Sussex, Barnevelders, Silkies... My Breeding Thread.

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Okay, that makes sense.
I'm kind of in the same predicament with my old English. They just have one or two flaws, and it can be so discouraging. Especially when you've been breeding them for years.

Yes! I can technically trace my sussex back to the Light Sussex my family raised before I was the one in charge of the chickens. That's a huge part of why I am committed to working with my birds instead of just starting over with completely new, better quality ones.

And yeah it can be discouraging, I've had single combs pop up in some of the silkie chicks so that's another thing I'm going to have to work out

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Beautiful birds!

Thank you Aid!

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

My silkies/showgirls.
These guys are my colour genetics project. The goal is Calico Splash
My silkie colour identification is poor so if I mislabel one of them...
Barda, Blue Silver Partridge.

Nameless stripper cockerel, still a little stumped on his colour. Silver and something else?

My showgirl pullet, Black.

Ghost, Sky, Britta.
Splash, Silver, and Black.

These three do not have names yet. Colours are Buff, Partridge (?), and Blue Partridge (potentially Blue cream/porcelain).
Last two are older photos.

Two of my current chicks I'm going to be holding on to. A Blue partridge cockerel and another black pullet. Both showgirls.

I also have a bunch of mixed colour chicks currently, that a lot I will be growing out.
And I may be setting some more silkie eggs soon...

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

And I may be setting some more silkie eggs soon...

So this did happen...
3 eggs from Sky, 3 eggs from Britta. And then 1 tag along egg that I suspect is the Showgirl pullet's.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

My Barnevelder boys. I'll add the hens when they finally finish moulting. All are about 18 months old I have 3 gold hens and 2 silvers.
Bucky.

Goat.

 

[Cammo77]

My Barnevelder boys. I'll add the hens when they finally finish moulting. All are about 18 months old I have 3 gold hens and 2 silvers.
Bucky.
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Goat.
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Good looking boys

Barnevelder are definitely my favourite breed at the moment. I have two Blue Double laced girls but their lacing is not very good. I plan on breeding some more later using a Blue Double Laced rooster over standard Double Laced hens.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Good looking boys

Thank you! They may not be perfect representatives of their breed but their personalities are too perfect for me to think about parting with them anytime soon

Barnevelder are definitely my favourite breed at the moment. I have two Blue Double laced girls but their lacing is not very good. I plan on breeding some more later using a Blue Double Laced rooster over standard Double Laced hens.

I'm enjoying having them again. I've heard the lacing can be hard to perfect!
My girls have a variety of quality. That's not my focus at this point though as I did originally get the barnies again for a crossbreeding project. I'd love to work on the quality of mine at some point in the future but I intent to focus on my Sussex and Silkies for now.
I've been eyeing some of the other Barnie colour varieties! I know of a breeder with some stunning project colours like white and chocolate double laced

 

[Cammo77]

Thank you! They may not be perfect representatives of their breed but their personalities are too perfect for me to think about parting with them anytime soon

I'm enjoying having them again. I've heard the lacing can be hard to perfect!
My girls have a variety of quality. That's not my focus at this point though as I did originally get the barnies again for a crossbreeding project. I'd love to work on the quality of mine at some point in the future but I intent to focus on my Sussex and Silkies for now.
I've been eyeing some of the other Barnie colour varieties! I know of a breeder with some stunning project colours like white and chocolate double laced

I'm still learning what the perfect Barnie rooster looks like. Confusing for a newbie like me It may be the same Aussie breeder with the new colours that I'm thinking of. If it is then his knowledge on chickens blows me away What was the cross-breed program you were thinking of?

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

I'm still learning what the perfect Barnie rooster looks like. Confusing for a newbie like me

For sure. I just do my best to go off the online standard! There's always my personal opinion with what I'd like too. For example I'd kinda prefer mine a bit bigger, I like them as dual purpose not just laying.

What was the cross-breed program you were thinking of?

I've always thought Frizzle barnevelder would be fun project, but it'd be a very long term one! And I've yet to find a good starting frizzle as most come with crests/beards/feather legs etc

 

[Cammo77]

For sure. I just do my best to go off the online standard! There's always my personal opinion with what I'd like too. For example I'd kinda prefer mine a bit bigger, I like them as dual purpose not just laying.

I've always thought Frizzle barnevelder would be fun project, but it'd be a very long term one! And I've yet to find a good starting frizzle as most come with crests/beards/feather legs etc

That's what I don't get with show chooks, surely a lot of the decision would be down to judges personal opinion plus the SOP?

When I retire I'm going to hopefully start breeding a few. I was going to muck around with adding some Andalusian or Blue Leghorn into a Blue line of Barnies just for a bit of heat tolerance and general hybrid vigour. Is a frizzle a breed or feather type/mutation?