Porcelain Project

[MumsyII]

Yep! Sharing ideas is what I hope this thread generates. Both in breeding Porcelains and flock management.

Your birds are beautiful. You seem to have a wonderful system in place.

My Silkies and HRIR are all from exhibition blood lines but I consider all chickens as possible meat or egg birds. Nothing goes to waste. My garden and orchard is the final resting place for most though. We bury remains under fruit trees and roses. It is a way for all to contribute in some way or another. I believe it is an honorable way for a chicken in the end. To nurture life in an endless circle.

Poultry shows are fun and I would participate if they weren't so difficult to attend. The closest shows are three hours and a ferry trip. Some time in the next few years I would like to enter some of my best. It's going to take at least a couple years to get my silkie pens breeding up to Standard. My HRIR could enter right now. They are amazing.

My flocks have been closed for a year. No new birds come in except through hatching eggs from reliable breeders that I know and trust. I practice strict bio-security. If there was an exceptional breeder someone was willing to trade with me, I may succumb. Hah!

But so far, no one I know on my island has birds of my bloodlines.


My youngest Grandson feeding the flock in the yard last summer.

 

[MumsyII]

The F1 Porcelain x Partridge chicks are in the awkward stage at five weeks but their colors are so beautiful already. I have no idea what to expect but these pastels are lovely. I really hope there is at least one female so I can cross these siblings.





A beautiful day in my garden.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

Gorgeous chicks (they are looking GREAT!!!) and a beautiful garden!!!

I am going to post this little boy here. I hope he is going to be porcelain. He has a lot of lavender - everything that isn't orangish is lavender, but the orange just stands out so much.

This is a "Blue Cream" that Karen Larsen had for sale:

Karen Larsen photo

 

[MumsyII]

I love that little orange/cream boy of yours. I would be thrilled to have one of mine get that coloring. I can see that crossed back on Lavender to get beautiful Self Blue Cream/Porcelain.

If my chicks stayed just the way they are, I would be over the moon! Whatever they become is still prettier than any Silkie color I have ever bred!

The two partridge colored chicks in this batch are developing a lot of buff in their feathers. This excites me. I've never had silkies with these colors. It is amazing. I'm kicking myself that I didn't put this breeding plan together sooner. Now my Porcelain male is gone and I need to preserve his progeny. It's kind of scary


It was hard to get a good candid pic of one of the partridge colored porcelain crosses. They are really changing every day. I have no idea how they will look at maturity. I can walk right past them in the garden and miss them. They are so well camouflaged.

 

[MumsyII]

Three of the Partridge x Porcelain F1 chicks this morning. The up right one in the back acts very much like a male. Lots of buff coming in and a very lav/blue under down. Looked partridge in color as a day old.


This chick was first hatched and brought back from death. I found it stone cold and lifeless in the nest which was shared by two hens. They trampled it in the fight over eggs. I breathed life back into it, warmed it up in the house. Taped feet and legs too. I named him Tick Tick as in the ticking of the clock on whether I could save him. He is the biggest chick now. The dominate in the hatch and I love the buff on blue or lavender. Not sure how this chick will turn out at maturity.


Tick Tick on the left. The creamy chick with buff crest coming in is a very pretty one. Green zip means this is one with four toes on one foot or claw toes. I didn't pick it up to check.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

I love that little orange/cream boy of yours. I would be thrilled to have one of mine get that coloring. I can see that crossed back on Lavender to get beautiful Self Blue Cream/Porcelain. If my chicks stayed just the way they are, I would be over the moon! Whatever they become is still prettier than any Silkie color I have ever bred! The two partridge colored chicks in this batch are developing a lot of buff in their feathers. This excites me. I've never had silkies with these colors. It is amazing. I'm kicking myself that I didn't put this breeding plan together sooner. Now my Porcelain male is gone and I need to preserve his progeny. It's kind of scary It was hard to get a good candid pic of one of the partridge colored porcelain crosses. They are really changing every day. I have no idea how they will look at maturity. I can walk right past them in the garden and miss them. They are so well camouflaged.

I tried to respond to this post last night and my computer locked up. Thanks! I wanted to tell you that baby in the bottom left in the top picture is colored like my little boy at that age. So cute, so cute, so cute!!! Those partridges do camouflage so well. Tick Tick looks like a good candidate for the lavender partridge project!!! They are not porcelain but about the same age as your babies:

 

[MumsyII]

I love those little silver Partridge. Beautiful.

I took better pictures of a three of the six from the Porcelain x Partridge. Tick Tick doesn't have pencilling on his wings like I thought he would. I wouldn't quite call his color porcelain either. Too dark of buff coming in but I love it! I am sure he is a he. In fact I am betting five of the six are males. Their combs are so large for their age. I very much want to be wrong and have at least one or two female.





Tick Tick is one of my favorites in the bunch but not porcelain. Though maybe he would sire porcelain?


The chick with four toes on one foot is an incredibly beautiful blend of cream, lavender, and a smidge of buff. If this is a female, I'm breeding her. I love this coloring. Maybe she could produce better feet in offspring?

But...That is a huge comb for five weeks if this is a female. My gut says boy.


This one is another of that beautiful soft lavender, cream, and buff. I think this one is male too. He has lobster claw toes on both feet. Pity.


The color is exactly what I was hoping for.


These chicks have heavy feathered feet and legs. Love them so much.

I have three more to take pictures of but it is too hot here right now. It stresses them out.

 

[MumsyII]

These next two chicks represent the best in feet with pretty coloring. Probably another couple males but that's ok. I will have my choice of the best of the group to breed to my lavender hen and back to the mother.




Looks porcelain. More buff than the other creamy chicks but I love this. When people call something 'creme-sickle' this is what I imagine.

This next chick is much like the previous two in the last post but he has perfect toes on both feet.






It would be awesome if this chick was female but I've given it the hatch name of 'Lav Boy' just in case. It is a gorgeous even color of lavender cream with a sprinkling of buff.

For my F1 hatch they surpassed anything I dreamed of. Each stage of their development is a marvel to me. And this is just five weeks. By fall, I should have a better idea of how they turn out.

 

[MumsyII]

The Porcelain male crossed on my Partridge female gave one copy of Lav to these chicks. That is why I can see dark buff/red in the crest that is undiluted. Since Lavender is the diluting gene but needs two copies. So would this pale color not be true lavender in this F1 but a very pale blue? Could my Partridge hen have blue?

Here is my male and female used in the cross again.



E/eE/ebb from a partridge colored chick? Bl/bl+ Lav+/lav for blue x lavender cross?

So this is why Porcelain (Self Blue Cream) is still a work in progress? Offspring that look Porcelain but the genetics don't line up.

The answer should mean I must breed these offspring to my one Lavender hen or to each other to get F2 that carry two copies of Lavender. That will get the proper dilution of the visible dark buff coloring in the crest of my other wise pale colored chicks.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

So this is why Porcelain (Self Blue Cream) is still a work in progress? Offspring that look Porcelain but the genetics don't line up.

The  answer should mean I must breed these offspring to my one Lavender hen or to each other to get F2 that carry two copies of Lavender. That will get the proper dilution of the visible dark buff coloring in the crest of my other wise pale colored chicks.
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I would answer yes to all the above. I know there are several folks that have bred partridges with lavender and visually have porcelain.

A bell just went off in my head......I wonder, I am doing the same thing only aiming for the lavender partridge and they have to have two copies of the lavender gene as well. Does that mean we are really breeding the same thing only with different names? Sonoran can you explain this for us, please?

Is there a lavender partridge thread out there that I haven't found? I did a Google search for lavender partridge and porcelains are coming up in the pictures.

Your babies are all such dolls. If that little 4 toes is a girl I would breed her too. You can watch her babies for toe flaws. I'm sure there are probably posts about this, but I am not knowledgeable enough to advise.