What are Lavender Orpington chicks supposed to look like?

[K0k0shka]

Ok, I initially thought she had been picked on by the males one too many times. But, since they're gone, here are my thoughts.
Its very hot in most places and she is still young at 8 weeks. Based on all the feathers in the run, I'm going to say she is replacing feathers. Aka Molting.

I should have explained the feathers Those are her dead brothers’ feathers. I didn’t want to waste them, so I dumped the pluck bucket in the run, so the chickens could pick through for any scraps of skin. Then I’ll rake them in and they’ll compost. There were no lavender feathers on the ground prior to this.

 

[Tonyroo]

She wants to know if there's quality in her pullet and it's suppose to look a certain way or not?

 

[K0k0shka]

Is she suppose to be a regular lavender or English breed?

Neither of you are reading the original post very thoroughly English, all of them - young and old.

 

[Vickischics]

@ColtHandorf , I need your perspective on this pullet.

I think she looks fine for her age and losing feathers. Your doing a great job with keeping chickens thus far. Give her more time to finish her molt and grow her adult feathers and she will be a beautiful regular Orpington. At this time, her stature doesn't appear to meet the English breed standard.
I think she's pretty anyway.
Is she a sweet girl?

 

[Tonyroo]

I'm hoping colt handorf will be able to give you an assessment. Since he breeds English Orps.

 

[K0k0shka]

I think she looks fine for her age and losing feathers. Your doing a great job with keeping chickens thus far. Give her more time to finish her molt and grow her adult feathers and she will be a beautiful regular Orpington. At this time, her stature doesn't appear to meet the English breed standard.
I think she's pretty anyway.
Is she a sweet girl?

Her breeder will fall over if she hears “regular” She breeds English only, and her birds are beautiful. So I haven’t lost all hope yet.

This pullet is afraid of everything and everyone, but I’m working on her, bribing her with food. She’s coming around slowly.

 

[Vickischics]

Neither of you are reading the original post very thoroughly English, all of them - young and old.

Good luck. I hope you find what your looking for. Sorry, I couldn't help you they way you expected.
Enjoy your Lavender girl.

 

[K0k0shka]

I'm hoping colt handorf will be able to give you an assessment. Since he breeds English Orps.

That’s right, he’s the English Orp king. @ColtHandorf do you have any lavenders? Or any thoughts on whether this one looks legit?

 

[ColtHandorf]

@ColtHandorf , I need your perspective on this pullet.

That’s right, he’s the English Orp king. @ColtHandorf do you have any lavenders? Or any thoughts on whether this one looks legit?

Well, she is certainly Lavender. She doesn't look 100% English to me, but younger birds can be a bit difficult to tell type on. I don't like that the breeder seems to think any issue with her birds results from something you're doing. That doesn't sit right with me.

English Lavender birds are very uncommon. The original Lavenders in the US came from an old member here, hinkjc (Charlie) Lavender Orpington Project. So unless they descended from English imports, it's very common for them not to have the characteristics we expect to see in English lines. For example:

This is a breeder online, Hill Top Farms. They advertise all of these birds as English. Obviously the photos aren't the best and some, like the Jubilee cockerel aren't matured, it's very obvious the type of that Lavender bird doesn't look the same as the Mottled and Silver-laced birds for example. She might look better than the garbage the hatcheries produce, but she's not English.

These birds:

from Carolina Rare Chicks are very English. The type is obvious.

I do raise Lavender English, but my first generation isn't old enough to breed yet so I can't speak to her development and gauging whether or not she's English. I got mine older than that. And with the heat we've had in Texas they aren't as feathered as I'd expect them to be. I will tag @Faraday40 who raises English Lavender to see what she thinks.

In the mean time, do you have pictures of the breeder's breeders?

 

[K0k0shka]

View attachment 3211179

View attachment 3211187

Well, she is certainly Lavender. She doesn't look 100% English to me, but younger birds can be a bit difficult to tell type on. I don't like that the breeder seems to think any issue with her birds results from something you're doing. That doesn't sit right with me.

English Lavender birds are very uncommon. The original Lavenders in the US came from an old member here, hinkjc (Charlie) Lavender Orpington Project. So unless they descended from English imports, it's very common for them not to have the characteristics we expect to see in English lines. For example:

View attachment 3211192

This is a breeder online, Hill Top Farms. They advertise all of these birds as English. Obviously the photos aren't the best and some, like the Jubilee cockerel aren't matured, it's very obvious the type of that Lavender bird doesn't look the same as the Mottled and Silver-laced birds for example. She might look better than the garbage the hatcheries produce, but she's not English.

These birds:
View attachment 3211195
from Carolina Rare Chicks are very English. The type is obvious.

I do raise Lavender English, but my first generation isn't old enough to breed yet so I can't speak to her development and gauging whether or not she's English. I got mine older than that. And with the heat we've had in Texas they aren't as feathered as I'd expect them to be. I will tag @Faraday40 who raises English Lavender to see what she thinks.

In the mean time, do you have pictures of the breeder's breeders?

Thank you for your detailed response (and funny gifs)! My birds are pets and I don't breed them, so even though I love the English look, the extent of their Englishness is not really a big deal for me. What I was trying to figure out, and maybe am not wording very clearly, is if there's an actual problem with my pullet's feathers - like the shredding gene look, or something else with her health, because that's what the breeder keeps telling me, and that's what I have a hard time identifying. English looks aside, do you think her feathers look unhealthy? The breeder says she looks bad health-wise, but she looks okay to my very untrained eye. I'll try to get more pictures later today.

For comparison - this is one of the cockerels. I do see it on him - his feathers, especially towards the back and the tail, look wrong. They almost look wet, except that they are not. Kind of shriveled and ragged looking.

The pullet looks a lot better by comparison, but maybe still not healthy enough? Only my lavenders have ever looked like that, and they looked like that since they first feathered out, that was just always their look.

Here are the breeder's official pictures from her website:

And a picture she sent me of birds that somebody hatched from her eggs:

She admits that the one on the left has some split feathers on her tail, but says mine is worse and it's environmental