Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Anyone in the Topeka area who would be interested in helping rehome some family pets.... Our chickens.... Please private message me. I promised the kids I would find homes for them that they would be loved and enjoyed for their personalities as much as we have enjoyed them. Our neighbors have been very hateful. Encouraging their children to be hateful, as if a back yard flock is "white trash" versus being ecologically sound, as well as very enjoyable as pets. We cant handle vandalism to the house or yard in spite... My children don't need, and can't handle, anything else to damage their self esteem. They already get teased for being Asian and not looking like me, not being wanted in China, for facial differences... They need to be able to ride the bus without adding one more thing to be teased about to the list:-(

Medawinks, I am so sorry about how things have been going for you. That is just awful that your kids are being teased - for any reason - but especially for the reasons you stated - my heart breaks for you. Are the neighbors renters or homeowners? (i.e. is there any chance they will move at some point in the future?)

 

[Trish44]

medawinks, I'm sorry for what you're going through, that's just not right.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hi all!
Shot in the dark here...Anyone know what the results of breeding a chocolate to a lavender would be? I'm still s-l-o-w-l-y learning genetics so take it easy on me, lol. I can find clear answers on B/B/S and C/B, but nothing so easy for other color combinations. Lavender is a self-blue, isn't it? Do the self colors cause problems when bred to other colors?

I have no idea what mix you'd get with lavender and chocolate, but I wouldn't think they would mesh. Lavender is the only gene (that looks like blue, but isn't) that breeds true! (which is the whole reason it is called "self blue") You can breed lavender with black and safely get lavender and splits. But that's as far as I would go with the lavender gene. I DO know that you can also breed lavender into BBS, but then you get some odd things going on, but it's not too terrible. Actually, I have lavender in my blues and splash (not my blacks). I have to say, I really love the lighter color it brings into the blues, but it lightens up the splash so much, that you need to breed splash to a dark blue or black to bring it back. But it works out great for blues. Here is what I dug up for you on my silkie site (keeping in mind that ALL chicken genetics are the same regardless of breed): Keep in mind also when they are talking about lavender producing blue, they are NOT talking about the genetics of "Bl", but actually the visual coloring.. Lavender is "lav" and it is it's OWN gene.

Lavender birds sometimes are called 'self blue' because they breed true unlike the ones with the andalusian blue gene. If your blue silkies are lavender homozygotes, then your progeny would all be lavender. If they were both Bl / bl+ (blue heterozygotes), only half of the chicks would be blue.
"Recessive lavender has been associated with poor feather quality and even lack of feathers in some breeds. Lavender dilutes both black and red; changes black to grey and red to cream. Blue fowls termed "self blue" are normally lavender homozygotes. A mating of two lav homozygotes (blue fowls) will produce blue offspring. Lavender causes dilution by inhibiting the transfer of pigment granules from melanocytes, which produce them, to the feather structure. Lavender expression in homozygotes is present in chicks and
adults."

(below is Kippenjungle)
Then came Lavender or self blue, for the other blue tends to be laced in appearance. This is a recessive mutation often associated with bad feather structure. Ihe consensus is that it is epistatic to the other dilutants by the nature of expression mechanism. Truely epistatic would mean however that it would also cover splash or khaki (hence "white?" in table below). This needs to be confirmed either way.

​

Until then the fanciers' consensus is that the whites would not permit to show the lavender tint. This tint is lighter than splash Blue. Other poultry species' lavenders/self blues do not seem to act epistatic to other diluters and contribute in further dilution of the eumelanin. Lavender also dilutes Phaeomelanin (groundcolor) in chickens.

So to sum it up if you breed lav and white, the white will cover the lav. (or it should because white is usually dominant and it turns off all other colors) Lav can dilute or cover some genes, but not all. Black will often cover lav-- so you can get a visually "black" bird that is actually a split. (not a true black, because black should have NO dilution, but in this case would have lav). So if you bred that black split to lav or another split, you could get some lav. But this would be a messy or terrible way to continue a line of Blacks. You would never want to put a split back in a pen of pure black.

And ultimately, this isn't a gene I'm purposely working with, and so really don't know much more, than I have it in my blue and splash flock right now and how to work with it there. It has produced some amazing feather color for my blues and splash. In it's purest form (lav), it's a tough one to do well since it can present a lot of it's own faults. If you are really interested in Lavender, I would stick with breeding lavender X lavender or lav X black. Unless you are driving for a particular color pattern that needs the lavender-- though it isn't a typical gene you'd want to infuse into anything other than possibly "Bl" or a dilution of it. ??? I know people are using it to lighten up blues, but that's about it. And that was only to meet the standards on blues, because it seems like with poor breeding or understanding of the Bl gene, peope are breeding very dark blues, which are undesirable. Have you talked with the Maran's thread? They might have some more info-- because they seem to really be in the loop.

Anyone in the Topeka area who would be interested in helping rehome some family pets.... Our chickens.... Please private message me. I promised the kids I would find homes for them that they would be loved and enjoyed for their personalities as much as we have enjoyed them. Our neighbors have been very hateful. Encouraging their children to be hateful, as if a back yard flock is "white trash" versus being ecologically sound, as well as very enjoyable as pets. We cant handle vandalism to the house or yard in spite... My children don't need, and can't handle, anything else to damage their self esteem. They already get teased for being Asian and not looking like me, not being wanted in China, for facial differences... They need to be able to ride the bus without adding one more thing to be teased about to the list:-(

Medawinks, I'm sooooo sorry! I'd be moving to Lawrence, too!! It is sooo diverse there! I bet you'd love it!


HeChicken-- very cool pictures of what your crazy ducks are doing.

Enjoyed all the pictures of the doves and still even after all that, didn't learn much other than there are LOTS of varieties! LOL "Doves" it will be and I will never try to give them a name from here on out!

Maidenwolf, so sorry about your turkey. I read your FB page on him. It sounds like you need to get out of there. What a bummer to live next to such horrible people.

Pikeman, sorry about your hen that died, but cute pic of the kids with the new chicks!

Trish, I'm with you on this weather-- No Bueno!!

Sunflower-- ONE duck is sitting on 22 eggs?!?! That is insane!! Hope they all hatch!

Danz, sounds like you are busy as usual and funny about all the eggs and nests you found. Cute story about Marshmallow chasing off the waterfowl.

All is well here! We're just moving along at warp speed-- so busy here! This morning is giving me some down time, but I've already been out to feed and take care of everyone. Have a few things planned for today.

 

[AmySG]

I am new chicken mom in NE KS. I did the TSC purchase of 6 adorable, variety pack of bantams. Have to see what they grow into! I will post pics soon. I am glad to meet folks in KS here on backyard chickens!

 

[HEChicken]

I went out and took some photos of my Reese birds today, to update from their original pics when I first got them. I'm pleased with how they are maturing. I was at first a little disappointed in what looked like a "hump" in the cockerel's back. It was something I thought was conformational and could not see it improving with age. His back is still not the "slightly concave" called for in the SOP but it is no longer as humped as it was either. Perhaps he was still building muscle and has built some up in the fore and aft of his back since then. I dunno. Anyway, here are his before and after pics (first pic, about 4 months, second 5 1/2 months):





Here is one of the New Hampshire hens from Reese. I love the vibrant "orange" color to her - quite different to the reddish color of my Production Red hens:


Here is the same hen next to the Reese BR hen (love the contrast)

And here is the BR hen on her own. You can tell that Frank is breeding for meat, can't you? What a little butterball [where is that licking lips smiley?]

 

[chicken danz]

Sapphire and Hechicken you are right. I did write Neosporin rather than Neomycin. My bad. Old age and I didn't take time to go find a tube of stuff to look at. You'd think since this stuff breaks me out in a blistery rash I would know the correct name. It was just a brain fart.
As they say "Google before posting." I knew what I was talking about and just assumed you could read my mind.

Well I have a story to relate. When the gulls came in the other day and Marshmallow kept chasing one of them off, I discovered they left one of their buddies behind. It has been walking and flying around my yard for two days. It's an egret. Yesterday it kept going in to eat and drink in the big pen. So this morning it got in there and panicked cause it couldn't get out. (It kept flying up into the net and couldn't locate the door. ) So I went in and caught it. I have it in a cage right now with some food. I just wanted to take some pictures of it.
This is a cattle egret and it has it's mating colors on. I did some reading yesterday on them and they normally mate in colonies but apparently this one got confused and followed a group of gulls rather than it's own kind. I am sure having lots of birds around made this seem like safe place to be. I plan to take some pictures and then let it go. I have no idea how it will ever find more of it's kind. I do know it is very hungry though. I did see it catch a mouse and eat it and from what I read they like eating ticks and flies best. Too bad I couldn't encourage it to just stick around and eat flies all summer. Pictures will follow after it gets warmer. I was out running around in my jammies and no jacket today doing this.

 

[HEChicken]

I am new chicken mom in NE KS. I did the TSC purchase of 6 adorable, variety pack of bantams. Have to see what they grow into! I will post pics soon. I am glad to meet folks in KS here on backyard chickens!

 

[RoosterLew]

I am new chicken mom in NE KS. I did the TSC purchase of 6 adorable, variety pack of bantams. Have to see what they grow into! I will post pics soon. I am glad to meet folks in KS here on backyard chickens!

Sapphire and Hechicken you are right. I did write Neosporin rather than Neomycin. My bad. Old age and I didn't take time to go find a tube of stuff to look at. You'd think since this stuff breaks me out in a blistery rash I would know the correct name. It was just a brain fart.
As they say "Google before posting." I knew what I was talking about and just assumed you could read my mind.

Well I have a story to relate. When the gulls came in the other day and Marshmallow kept chasing one of them off, I discovered they left one of their buddies behind. It has been walking and flying around my yard for two days. It's an egret. Yesterday it kept going in to eat and drink in the big pen. So this morning it got in there and panicked cause it couldn't get out. (It kept flying up into the net and couldn't locate the door. ) So I went in and caught it. I have it in a cage right now with some food. I just wanted to take some pictures of it.
This is a cattle egret and it has it's mating colors on. I did some reading yesterday on them and they normally mate in colonies but apparently this one got confused and followed a group of gulls rather than it's own kind. I am sure having lots of birds around made this seem like safe place to be. I plan to take some pictures and then let it go. I have no idea how it will ever find more of it's kind. I do know it is very hungry though. I did see it catch a mouse and eat it and from what I read they like eating ticks and flies best. Too bad I couldn't encourage it to just stick around and eat flies all summer. Pictures will follow after it gets warmer. I was out running around in my jammies and no jacket today doing this.

Can't wait for the pics!

 

[chicken danz]

I am new chicken mom in NE KS. I did the TSC purchase of 6 adorable, variety pack of bantams. Have to see what they grow into! I will post pics soon. I am glad to meet folks in KS here on backyard chickens!

Welcome to BYC!!! Tell us more about yourself!
Hechicken those are some great pictures. I have one roo and two hens as well. .....and then 5 each of New Hamp and Barred rock babies, and one New Hamp roo.
I am thinking that three of my 5 barred rock young ones aren't pure but I can't be sure yet. I guess time will tell. One of them for sure is crossed so it will go in the stew pot or the laying pen. The other two the barring isn't right but I haven't given up yet. If they turn out lousy they will just serve the same fate as the other crossed one.
So does anyone know if putting pinless peepers on roosters would keep them from fighting? I've not had rooster fighting problems but some of the birds I have purchased tend to want to beat each other up so I have them caged. When I am not using them to breed with I'd like to just let them free range. But I don't need any blood baths around here either. I like to keep a spare rooster on hand for each breed in case something happens to the one I am using. But I learned the hard way penning these guys together doesn't work.
Any ideas?

 

[HEChicken]

Any ideas?

Ooohhh I don't know. It would be worth a try, for sure. I haven't had fighting "issues" either, but then I usually don't have too many roosters at a time. When Cyrus was here, he ruled the flock and the only other males were his own offspring growing out. I didn't keep them long enough to challenge his role.

I now have 3 cockerels: the BR, a Cochin (from JosieChick - he was in the batch of "silchins" I got from her but I think this guy is actually pure cochin) and a Serama. I had a Welsummer head bird but after getting the BR, I rehomed the Welsummer, and my plan was for the BR to become my new head bird. I didn't count on the Cochin thinking that because he'd been here longer, that position was rightfully his. I happened to be out here at the time the challenge occurred. The Cochin goaded the BR into sparring with him and it wasn't pretty. But, as much as I wanted to jump in and separate them, I felt it best that they work things out between themselves, for the peace of the flock. The poor Cochin was thoroughly defeated and ended the day with bloody comb and wattles and bruised ego. However he now accepts the BR as head bird and there have been no further challenges or fighting between them.

If there are too many males per female, or if they are more evenly matched in terms of size, perhaps the fighting would continue? But I tend to think once they have worked out the pecking order, for the most part they will settle down.