Lavender Orpington project ....

[robgray]

Hi this is my first pair of Lav. I have two questions. First, is there something wrong with their feathers to look so rough or could it by the coccidia I just treated them for? Second, how do I need to breed them to darken their color (14 weeks in picture)

Well firstly i can tell you that it is very unlikely that they have cocci. You would expect to see a listlessness with drooping wings, sleeping during the day, loss in weight for age etc.
The "rough" feathering appears to be what is called squirrel feathering which can be common in lavs that are breed lav to lav without splitting back to black. The good news is you would improve both feather quality and lavender color by adding a black to the lav. You would then be able to breed the black/lav babies to get a better quality. The birds are also at that teenage age where they can look a bit scruffy before they get their adult plumage.
Looking up close though the feathers are very squirreled. Good luck.

 

[daxigait]

Thanks for the advice based on what I had been reading I thought I might need to breed in a black, but I was unsure. This is after coccidia treatment. They got it when I bought them and brought them home from their npip farm to mine.

 

[92RiversideFarm]

Your birds are stunning! Much bigger than mine so far. I love the contrast between the red wattles/comb and the lavender feathers. Thank you for sharing.

 

[daxigait]

I they were 14 weeks in that photo if you are talking about mine. I need to find out about breeding in some black to help with the feather edges. Some of mine look like they have split ends.

 

[daxigait]

@robgrayis the somewhere I can learn more about how to breed the black in and get back to Lavender?

 

[daxigait]

OK Lavender people, please critique my almost seven month old roo. Some squirelling in tail feathers. I need a black.'

 

[WVduckchick]

Mine is almost 8 months old, so I'll take some critiquing too, please

 

[daxigait]

I hope some experienced Orpington people respond. As the two have real differences.

 

[WVduckchick]

I hope some experienced Orpington people respond. As the two have real differences.

Yea that's why I thought it was a good comparison for us. They are both very handsome though!

 

[Shaffer]

daxigate: Your pullets with the poor feather quality is the result of the K-gene not from breeding lavender to lavender. Your male does have Squirrel tail as you have noted and will produce the same in a good portion of your offsprings. If these are all you have to use then proceed hatch many and cull hard. You can use a black with silver base genes to improve quality and color, a black with gold base will make you lavenders offsrpings extremely dark in color and color issues with black flecking in the neck and smutty wing bar areas.

WVduckchick: You can use this male over any black hen and only keep the pullets the males will be carrying both gold and silver base genes and will take a few years to clean up. You need to use hens with him that have good forward breasts to make improvement so you don;t have the ski slope chests that are common in most strains. UK hens would be probably the best route to go if they have nice breasts. Breed him back to his daughters and proceed from there adding some new blood the following F3 generation.