Could She Be a Lavender Orpington After All?

[3KillerBs]

Yeah that isn't something that you want to pass on in offspring. I'm sure they are still perfectly good for eating, though.

Yes, perfectly good to eat. Quite nice-sized too, though never more than 4-5 per week.

She's 2 years old so due to be culled when she molts again (last year she had a long molt and made messy, bloody eggs both going into molt and coming out). I'd have culled her last year as a bad layer if she weren't my granddaughter's favorite.

It's a shame because she's got quite nice lacing for a hatchery bird and a pleasant, docile personality.

 

[JedJackson]

Yes, perfectly good to eat. Quite nice-sized too, though never more than 4-5 per week.

She's 2 years old so due to be culled when she molts again (last year she had a long molt and made messy, bloody eggs both going into molt and coming out). I'd have culled her last year as a bad layer if she weren't my granddaughter's favorite.

It's a shame because she's got quite nice lacing for a hatchery bird and a pleasant, docile personality.

I really don't know the likelihood of a hen passing on egg deformities to the next generation, but it's not worth taking the chance, in my opinion.

 

[3KillerBs]

I really don't know the likelihood of a hen passing on egg deformities to the next generation, but it's not worth taking the chance, in my opinion.

If it were once in a while I could pass it as an inconsistent calcium intake. But every egg wonky and none of them are ever normal.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Back in November and December I was trying to ID chicks from an "assorted brown layers" package and was suspicious of a particular girl, now a 10-month pullet named "Silver".

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/lavender-orpington-vs-blue-australorp.1499775/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/blue-splash-or-lavender.1504071/

She was determined to be a Blue Australorp rather than a Lavender Orpington based primarily on the faint lacing on her feathers.

Photo from December:

I've noticed over the summer that her feathers have gotten quite ragged -- which I *thought* was a trait associated with Lavender.

View attachment 3206618

I could possibly get close-up photos off the roost tonight, but they'll be taken by camera flash and not in a natural stance.

That looks more like rooster damage than feather shredding to me. I also had a blue bird who I thought was lavender— he had no lacing and a shredded tail. However, I figured it out eventually with the help of @Amer .

 

[3KillerBs]

That looks more like rooster damage than feather shredding to me. I also had a blue bird who I thought was lavender— he had no lacing and a shredded tail. However, I figured it out eventually with the help of @Amer .

By the time I sold her she was showing shredding everywhere, not just on her back.