Coronation Lavender Sussex

[Gray Angel Farm]

Good Afternoon,
I haven't been on for a couple of years. Life has been keeping me very busy as is our ranch. Hi to all in North Idaho and elsewhere!!!
We are going to be building a new chicken coop soon. My sweet husband is pouring a 10 x 20 concrete slab to build it on. I have decided that rather than just raising mixed breeds I want to raise a couple of breeds. We really love the coronation lavender sussex birds we have. I've been looking up charts on coloring. I'm wondering if anyone here is good with the color part because I am not! It says a coronation x coronation = coronation, but one site said that after a couple of years the feathers become ratty looking and you have to breed back to get a new coronation. I don't know if anyone raises these and has any advice or knows. I have some light sussex that are white with the black neck and tail feathers, but really prefer the lavenders. My biggest question is if I need to hold on to some of my light ones for the purpose of breeding back to get a new lavender from time to time or if that sounds like a bunch of crap lol.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Depends who you ask and depends on the birds in question.
Unfortunately there are a lot of lavender birds that do have the feather issues.
What causes the issue isn't the lavender gene but the shredder gene. Problem is is that the shredder gene is very close with the lavender gene so where one goes the other usually follows.
When you breed to the black (which won't have the shredder gene) you increase your odds of leaving it behind and inheriting the non shedder gene from the black. But like I said if lavender is inherited usually the shredder is too.
How is the feathers on your coranations?
If they're bad yes you would want to keep the lights and breed back to them often. If your birds don't seem to have issues you can breed back if you want or not.
Another thing people say is you have to breed back about every three generations or your lavender will fade.
Porcelain D'Uccles where my first breed with lavender and they've been around a long time so I suspect the feather issues were worked on long ago but anyways I bred those together without cross them back for 5 or 6 years and never had feather issues or fading.
There's other breeds though that need a lot of work still like lavender orps.
IDK how your birds are though but might be wise to keep a few lights around.

 

[Gray Angel Farm]

You are a wealth of knowledge. Thank you so much for your reply!!!
Sounds like it would be in my best interest to keep a few of the lights around. Since I already have them why not.
Where at in Missouri??? I was born in Springfield. Still have family on my mom's side in Ava.

Kindly,
~Angela