Backyard Poultry Forum

Hi everyone, been a while since i posted here, sorry about that. Thought i should put up a few pics to show how things are moving along. Still young birds in these pics (5 months) so lots of filling out to do and colours change slightly as they mature. Hopefully the ground colour gets darker and the blue lacing gets lighter which is the trend in most of them but not all. Pics were taken about a month ago now. Just set out breeding groups a couple of days ago. Will get pics of the breeding groups soon and add to the thread but it's a bit wet and muddy here at the moment. Still many things i want to work on in the line. General type, in particular width and head shape is still an issue but moving slowly in the right direction. Black hackles will be a struggle here for a couple of years but slowly balancing them out, just don't have any birds with a full red hackle pattern so it's a slow process for now. Most of my breeding birds are now on eb base so lacing quality and evenness of blue has improved. Should be a good season ahead.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

There looking great shane, the ground colour is already nice and dark, impressed , looks like this season will be great for you, best of luck. In standards i have only 1 blr eb cockerel and 1 blr eb/ ewh pullet so cant see much from them this season.
As for bantams in a much better position, have in eb base young ones , a decent blr cockerel - blue lacing is a bit dark but ground colour is looking dark so far, not much yet as still young, 1 great laced and ground colour dark blue laced red pullet,she has red in hackle , 2 black laced pullets. A splash blr pullet.? As i thought the original roo was black laced red, if the pullet is splash and not just a very light blue, then he must be dark blue laced red., the original blr eb hen, mother to the top eb cockerel .
Have quite a few eb/ ewh blr hens and pullets. , plus a surprisingly good laced eb/ ewh cockerel.
So can set up 2 pens. Ist pen will be all eb, the blr cockerel, the blr hen, the blue laced red pullet and the 2 blaced laced pullets.
The other pen, original eb roo, splash pullet, and splits. Do you think this is best combos or better to mix up the girls..need photos i know but hard at the moment when i leave in the dark and get home in the dark most days, grrr winter.

Nice to see some progress Shane. I'm impressed with the clarity of the lacing. The double in the Barnies is a struggle but seems to bleed less in the blues.
The dark red with the lighter blue is a lovely contrast but up close I think that the darker blue looks really classy with the deep red.

Thanks guys. I don't mind the darker blue either Sue. Sometimes a very slight unevenness of blue is more noticeable when it's a little darker though. It seems to pop in some spots where it's slightly lighter and blend more in the spots where it's darker if you know what i mean. Lots of things still to work on outside of colour balance but pretty happy with the stage i'm at. I made some small sacrifices in colour this season. I wanted to focus more on getting to eb base and making some type improvements. The lacing improvements are mostly due to eb base so now that i'm on top of that i can get back to the best red and type as a focus next season. The overall red/black colour balance is also a little on the black side of where i want it. I think once selection gets me where i want to be there the blue will lighten further as a result so i want to stay on the darker side for now where possible.

Mycoola you have a bit of flexibility in your bantams since both of your cockerels will be eb based. It wont matter which cockerel you put the split pullets with from that perspective so put them with the one that balances their weaknesses the best. Hatch what you can from your large to compliment what you hatch from the eggs i send you. I have 3 pens set out. Pen 1 is a split blue cockerel with four blue eb pullets. Pen 2 is a blue eb cockerel with 1 splash eb, 2 blue eb and a split blue pullet. Pen 3 is a blue eb cockerel with 2 splash and 2 blue hens (best from last season). Not 100% certain on the base of the hens due to injury at tagging time last season but an educated guess is only one hen is a possible split, a splash. There should be a good overall ratio of eb based chicks. I'll put pics of the pens up soon. See if you can pick the splits.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

Sounds like you will some pens set up shane, looking forward to the egg swaping, will keep us both busy , i could actually use the split cockerel to as is very nicely laced and has great red in hackles and saddle, will think if have the place to run him .

Got a few pics of the tentative breeding groups. 1 male and 4 females in each pen. Pullets in Pens 1 and 2, hens in pen 3. May remove some pullets when hatching time gets closer depending how they finish off.

Pen 1.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

Pen 2.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

Pen 3.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

Love the male in pen 1 - nice leg colour

Does the pullet - pen 2 pic 4 (centre) have faulty comb and light eyes? Being picky here, just come in from eye balling the Barnies .
We have both come a long way from what we started with.

Nice breeding pen choices, should throw some great birds.
Can tell the split cockerals as carry better red in saddle and hackles.
My guess is in pen2 photo 3 split pullet is 2nd on left , more red in colour, matches my split hens, they do carry some decent back lacing but are not great in breast lacing.
Last pullet in pen 1 matches my original blr bantam hen. If i get a chance will take some photos of some bantams and the standards on the weekend.

Well spotted Sue. She does have a lighter eye that one. I have 4 females in each pen but when hatching time comes i may remove one or two from each pen. I've just managed to pick up a bantam male with some red in him that i want to put over some large pullets so a couple of girls will be pulled out for bantam development anyway. Didn't actually notice her comb though, don't tend to look at the girls combs in detail. I'll have to watch that, thanks.

Yep mycoola, you spotted the split pullet in pen 2. The cockerel in pen 1 is split but the other two are both eb based. I didn't tag them last season due to injury but in pen 3 i suspect the larger splash girl may be a split too.

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There's silk in my name but dottes are my game. Amateur breeder of standard blue laced red wyandottes.

Shane.

eb blr cockerel, bantam, starting to get some nice red lacing on front., eb/ewh bantam cockerel, has nice dark blue lacing and excellent red in hackles and saddle, hes split sister is also in photo.

eb blr bantam cockerel, is starting to get some nice red lacing on front now.

the split eb ewh cockerel, he has nice dark blue lacing, the black laced hens also in picture, i hope there ground colour deepens. split hen. unrelated eb dark blue laced red bantam pullet, has nice red in hackle and excellent lacing.