Lavender Orpington project ....

[Harveyb123]

do you have an out door light that shines on the coop

 

[Sharon2012]

It shines on one side. The other side (where the chickens sleep) is in the dark

 

[Thomas423]

Thank you Brandi,
I enjoyed your pics on facebook also.

I found the mottled orp thread the other day but I didn't see any pics of just hatched chicks. Your's are great.

So to clarify, both black mottled and lav mottled hatch as yellow chicks with either black or lav spots. And black split will be mostly black as chicks and lavender will be lavender as chicks. Not yellow. Correct?

I have 5 black hens, 2 lavender hens and 1 lavender rooster in a pen together. Chicks should only be black/split or lavender? If they hatch yellow, they are mottled? The black hens are pure black and should not have the mottle gene but I'm unsure about the lavender girls. I know that Jodi and Charlie decided to not breed the mottle gene, so I feel pretty good about the rooster (I just got him this year). I'm afraid that if it does show up, it wont' until a 2nd or 3rd generation. I just wanted to know what to look for in the chicks, so that I'm not surprised later on.

Thanks again,
~Anne

I have both Lavender and Black mottled birds. There is a thread for the mottled birds somewhere. I will find a link to it for you and repost it. When the mottled chicks hatch they are all yellow with a small spot of black or lavender on their back and sometimes head. I have more pics than the ones below on my Facebook page in my Orpingtons album: https://www.facebook.com/BrandisFancyFeathers

 

[TBJumper0514]

Thank you Brandi,
I enjoyed your pics on facebook also.

I found the mottled orp thread the other day but I didn't see any pics of just hatched chicks. Your's are great.

So to clarify, both black mottled and lav mottled hatch as yellow chicks with either black or lav spots. And black split will be mostly black as chicks and lavender will be lavender as chicks. Not yellow. Correct?

I have 5 black hens, 2 lavender hens and 1 lavender rooster in a pen together. Chicks should only be black/split or lavender? If they hatch yellow, they are mottled? The black hens are pure black and should not have the mottle gene but I'm unsure about the lavender girls. I know that Jodi and Charlie decided to not breed the mottle gene, so I feel pretty good about the rooster (I just got him this year). I'm afraid that if it does show up, it wont' until a 2nd or 3rd generation. I just wanted to know what to look for in the chicks, so that I'm not surprised later on.

Thanks again,
~Anne

You're welcome! And thank you!

Yes, you are correct on the down colors of the chicks. Also, another factor in mottled Orps is their legs will be white, not slate or black like most black and Lavender birds have. My couple of adult mottled Lavs don't have super defined mottling (hopefully it will be after they molt), but they have white legs and lighter beaks. I hatched a lot of chicks (probably 150+) before I hatched a mottled from my Lavenders last year. I was quite surprised to find a pure yellow chick in the batch of Lavenders! It was a fluke thing that popped up, but I like the look, so I am working with it. I have some projects in the works once these are grown out...eventually Porcelain and even Chocolate Mottled Orps.

 

[Sharon2012]

Has anyone had experience with a hen (mine is a lavender orp) going down almost like a broken leg for no apparent reason? Today one of mine is in it's coop trying every now and then to walk on it but more often as not unable to get up. Is it to late for her? We had a very bad storm go through and whatever caused her problem happened then.

 

[aveca]

Sounds like mereks disease...she could have injured herself during the storm.

 

[Sharon2012]

Sounds like mereks disease...she could have injured herself during the storm.

She died late yesterday. That one leg seemed broken and she had blood coming from her beak. The other four seem alright as of now. I thought Mereks hit younger birds. Mine are ten months old (almost)

 

[aveca]

Wow..that's strange,especially blood coming from the mouth..I'm so Sorry for your loss...

 

[Cuteincamo]

Brought home my first lav orphs this last weekend! I am so excited to watch them grow into beautiful birds!

 

[galainc912]

We have 2 lavender orpington chicks.. one has a much darker beak. They are about 1 month old. How can I tell if one of them is a rooster?