Hackle and sickle feathers in Silvers-yellowish tinge

[John W Blehm]

or lack of inhibiters...

Something along those lines (gold inhibitors or silver enhancers) would be my guess with my current line of LF silvers.  The silver/white areas aren't as silver/white as they should be.

Just my opinion, but I believe sometimes what is referred to as "leakage" isn't  When you have a black or lavender bird with silver (white) or gold (red/orange) in their hackles and maybe saddles it is leakage.  Extended black (E) isn't covering/masking the silver/gold (S locus) that bird carries.  Red in the shoulders of silver males would be another example of leakage.

Silver and gold, though, even when they don't "leak" thru have an affect on the bird's feather color.  I don't know if that is what makes feathers on a black bird have a green or purple cast/hue, but it may.  On white, blue and lavender birds I believe gold (s+) gives some feathers a yellowish cast, but it isn't true leakage.  Diet can play a part here too, but it won't cause leakage (genetic).  Even once you have white, lavender, blue and lavender Ameraucanas based on silver (S) without leakage those unknown gold enhancer/silver inhibitor modifying genes may cause a yellowish cast/hue.

From the Dutch bantam book translated to english.

Lavender
In contrast to the blue, the colour lavender had no difference in shade between certain body parts. The aim is to achieve an even shade of silver gray all over the body and it is significantly lighter than blue.

[Christina King]

Harry, you got basically two different genetic mixes from me. Their brothers all turned yellowish here. I am at my wits end...

[Harry Shaffer]

Christina King,  the one male I still have and he has not turned yellow.  I only kept one cockerel and he looks good yet.  I have two other very young cockerels but may not keep them since their age is the factor not what they look like. 

[Mike Gilbert]

Maybe this question has already been covered, but if so I missed it.   When those yellowish tinged feathers are molted and the new ones are grown in, are the new feathers also yellowish, or do they improve in color?   That has happened with white birds I have raised that are exposed to too much sun during the grow-out stage.   If so what you are dealing with is sunburn.

[John W Blehm]

Maybe this question has already been covered, but if so I missed it.   When those yellowish tinged feathers are molted and the new ones are grown in, are the new feathers also yellowish, or do they improve in color?   That has happened with white birds I have raised that are exposed to too much sun during the grow-out stage.   If so what you are dealing with is sunburn.

My birds don't get much direct sun and some of the LF silvers are more yellowish than what I had a few years ago.  I do supplement their feed with shelled corn this time of year, but that isn't something new.  I know the sun and feed can contribute to the "ting", but because some have more than others and the fact that all of them pretty my go back to my recent lines I believe the main problem is genetic. 
A couple years ago I needed a LF male and Christina sent a very nice cockerel back to me that I sent to her as a day-old chick.  Russ also gave me some nice cockerels, but they died.  So, the cockerel from Christina was my main LF silver male breeder for the last two years.  As he aged he became very yellowish.  I sent him to Harry, earlier this year, but because he was so yellow Harry didn't use him.  Some bird's feather color changes with age, so he may not have been the cause of the problem we are seeing with cockerels.  It may be something that was picked up with one of the recent outcrosses with black and buff.  I noticed today that the cockerel of mine with the more yellow is descended from the silver/buff cross, but he has a great comb.  Perhaps the most silvery cockerel has the biggest and ugliest comb. 
In the end it is just something that I believe we (or I) need to select against and try to breed out.  Breed from the best, hatch as many as possible and cull heavily.

[Russ Blair]

Ok after discussing this with John for a moment I went through my cockerels. I have 1 from a older hatch with slight orangish cast to the white on his back. Now all the rest, including silver bantam cockerel are still bright white. I will definitely cull the one with orangish cast, I have 12-14 to choose from yet. After Harry commented it got me thinking about chick down? Early on I culled most silver chicks with goldish down and only kept ones with nice silvery down. I don't know if that plays any part in it but most of my LF Silver chicks hatch out with the silvery down now after doing this for several years?  Like most things when it comes to chickens I will consider it genetic until proven different and cull any that exhibit it in my flock. I have seen some older cocks get brassy, but it always seemed to clean up after they molted? It's always something 😀 that's what keeps it exciting.

[Christina King]

I culled the son of the one I sent back to John, he was still off color after his 18 month molt. I will hope there is one from my three pens I can use. One if Johns still looks good, I only kept three. Two are yellowing, one isn't yet. I will check their toes to find out their background. Will let you know...

[John W Blehm]

I sorted thru my LF silvers today and I'm very pleased with the progress I've made thru the recent outcrosses I've mentioned.  For years I said the LF silvers and wheatens lacked overall Ameraucana type, but now I believe the silvers are there.   I kept 4 cockerels weighing between 5.1 and 7.1 pounds each and 6 pullets weighing between 5.1 and 5.9 pounds each.  Even up to a few years ago they weren't up to standard size and weight.  I tossed 1 cockerel and 1 pullet into the "reject" pen for being underweight.  He was also the one with the most yellow in his hackle.  I was surprised to see that he and one of the cockerels with the whitest hackle were from the same trio mating.     
The 10 keepers will go into 4 breeding coops next year with two trio matings and two pair matings.  I'll continue to cross the best of these F3 (I think) generation descended from the outcrosses to black and buff.  They brought in the Ameraucana type and so many other needed traits.
My silvers are much softer feathered than in decades past too.  The muffs/beards are fuller and the tails aren't too long.  The combs are much better and I don't see a trace of white in the earlobes.  The shafting isn't worth complaining about.  The temperament is also much better than just few years ago...less flighty.
Yes, the color needs improvement so now it is time to paint the barn as they say. 

[Mike Gilbert]

Looking good, especially the cockerels!