Lavender-Based Leghorn Breeding & Improvement Discussion

[ChicKat]

honestly most of the Isabels I've seen floating around surpass the quality of most production hatchery leghorns.

Thanks for the debut of Fricassee and the Dumplings. What a great name. I think I'm addicted to pictures.

Y'all know that clicking on any of Haiku's picts will bring them full screen, and then on my computer you can hit that side arrow and page through them and even go back to Moonshinter's picts......

Such a good observation about the quality of these birds. Because of Buddy Henry's work -- and my lot came from Cree57i and CJWaldon via mail, so once removed from his stock in both cases....they ARE quality chickens.

That's an inspiration to us to keep improving the quality.

ETA - I've also noticed a calm disposition in my lot. Mr. Rooster 'the Dude' has those qualities that we look for...good to the females and respectful of the humans. Takes his roostering job seriously, sometimes is a Lamaze coach to a nesting box occupant...calls them for treats and bugs he finds and picks them up and drops them for the hens. All good. He also will eat himself when good stuff is put out. Once had a roo that would only pick up and drop and seemed to never eat himself.

Disposition is an important (yet invisible) trait and I think it is inherited to some degree.....so a line of birds will usually be docile IMO.

 

[Kiki]

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I know this thread is about Lavender Leghorns, but I’m just so happy to have a Leghorn in my flock after not having one for 2.5 years.

 

[Tbird84]

I certainly believe disposition is inherited. I've seen evidence of that myself with my own breedings.

 

[Cyprus]

I certainly believe disposition is inherited. I've seen evidence of that myself with my own breedings.

Same here.

 

[GaryDean26]

Awesome! I hope this can be a place for us to discuss all of birds of any lavender/self-blue Leghorn variety as I suspect they all have a lot of genetics in common.

I know that the old timer master show exhibitors and APA judges minimalize the difference between Andalusian self blue and Lavender saying they visually are the same thing so they can't be distinguished nor unique varieties, but my brother breed Lavender Orpingtons for a spell and I breed Blue Breda of ha half dozen years. My criterion for the Self blue in the birds I was breeding was for dark nearly black hackles, bark well defined lacing on a baby blue ground color, etc. I haven't seen the lavender color in any breed (Orpington, Leghorn, Americana, d'Uccle, Marans, etc.) that have the well defined lacing, that get the near black hackles, saddles (on the males) tail feathers, etc. Are the Andalusian blue based on a different primary color pattern (possible eb rather than e+), does lavender express itself differently than the Andalusian self blue, or are the lavender breeds just not a well refined/established as the Andalusian self blue. If these the self blue and lavender colors are expressed differently, have different requirements in their SOP, etc. It may be useful to not call Lavender self blue and to keep these two varieties in separate discussions since they create totally difference breeding challenges.

Note: I am pretty sure that if you put Andalusian self blue leghorns next to Lavender Leghorns that every APA judge in the country could tell you which one was what. I think that I could so I am a little lost on the move to call Lavender self blue. I don't mean to digress, but if these are different I think that we should discuss them differently in terms of breeding (and stay out of the APA debate on what new varieties are new and what aren't since I don't thing we are getting the real story on that with the Lavender and self blue right now anyways).

 

[Tbird84]

I bred Andalusians years ago. They certainly are different. At the time, I had never heard the term Lavender. Only self blue. I was out of the poultry world for about 6yrs, then when I came back there was Lavender. So

 

[The Moonshiner]

You post is a little confusing to me. Is there an adalusion self blue?
What we have and are calling lavender is what the APA calls self blue. It is recessive gene.
What the APA calls blue is what some call andalusian blue. That sounds like what you're describing with the lacing. Thats the common BBS blue. I do hear people talk of BBS blue sometimes not called andalusian because sometimes it lacks the darker lacing and its frowned upon because most or all APA blue varieties call for lacing.
So I'm confused about what youre calling andalusian self blue.

 

[GaryDean26]

You post is a little confusing to me. Is there an adalusion self blue?

Tbird84 got what I am after. For 150 years self blue was an APA term that referred to the color most notably seen in the Andalusian breed. Then in a 6 year period timespan Lavender became the hot new color. Many people in the APA pushed back the Lavendar as NOT being a new variety and said that it was the same thing as Self Blue. I think for this thread the term self blue should never be used since it is what has historically been the color seen in the Andalusian breed.

I don't think that You can get the same color with Lavendar as what is seen in the Andalusian breed. I have not worked with the Lavendar breed so my question for those who have is can you get the show quality color of a well bred Andalusian in a Lavendar Leghorn? If not my vote is to never refer to Lavendar as Self blue and reserve that for the color see in the Andalusian breed (and other that with the the blue/blach/splash genetics).

 

[Tbird84]

It's not a huge deal to me. I never heard andalusians referred to as self blue, but I also was not a show goer either. Most now have probably not heard of the term self blue. To my understanding, self blue is genetically and visually different from the andalusian (laced) blue.