Silver-Laced Breed for the Heat?

[3KillerBs]

You could add a few Sebrights as well. They are small, and may not manage "productive," but they seem to fit several of your other points. They definitely come in Silver Laced, being bantams they are likely to be are early-maturing, and being small with not-fluffy feathering they would probably deal well with the heat in your climate.

I rejected the idea of either Seabrights or Polish because production qualities are the most important thing to me.

Not *so* important that I'll only raise Leghorns and sex-linked layers, but I don't want small eggs and reduced laying frequency.

As I said earlier, I'm really surprised that there are so few Silver-Laced breeds.

 

[Amer]

You could add a few Sebrights as well. They are small, and may not manage "productive," but they seem to fit several of your other points. They definitely come in Silver Laced, being bantams they are likely to be are early-maturing, and being small with not-fluffy feathering they would probably deal well with the heat in your climate.

I personally wouldn’t recommend it since their lacing is birchen based as opposed to Wyandotte partridge based lacing.

 

[Windrider]

I think I mentioned before that I thought the Double Laced Silver Barnevelder would look beautiful in your flock! Not exactly the crispness of the single laced, but easily some of the most beautiful chickens out there. And you get nice dark brown eggs, too!

@K0k0shka got some real beauties as hatching eggs from Blue House Farm.

 

[3KillerBs]

I think I mentioned before that I thought the Double Laced Silver Barnevelder would look beautiful in your flock! Not exactly the crispness of the single laced, but easily some of the most beautiful chickens out there. And you get nice dark brown eggs, too!

@K0k0shka got some real beauties as hatching eggs from Blue House Farm.

View attachment 3095929

They are beautiful birds.

Hard to source though unless I spend a lot more than I'm really wanting to at the moments.

 

[Windrider]

Yeah, the big hatcheries seem to only have the golden barnevelders, not the silver. Chicks from a breeder are going to be pricy, but hatching eggs might be doable now that you have an incubator. Though it is always risky with shipped eggs.

Blue House Farm is in North Carolina, but I don't know how close to you. It may be possible if you or a friend is going near where they are, and can pick some up without having them shipped.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yeah, the big hatcheries seem to only have the golden barnevelders, not the silver. Chicks from a breeder are going to be pricy, but hatching eggs might be doable now that you have an incubator. Though it is always risky with shipped eggs.

Blue House Farm is in North Carolina, but I don't know how close to you. It may be possible if you or a friend is going near where they are, and can pick some up without having them shipped.

They're about 4 hours away. It's not impossible that I might sometime go there, but not likely that I'd go there anytime in the next year or more.

 

[K0k0shka]

@K0k0shka got some real beauties as hatching eggs from Blue House Farm.

Mine are real beauties for sure! They are small and lightweight, and do very well in the summer. I know I'm in the north but summers get brutally hot over here, and humid, too, because we're by the ocean. My Silver Laced Orpingtons look pathetic in the summer, with all that fluff - panting, with their wings out, while the Barnevelders look unbothered. I had a good hatch rate on my shipped eggs from Blue House Farm - something like 50-60%, which is great given that they flew from NC to MA. And I had a really crappy styrofoam incubator at the time. With a shorter trip and a better incubator, I'm sure they'll be even more successful! The breeder was great to work with, prompt and professional and very nice. I'm very happy with my experience overall.

 

[3KillerBs]

So, I've ordered SLWs in my Ideal order to arrive next week and will have at least a casual stab at creating a single-combed, Australorp-adjacent bird with this color pattern.

 

[3KillerBs]

I got 4 SLW chicks from Ideal today. We'll see how this goes.

 

[NatJ]

I got 4 SLW chicks from Ideal today. We'll see how this goes.

What comb types do they have?