Lavender Orpington project ....

[Tuffoldhen]

I've never ever had a rust color or seen a rust in the lavender. Sun bleach during the summer with the pen that does not have a cover but never a rust in any lavender line. If he has this many problems I would suggest the smaller boy to use.

I won't have any eggs til next Spring at the earliest.

 

[halo]

Oh boy, finally lavender Orps that look like Orps, not just lavender chickens!

 

[akpeeps]

Question on generation...My hen is from eggs from BethG's lav project. Is she 2nd gen, and the new chicks 3rd?
Also, what is the purpose of crossing in the English Orps?

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I don't know what generation BethG has. If, for example, she has 2nd generation and breeds them together (no new blacks), they will continue to be 2nd generation. The next generation is the result obtained after mating them to blacks.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
I know this is an ongoing project, but I believe they are too light, at one point it needs to out breed to blacks to regain melanizers to make it one shade darker..

 

[cukooformarans]

I don't know if the "rust" color is sun bleaching or not. I may not be describing it well. It is just a few spots at the tip of some of his darker feathers. I went out to try to take a pic but there is not enough of it to show up in the pics. Whatever it is just showed up. They have an enclosed house, but I let them free-range all day every day, so he does get sun exposure. (Although I leave the house door open and there are lots of trees around for shade. It is raining here. They were in the barn when I went out, but of course they ran out when I came to take pics so he is soaking wet in these pics.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
I know this is an ongoing project, but I believe they are too light, at one point it needs to out breed to blacks to regain melanizers to make it one shade darker..

Actually, in my experience, each generation gets lighter, not darker.
Here is a picture of early generation birds. Small and dark.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
I know this is an ongoing project, but I believe they are too light, at one point it needs to out breed to blacks to regain melanizers to make it one shade darker..

Actually, in my experience, each generation gets lighter, not darker.
Here is a picture of early generation birds. Small and dark.
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab31/kathyinmo/Lav Orps/LavOrps4-13-10022.jpg

this is actually what I was saying... they were too light and you have confirmed they have lost some melanizers..

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Actually, in my experience, each generation gets lighter, not darker.
Here is a picture of early generation birds. Small and dark.
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab31/kathyinmo/Lav Orps/LavOrps4-13-10022.jpg

this is actually what I was saying... they were too light and you have confirmed they have lost some melanizers..

Each "generation" is after it has been crossed with blacks. They still continue to get lighter.

Personally, I don't think they are too light.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
I don't think they are too light either, that's why they are self blue/ lavender. Your rooster does not look a 100% lavender line in my opinion. I think he looks more splash color or light blue for an orpington. My 2 cents.