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OK Cammy I am not sure what we are talking about exactly BUT if I hatch a mutt now it is from a black split to lavender and a lavender(colored) bird. I am still working with showgirls in lavender so those crossings are NOT lavender to lavender( showing lavender color having the two genes) yet and YES I will throw a mutt here and there but my lavender to lavender ALL hatch out showing lavender, being pure lavender.Some of the chicks have stripes but not the DARK color of mutts. Self blue/lavender hatch a very light soft pastel color. some with stripes and some with less down. The ones with less down are going to catch up and be the darker of the two chicks, having dark dark eyes, beaks and skin. Please remember that just because it looks lavender doesn't make it so. You need to do your homework and find out how these "lavender" birds were bred. I have heard from way too many people that are very disappointed in what they have paid a lot of money for from other sources. I want to add that I recently found out that these chicks with less down may have more trouble hatching since down with the proper humdity allows the chicks to slide around and pip. Less down may stop that action thus they die. I am going to look better at what doesn't make it out. I try to time my hatches where I am here to "help". I do find silkies harder to hatch than other breeds I have had.
ANYTHING you cross to a pure lavender bird (pure being the key here) you will have offspring carrying one lavender gene the first generation. Cross those back to pure lavender and you will get a percentage of lavender colored birds while some will still be mutts. I prefer using black as the other base color. Does it sound like this takes a long time to do? YES...it has taken us years now to feel good about our lines. Deb is always reminding me as well as others that lavenders are still a work in progress. We feel we have them consitent and ready to be recognized as a new variety in ABA and APA standards.
So to sum this up...the term mutts is the strange looking DARK chicks that hatch from pairings that are NOT with TWO pure lavender birds. Stripes are still in some of my lavnder chicks but they are lavender not the dark color we refer to as mutts. Stripes don't make them mutts just the fact they are not full blood does and in my lines they were darker down and dark stripes. This is one of those things that once you SEE you have it. Good luck to you all. We need all the support for lavender we can get.
