My Silver-Laced Australorp(ish) Project

You are looking at a lot of work to achieve the results desired. First, the Silver Laced Wyandottes are not good quality for lacing. They are missing 2 or 3 modifier genes that make the lacing more distinct. This will be particularly evident on the feathers near the tail button.

Do you mean that SLW's in general lack those genes or that my specific, hatchery-grade birds lack them?

Silver Laced Wyandottes carry a trait you will struggle to overcome. They have these huge fluffy tailfeathers totally unlike the tailfeathers on your rooster. This trait tends to be dominant over the slim straight shank feathers you want. The puffy feathers hold heat a lot better which of course is not what you want.

This entire idea came about because there seems to be no laced breed that has characteristics suited for heat tolerance rather than cold tolerance. :(
 
old English game fowl :lau

They don’t have lacing. There are heat hardy birds who are laced (such as sebrights), but they don’t suit the OP’s needs.

No heat-tolerant, large-fowl, Dual-Purpose type breeds.

IMO, Australorps are very nearly the perfect chicken -- their own flaw being that they come in so few color varieties.
 
The hatchery birds don't have good lacing and it will carry through to any chicks hatched. Compare the pic I posted of a young hen with the pictures of your hatchery birds to see the difference. Look very closely at the wings, breast, and particularly at the tailfeathers. Plenty of SLW are around with excellent lacing. They were one of the first laced breeds developed. About 100 years ago, there was a hen-feathered SLW line. Dig around online and you can find pictures. They were striking birds.

I've been considering moving the blue egg gene into a Silver Sebright line. With the fully laced blue egg layers I have now, it would be trivial to do. It would still take about 10 years due to having to combine laced phenotype, small bantam size, and hen feathering. I already have rose comb in my birds.
 
How hard would it be and how long would it take to remove the rose comb if one were to start with a normal Wyandotte?
--Some Wyandottes from a hatchery will have single combs, so it takes no time at all.

--Some Wyandottes carry the gene for single combs. Cross them to a chicken with a single comb, and half of the chicks will have single combs. That gives single comb chicks in one generation.

--Some Wyandottes are pure for rose comb. Cross them to a chicken with a single comb, and all chicks will show rose combs but carry the gene for single combs. Cross those chicks to a chicken with a single comb, and half of their chicks will have single combs. That's two generations.

Single comb x single comb should always produce chicks with single combs. So once the rose comb is gone, it should never pop up again, unless you breed to chickens that have rose combs.
 
Very interesting thread! I’d love to do something similar. How hard would it be and how long would it take to remove the rose comb if one were to start with a normal Wyandotte?

2-3 generations -- depending on other characteristics that might be more importantl.
 
I was thinking about this again today and trying to figure out what traits contribute most to heat tolerance. I think this list should be close.

Lighter weight birds tend to have more heat tolerance, this particularly includes leghorns and similar origin birds.

Hen feathered chickens are more heat tolerant as there is a distinct advantage for roosters with this trait.

Straight comb is a well known positive trait as it allows heat to be diffused into the air.

Feather type is an important trait where the large fluffy feathers of Wyandottes are adapted to cold climates and sleek flat feathers are better in the heat.

You will find this one a bit strange, but there are suggestions that white egg layers have advantages in a hot climate over brown layers.

Lighter colored feathers are important as they reflect more sunlight, black feathers are the opposite collecting heat from the sun.
 

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