Silver-Laced Breed for the Heat?

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3KillerBs

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Since it came up in another discussion,

The Silver-Laced pattern makes for some of the prettiest hens in existence. But the commonly-available Silver-Laced Wyandottes and Silver-Laced Cochins are not exactly well-suited to hot climates, especially hot, humid climates. They may make it through an extended period of 95-95 weather, but they can't be said to exactly thrive in it.

Flipping through a few hatchery catalogs, I'm not seeing any Silver-Laced birds in dual-purpose or Mediterranean types with clean legs and big single combs to help them cope with blistering heat and humidity.

Am I missing something that should be obvious or have hot-climate people never bred this color pattern as a variety in their breeds?
 
Polish! My silver laced is a hoot! They aren't as heavy as Wyandottes so they do better in the heat.
You might just not be finding the info that you need to know if they are heat tolerant or not. Biggest clues are smaller size and large combs.
 
Sebrights, and Polish, are laced, but I don't know about heat tolerance.

I wasn't even thinking about the ornamental rather than production breeds so those didn't come to mind. :D I forgot either existed because I always flip past the "Ornamental" and "Bantam" sections of the catalog.

Others in hot climates will certainly have different opinions, but ornamentals won't suit my flock. If it doesn't lay reasonable numbers of US Large or XL eggs and thrive in a mixed flock of assorted breeds it won't work for me. :)

I've heard many stories of Polish being entertaining, but also too many stories of them being viciously bullied in a mixed flock. :(

You might just not be finding the info that you need to know if they are heat tolerant or not. Biggest clues are smaller size and large combs.

I know that my SLW does not really thrive in my summers and that the Orpington x Wyandottes don't do as well as, for example, the Australorps either.

I fear for my son's pet Cochin when we hit the expected weeks of 95F+ and 95% humidity.

A Silver-Laced breed with clean legs and a large, single comb is what I'm asking about. :D I can't find one flipping through the hatchery catalogs I have on hand.
 
What about Silver Spangled, or Silver Penciled? Not as pretty, but the same colors.

Silver Penciled is attractive, but a good deal less dramatic.

Maybe you could start a breeding project. I had andalusians for a while, and they didn't even pant or hold their wings out until it hit 90 degrees. How to turn the black lacing/penciling into white lacing....

Now that would be something -- create a silver-laced Australorp. :D

I don't know that I'd have the ability to handle a project like that -- to bring in the silver-laced pattern and then to bring everything else back to a proper Australorp. Especially because there doesn't seem to be anything silver-laced that's anything close.

I wouldn't even know where to think of beginning.

Polish were originally bred as egg layers.

But they aren't anymore. And their crests make them unsuited to a mixed flock.
 
Have you looked into Spitzhaubens?

Edited to add: They're not silver laced, but I know I've noticed multiple breeders of Spitz in NC. At least one of these breeders does a lot of crossing with Spitz. I have one supposed Spitz, but something clearly happened for me to end up hatching the bird I ended up with 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

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