Okay, when starting our first laying flock, we raise bantams before, we decided to order from a hatchery. We understood that our birds might not be "pure" as we understood it from the breeding standpoint but would be great for production. I never really though I would get into breeding with the layers, but with the economy as it is I found a great demand for laying birds.
So, I began to lay out a long-term plan for my layers. I understand that I will need to rotate the generations and introduce new blood-lines and so forth. But now I am concerned about the label of the birds I have...
As soon as the birds began feathering, I knew that some of my "Austalorp" order was filled with what I believe to be sex-links as some of the ladies had some red feathers on their chest and lighter colored feet/leggs. These were the first birds I sold to cull them from my lines. I did not sell them as Lorps but just as laying hens.
Now that I have babies coming from the bator, I don't know how I can be sure what I am selling. My DH thinks that as long as we don't falsely led people to believe they are Lorps, and they are sound/healthy producers, people won't care.
What do you guys think? Also, if some of my hens or rooster is a Sex-link, how likely am I to see some of the 1st generation traits (like barring) appear in my off spring??
I am just used to breeding from two different lines and knowing exactly what the birds are!
So, I began to lay out a long-term plan for my layers. I understand that I will need to rotate the generations and introduce new blood-lines and so forth. But now I am concerned about the label of the birds I have...
As soon as the birds began feathering, I knew that some of my "Austalorp" order was filled with what I believe to be sex-links as some of the ladies had some red feathers on their chest and lighter colored feet/leggs. These were the first birds I sold to cull them from my lines. I did not sell them as Lorps but just as laying hens.
Now that I have babies coming from the bator, I don't know how I can be sure what I am selling. My DH thinks that as long as we don't falsely led people to believe they are Lorps, and they are sound/healthy producers, people won't care.
What do you guys think? Also, if some of my hens or rooster is a Sex-link, how likely am I to see some of the 1st generation traits (like barring) appear in my off spring??
I am just used to breeding from two different lines and knowing exactly what the birds are!
