Lavender Orpington project ....

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
So sorry!

I have Oxine, but I just use it to clean and I put a few drops in the waterers in the summer to prevent algae. Its doesn't really work for me - maybe I am doing something wrong?
Good plan with the Englsih though.

 

[Schroeder]

This is one of my Lavender Orpington pullets at 26 weeks. She and her 8 sisters all have this frayed? feathering. I talked to some experts at the Crossroads show and was told it is not uncommon for young pullets to have some "lacey" feathers on their backs at a young age. I've also read the poor quality feathering is a problem that needs to be corrected on project Lavenders. I have several questions. 1) Is this feathering characteristic referred to as "frayed" or something else? 2) How bad is it realtive to "good" feathering? 3) How much improvement should I expect after the first molt?

I have an unrelated Black Orpington I intend to put over them, so I am banking on improvement in all aspects. I'm just not sure how bad I should consider the feathering of my F1 stock.

 

[Shaffer]

Schroeder,
You may want to go to the Ameraucana Club Forum to learn how this happens and possibly how to correct this problem. They have discussed this issue in detail. Good luck. This is why you need to keep breeding to blacks and not lavender to lavender each generation. There is no instant solution.

 

[OSUman]

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Its a genetic disorder that is very closely related to the lav gene from my understanding, it can be bred out through selective breeding though. I have heard that using blue can help but then you have to take good records

 

[jeremy]

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Its a genetic disorder that is very closely related to the lav gene from my understanding, it can be bred out through selective breeding though. I have heard that using blue can help but then you have to take good records

How would using Blue be any different than using Black?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
Its a genetic disorder that is very closely related to the lav gene from my understanding, it can be bred out through selective breeding though. I have heard that using blue can help but then you have to take good records

How would using Blue be any different than using Black?

I don't get that either, the using of blue. I never will in my lines and would want it stated if I bought eggs/chicks from someone that there was blue orp breeding there. Who knows what would pop up down the line is what I am thinking. This is why it's a "project" bird!!!!


With each generation of breeding back to good black orps the feathering becomes better.

 

[jeremy]

I think I was misunderstood.

If you have Blue Orps that are of excellent quality, why wouldn't you use them in the project? Black and Blue are only different because of 1 allele... so why not use good Blues to make better Lavs, too?

What I meant in response to OSUman was what difference would there be by using Blues if genetically they are nearly identical to Blacks?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

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Personally I don't get using the blues even if they are an excellent quality. They carry a gene for blue where blacks do not carry any genes. I want the pure lavender gene all the way down my line of birds. Maybe I am the one misunderstanding. lol

 

[OSUman]

Quote:
Its a genetic disorder that is very closely related to the lav gene from my understanding, it can be bred out through selective breeding though. I have heard that using blue can help but then you have to take good records

How would using Blue be any different than using Black?

From what I understand, the use of the blues gets the poor feathering out of the lavenders faster. I have not done this myself but have heard it from a few different breeders.

The majority of lavenders are where they are because people mass produced them to make money, and also made bad crosses to other breeds, such as Australorps, just so they could make money. There are a few breeders that have worked on them keeping most of them to themselves so that they could get them close to standard before they release them.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
How would using Blue be any different than using Black?

From what I understand, the use of the blues gets the poor feathering out of the lavenders faster. I have not done this myself but have heard it from a few different breeders.

The majority of lavenders are where they are because people mass produced them to make money, and also made bad crosses to other breeds, such as Australorps, just so they could make money. There are a few breeders that have worked on them keeping most of them to themselves so that they could get them close to standard before they release them.

Oh don't I know that! Its starting in the lav ameraucanas soon too.

Until I fell into some black English orps, I had planned on using one of my blues beauase she has such good type and size. If you are going to do that though, you have to keep very good track of the offspring so you know who is carrying the lav gene, so as not to mess up a BBS program.