The Splash rooster was taking away from my special project orpingtons so I thought it best to take the picture off and thus close to book on him. I would like to say that he came from a pure breed pen of orpingtons from which I have been breeding for three-four years. Any throw back would have to go back to Sandhill where I got my original stock. I have found that all kinds of unexpected things can pop up when breeding birds.
I thank everyone for their comments and compliments.
Now everyone please take a look at the silver laced roo on page 1. It is a little hard to see but I couldn't get it to stay still very long. I had three of these birds to hatch (a pullet and two roos)from the pen that contained blue, black, and splash orpingtons. They were completely unexpected. They were black at hatch and started getting the lacing after a few weeks. I have no silver laced birds on the ranch.
Here's my question. Did anyone who got eggs from me in late May or early June get any birds with this coloration? Does anyone have any thoughts on how this happened? Is it possible that the lacing came from the blue orpington over the black?