Can those birds be improved? Could you get more lacing to show buy putting them with better birds?
Since we're on the topic. I've got a breeding question that may show my ignorance of these things. I bought some Silver Laced Brahma hatching eggs from a farm in Ohio in Dec, and ended up with 3 pullets. Since I don't have a male bird other than a Light, I suspect that the cross would produce males and females with incomplete lacing. I'm wondering if breeding the incompletes together or back to the fully laced birds would produce at least a few fully laced birds? Or is either option so inadvisable that I should just find a silver laced rooster? By the way Big Medicine, I think the SLB hen is the queen of all poultry.
Using a light male over a silver laced female will produce chicks that strongly resemble lights with just a bit of lacing, or specs showing. If just breeding from these chicks it has been my experience it will take three to four generations to get back to proper lacing, providing you produce sufficent numbers to select from, and only use the best laced representatives of their generation.
Using Henks calculator, breeding one of the cross males back on the laced females, 25% of the resulting chicks will potentially aguire the required genetic package for proper lacing.
Now a couple things to keep in mind. Color/pattern is only part of what makes a breed/variety. Type should be foremost in selecting breeders. Often you might be able to get there quicker if selecting on color/pattern only, but without proper type, you just end up with a pretty chicken. This has been stated on here many times by some folks we should be listening to. So the quality of the light used in this cross will have a direct effect on the type of all resulting generations.
Ideally one should be able to dip a good Brahma in paint, covering color/pattern of feather, leg color, somehow hide comb, and leg feathering, and that bird's build should still scream Brahma. From the graceful arch of the neck, the tilt of a hens back, the regal stature and size, the broad skull with that "Mister, I could kick your butt" glare. These are all things that distinguish Brahmas from just another pretty chicken, and what we as breeders must be aware of, and strive for in our pens.
