, I thought it was a pullet, but now he's growing in his 'big boy feathers'. he's just over 5 months old, but seems a bit behind in feathering. I was told he was VERY slow feathering to begin with too. the feathers on his back are baby feathers, he's growing out new shoulder/neck/saddle feathers now, his breast feathers are about done growing, and his tail's coming in slowly now. this was 'him' just a couple months ago...