Lavender Orpington project ....

[akpeeps]

Beth, day 14 was yesterday. Five are still going, one quit early and one is still showing some movement but hasn't really progressed much since last week. I don't think it will make it, but I left it in anyway. I'll take it out Thursday if it hasn't progressed.

 

[Beth G.]

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So happy for you!! I hope the four strong ones go all the way!!

 

[Newyorkrita]

I just read thru all 50 pages of this thread. I find these lavenders very striking. One thing I did seem to notice looking at lots and lots of pictures is that some peoples birds appear to be darker than others and vice versa. Is it just the lighting conditions and different cameras and such? Or is there a color varience from darker to lighter in the lavander color?

 

[hinkjc]

A lot of what you are seeing are project birds, so varying shades of lavender are noticeable. As the birds are bred better and progressed correctly, the lavender plumage gets more consistent within a flock.

 

[HenThymes]

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Here is the pullet in question. She has mottling on her chest all the way to her legs (I could not get her to face me) and lots of what on her wings. Any thoughts???

By the way, she is only three weeks old.

 

[Tony]

Beautiful bird`s everyone, keep up the good work.

 

[hinkjc]

Hen, blacks can have white feathers in juvenile plumage and moult it by maturity. Yours does appear to have a more mottled appearance though, so I'm not sure. I guess it would depend where you got them and how they bred them. If someone used a lav mottled over a straight black, you would get some recessive mottled split lav black birds. Typically you can tell if a bird is truly mottled by adulthood. Their feet keep a mottling pattern and don't go completely dark/black.

 

[HenThymes]

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Thank you for your input. This was a first for me out of all that I have hatched this year. I own the parent stock, lav roo came from sandy and split black hens from someone else. This one just caught me off guard as no one has feathered out looking mottled. It will be interesting to see how she finishes out. I had chosen her almost from day one as a keeper, there was just something about her.

 

[hinkjc]

If you want to check your breeders, the lav bird would have solid white shanks/feet if he is mottled. You wouldn't notice it easily on his plumage. If the blacks carried the gene, it is likely their feet would show similar appearance in adults as your youngster is showing with white skin going up and over the top of the toes. If you don't see this, it is just a black with some excess white plumage that will likely moult out by maturity. I've seen a pure black like your young one and it was definitely black..not part of a project. It did eventually turn full black.

 

[hinkjc]

Tony! So nice to see you on here. How are your lavenders doing? There are tons of great pics on here. I haven't talked to you in a while. Hope all is well. Let me know if you might be interested in a nice f5 cockerel. I should have about 5-6 extras this year and they're turning out beautiful.