Silver Laced Orpingtons (LF)

[McCoyPoultry]

At that age it's really not best to be judging the head shape I've found. You'd be better off waiting until maturity to make judgements on type because these birds make a lot of changes as they age. I don't have a problem with the head shape of my breeding stock, that being said... I would vote that you keep the genetics purely Silver Laced to Silver Laced to reduce the problems of introducing genes you don't want (or don't necessarily know exist) when outcrossing to new stock. Glad to be a part of this thread. Here's some pictures of my birds!

Love your birds! How can we add new lines and make them less in-breed? I found that some of them are so in-breed that they die at maturity

 

[Heartful]

At that age it's really not best to be judging the head shape I've found. 
You'd be better off waiting until maturity to make judgements on type because these birds make a lot of changes as they age. 
I don't have a problem with the head shape of my breeding stock, that being said... I would vote that you keep the genetics purely Silver Laced to Silver Laced to reduce the problems of introducing genes you don't want (or don't necessarily know exist) when outcrossing to new stock. 

Glad to be a part of this thread. 
Here's some pictures of my birds! 

Thanks for the reply! I love your birds which is why I have the little ones I posted pics of Im really happy that you've joined the thread!

My goal is to always try to improve on the birds I have...I may or may not be successful but at least I know I started with quality stock! I will always recommend Ewe Crazy Farms.

 

[McCoyPoultry]

Well I went and asked the most professional Silver Laced Orpington Breeder I know! Keith Gibbons. I have great news! He said that to get more genetics in the Silver pool so they aren't as in-breed put a Silver Laced Roo over Gold Laced Hens! He said since the Silver Laced Gene is dominant all the Rooster from the Silver/Golden mix will be gold DONT USE! These are barnyard mix basically! He said that the hens will be Pure Silver! He said you can breed those back to the silver Roo to get more genetics!

 

[Heartful]

Well I went and asked the most professional Silver Laced Orpington Breeder I know! Keith Gibbons. I have great news! He said that to get more genetics in the Silver pool so they aren't as in-breed put a Silver Laced Roo over Gold Laced Hens! He said since the Silver Laced Gene is dominant all the Rooster from the Silver/Golden mix will be gold DONT USE! These are barnyard mix basically! He said that the hens will be Pure Silver! He said you can breed those back to the silver Roo to get more genetics!

Well, that's interesting...I had heard of this in Wyandottes...glad I have a gold laced hen in case I decide to try this....sadly, the only thing barnyard Roos are good for...is...

I'm guessing the quality of the gold laced hen makes a difference...

 

[boykin2010]

Like I said, I don't believe there is a problem with genetics or in-breeding here in the US. There are 3-4 known bloodlines and I've been working with same line for 3 years now with no problems whatsoever! The problem with outcrossing is you are going to introduce genes you don't want or don't even know exists at the time. Unless you are seeing obvious genetic deformities, there's no need to want to outcross and create more of a headache down the road. There also is a slight difference between line breeding and inbreeding. If you are careful about pairings, working with the same small gene pool can be advantageous in a breeding program.

 

[McCoyPoultry]

Like I said, I don't believe there is a problem with genetics or in-breeding here in the US. There are 3-4 known bloodlines and I've been working with same line for 3 years now with no problems whatsoever! The problem with outcrossing is you are going to introduce genes you don't want or don't even know exists at the time. Unless you are seeing obvious genetic deformities, there's no need to want to outcross and create more of a headache down the road. There also is a slight difference between line breeding and inbreeding. If you are careful about pairings, working with the same small gene pool can be advantageous in a breeding program.

I know almost nothing about Silvers

so I will be breeding the pair I have and I'm going to hatch as many as possible to make my flock giant!

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

These babies are about 5-6 weeks old and one thing I've noticed with the birds I have is that they need improvement on their head shape...What is the best way to go about this? Can I cover some nice black hens with the SLO rooster? Or should I only breed SLO to SLO? Is this common amongst SLO since they are still relatively "new"...

I recommend waiting as well. 2 ways to go about breeding a trait that I can think of oof the top of my head. Select a bird WITIN the line with the shape you want and breed it in. By staying within the color you will be able to continue improving the color and won't have SEVERAL generation of another color to breed out.

You can breed another color in with the perfect head. This would add vigor to your line. you would then select the best birds from there with the head and color you want and keep breeding. This would take a long time. You would need a lot of generations to avoid the sneaky recessive gene.

Has anyone else been drooling over Keith-orps' chocolate silver laced orpingtons? I would love to try to start working on this project, but I can't seem to get my hand on some Silver lace to start me off, but that is probably due to my limited highschooler budget operating on a part time job at a horse barn after school.lol

Yes. I too will be working on this color. I love anything brown so the chocolates are my fav. I also like ANY laced bird.

At that age it's really not best to be judging the head shape I've found.
You'd be better off waiting until maturity to make judgements on type because these birds make a lot of changes as they age.
I don't have a problem with the head shape of my breeding stock, that being said... I would vote that you keep the genetics purely Silver Laced to Silver Laced to reduce the problems of introducing genes you don't want (or don't necessarily know exist) when outcrossing to new stock.

Glad to be a part of this thread.
Here's some pictures of my birds!

Glad to have you on this thread. I have a pair about 3 weeks old and I am noticing incomplete lacing on the wings. Some of the tips have white. Almost like these birds are more silver partridge? Have you seen this in young birds and it clears up or are these just signs of bad markings?

Thanks for starting this thread McCoy. I am excited to have someone so young and ambitious. Your enthusiasm and willngess to learn and share will be a great asset to this thread!

 

[McCoyPoultry]

Thanks for starting this thread McCoy. I am excited to have someone so young and ambitious. Your enthusiasm and willngess to learn and share will be a great asset to this thread!

You're so welcome I can't wait to get my breeding programs started!

 

[Cearbhael]

I out of curiosity ran through the breeding calculator what would happen if I covered a silver laced with a Crele Roo. I was surprised to see that all the offspring would be black patterned golden laced barred. So I did a hypothetical cross between Roo and a hen from that cross, and lo and behold, I had Delawares and Columbians popping out all over the place. Lots of silver, some yellow/ golden (all Roos) and some golden. I also ended up with black patterned silver duckwing. The picture looked really interesting. It had a silver head and neck, silver back and silver with a black bar across the wings. The rest of the bird was black. Sure looked interesting! I am also crazy about Delawares and Columbians. (I also like Siamese colouring on cats so maybe it is related to that)
McCoy Poultry, what is your take on on my breed calculator results?

 

[boykin2010]

Silver Laced carry the columbian gene naturally (they are columbian laced.) If you hatch enough Silver Laced you *will* hatch birds that lack the necessary lacing genes and they will just be columbians. Not Delawares, because those are columbian cuckoo.