I disagree that perpetually breeding back for splits is the way to do it! It's just a bandaid! Of course, breeding lav to lav without working hard to break the fray link is just as bad. I've been appalled at the way the Orpington folk are approaching fray, honestly. Top breeders, highly respected, seem to have no interest in actually breeding the gene out and improving feather quality... they just bandaid it by breeding back to black.
I keep hearing that Self Blue LF OE Games exist, but I've never seen one. I wonder if they carry fray? I know John Blehm created LF Lav Ameraucanas from his bantam line, and he pulled the lav gene for those from D'Anvers, so we know fray is alive and well there. I've seen fray in self blue bantam OE games, but I've also seen birds that seem to have excellent feather quality—as good as any brown or black, even. I am seriously contemplating switching to pursuing the bantam Isabella leghorn route first. It would be much more affordable to breed out the gene with bantams, after all, since they're so much cheaper to feed and grow out. I got shot down HARD by Schrider and Co when I asked about breeding up to LF from bantam stock, but maybe Blehm could shoot me some pointers, LOL.
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