Self Blue (Lavender) Silkie Thread

[CheshieChick13]

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I have one that looks like that from my gray/lav splits. He/She's siblings have the silver colored hackle feathers, but it looks like yours.
Heres a pic of him/her with the two siblings, you can see the difference. It's the chick in the back that looks a lot like yours.

 

[CheshieChick13]

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Splash and blue are big no no's to cross with lavender because its very hard to distinguish the lavender offspring. The experts say that splits are best made by crossing lavender and black.

Not an expert but I do know this:
If you cross a true lavender to another true lavender then you will get 100% Lavender. If two lavenders are not throwing all lavender chicks, then one or both birds being bred is NOT a true lavender.

Hope that helps

 

[brenTx]

ONE more time.

It takes to lavender genes...two copies to produce lavender. So if you have two lavender ALREADY CARRYING the two genes YES, you get lavaender 100% of the time. I have not gotten anything but lavender for several years from my breeding. Now having said that...there are possible OOOPS I guess but not if you truely have full lavenders.

IF you take a full lavender bird, male or female and cross it to ANY COLOR then ALL those crosses will be carrying one gene. Since NOT TWO you won't have ANY lavender babies. Even if they look lavender they AREN'T carrying the two genes....think on that. TWO TWO I NEED TWO...so now you breed back to these chicks(what I call mutts or splits to lavender) you KNOW are carrying one gene to the orginal lavender you KNOW is carrying two genes and you will get 50% lavender (TWO GENES) and 50% that will take on the other color. IF crossing with black you may get some decent blacks or may get mutts...again not a good color but may be good type and quality BUT again...split to lavender. Once you achieve truly lavenders carrying the two genes...get rid of the splits. You won't need them again and start breeding lavender to lavender. The only reason I may go back again to black is to possibly strengthen the lavender gene. It was suggested to me that the lavender gene in itself is not as strong for hatching/pipping. This has nothing to do with silkies but the gene.

So you have split whatever to lavender...then get a good lavender mate and go with that. OR if you can get your hands on lavenders on both sides, lavender to lavender...sure saves you time and in the long run, feed and money. I know they are expensive but with getting them into standards I think you will see more out here and the prices will come down. It has taken a LONG time to get this to this point thus the price. Buy what you can afford even if it isn't what you see as the BEST. I have used birds with weak wings, four toes and awful combs! You just have to go with the best you can and work on it.

I am off on another adventure now and it will at the least be 5 years to get them consitent.

 

[CheshieChick13]

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A lot of folks are calling anything that apppears to have blue and buff colouring porcelain, or anything that might have lavender bred into the line at some point. I will not argue that the birds are not pretty, but there is a lot that is called porcelain that is not, and that is discounting that porcelain silkies do not have mottle.

Then there are a lot of people who breed silkies who make up all sorts of colour names for birds. There is nothing wrong with a mixed colour bird; it has its purpose if it pleases its owner or purchaser. And I will say that I do attach variety names to birds, but I do try to match the name I use to the genes the bird carries.

If I purchased silkie porcelain chicks or eggs, I would ABSOLUTELY expect them to carry two copies of lavender, and have all the correct genes for porcelain except mottle. I would be VERY unhappy if they did not show proper lavender dilution of both colours.

Well this is exactly WHY I requested the input of the genetic pro's. I'm upset for paying so much not getting a single chick from those eggs that were true to the ad. I dont really want to give a name, I'm not really thrilled since I've spent 2yrs already trying to aquire quality birds/stock for my program. Back to square one, I guess

Very Frustrating!!

I bought my lav's from a woman in Illinois who stated they were from Bren's stock. Until I heard back from Bren on that one, I did not bid! Even though Bren confirmed the sale, I was still taking a risk. Perhaps these weren't the actual birds she had bought from Bren? Luckily they have proven to be true lavs. I would have been ticked considering the price I paid for these birds if they proved not to be true lavs! IT's sad you have to be so distrustful but there are a lot of not so honest (or just plain ignorant) folks out there!

 

[CheshieChick13]

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If you haven't already, ya might want to just save a word document to cut and past that!

 

[brenTx]

I would like to believe it is just confusion on the lavenders but IF you are selling for a top price you need to KNOW what you are selling folks and same with buying. IF you are paying much...ask ask ask. Just because I have sold full lavenders to folks doesn't make the offspring such. Once my birds are bred they are that breeders lines NOT MINE. This can be good too...but those BAD deals leave such a foul taste with we fowl folks.

 

[CheshieChick13]

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I agree and I totally understand what you're saying!
When I was looking to buy lavs, I wanted to know if the person I was buying from knew the parentage of the birds they were selling. If I wasn't buying directly from someone with a good reputation for breeding Lavenders (like you Bren), I wanted to make sure the breeder happened to know where their stock came from. Luckily the woman I had bought them from had kept things very small scale and simple, LOL!
I did my investigation mainly because I didn't want to pay $75.00 - $100.00+ per bird and they turn out to be diluted Blues or Splashes

I feel so badly for people who get ripped off like that

 

[AHappychick]

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ok good to know I am not the only one

ChickyChickyBaby I will grow one out and see.

tomorrow I will try to get some pics of the more unusual or interesting split/ mixed birds I am hatching out, and some of the nice lav chicks

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

Quote:
I have one that looks like that from my gray/lav splits. He/She's siblings have the silver colored hackle feathers, but it looks like yours.
Heres a pic of him/her with the two siblings, you can see the difference. It's the chick in the back that looks a lot like yours.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/56059_graysplits8wks.jpg

OMGosh it does!
I will try to get a picture of my two together tomorrow.
I thought I had 5 like this.....only 4 and two are still babies!

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

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Of course I am always thinking if I do happen to grow out one that I do not like personally, then maybe someone else will like it

It is no problem for me to keep any of them until 8-9 months old. That is actually the age I prefer to sell at I think. Even though I have not ever sold any.