Search results for query: *

Oh, one thing I have zero tolerance for is mean roosters. Trisha

It is really up to each breeder to decide what to cull for. The disqualifying faults are pretty serious as those are usually genetic faults that are hard to breed out. I made a list a while back of over 40 faults that I have culled for and most were type/ utility issues .....not counting color/...

I wouldn't cull a hen that lays dark eggs just because of color/ pattern issues without trying to utilize her dark egg genes first. How you keep those genes is up to you and you might have to play around with different matings to get what you want. Do avoid using birds with major faults and...

Some pics of eggs from the last few days. Not bad color considering these hens have been laying since spring. I am going to start selecting away from the rounder eggs like the one in my hand. Picture with flash. In full sun in the window. The color is a bit washed out in this pic. The...

Here are some feathers from young cockerels (around 3 months old). I just grabbed at random 3 and took juvenile feathers from their shoulder and wing bow area. They are too young to evaluate hackle, saddle, and wing feathers. But, I find you can get some good hints at this age as to quality of...

Some hen's breast feathers Left: Peppering Middle: broken/ incomplete lace, shafting Right: much better Edited to add: I have more pics but at the slow rate of 1 pic per 1/2 hour...I probably won't load all of them.

I used a male with a lot of red in the hackle and saddle and hints of breast lacing and ended up with pullets with much poorer lacing than I usually get. Really check your males for correct pattern and color to balance the females. This pullet has a poor "broken" inner lace and shafting. The...

The Barnevelder is still pretty rare in the USA. The Barnevelder is quite popular in its home country and overseas and 2013 is said to be "The Year of the Barnevelder " From what has been said, the original US barnevelders came from several sources of Dutch, British and German. Johan...

I wanted to add that I don't advise anyone to out cross barnevelders to dark Cornish unless you just want a meat bird. It takes years, generations and the culling of many, many birds to get back type. I only kept up with the project because the extremely lucky " recombination " of genes caused a...

The first hen does not look like a dark Cornish cross to me. Yes, the hen's legs look short, but she is no where close in body type to a cross. Cornish blood makes a bird tend to have a longer flat back, closer feathering and a pinched/ Cornish like tail. It is hard to evaluate a bird from one...

Great link:) I just started this type of evaluation and will be ordering trap nest fronts for my nest boxes as well. I watched this series on line along with several others. There is so much to consider when breeding and it makes it challenging:) For example, I personally like some of my...

I just started trying to assess the pelvic spread, so don't rely on my advice. I read " The Call of the Hen" and watched a series of videos on line about breeding heritage chickens where the measured pelvic area of hens. I think I will need a few more years before I can give anyone advice on how...

I have a blend of C. Ledford, Johan and a little Kelly Cratty in my pure barnevelders. They are a mix of strains/ lines because I wanted to add traits. I have not shown my birds. Maybe I will show someday, but I don't want to get into that issue. I have breed barnies for only 5 years, so I...

Here is a 2013 spring pullet that is about 5 1/2 months old. She is not laying yet, but should soon. I would not show this pullet as she has too many faults in my eye, but she may make a good breeder if she lays well and has good egg color. She still has a lot of filling out to do. It is...