the black crested white polish project

Not sure if any of you remember, but I posted up last year about ordering some bcw birds to try to breed. The chicks got here, and all 17 have made it to adulthood. They are very consistent in body type, but not consistent in color. I ended up with birds who range anywhere from solid white with white crests to spangled, to mostly white birds with black heads and necks. Not one bird is a white bird with just black in the crest.

Well, it is culling time and I have an ad up for polish chickens for sale on craigs list. Is it worth keeping only the birds which best fit the breed (remembering that none fit it right) or should I forget the breed standard for color and keep the best built birds regardless of color?

I am wishing now that I had gotten the white crested black birds instead since they seem to have a more stable gene pool.....

Thanks a ton for your input.

Cheers
M

Glad to hear you on considering working with the black crested whites they sure could use more folks working on them! I would say that as you know you're going to need both color and type, so select for the ones who are strongest in both. If there is a bird who is outstanding in one or the other category keep that bird back too as it may come in handy. If you wish post pics of the birds and we can help you with the culling process.

Thanks! I will get in the hen house and take photos today. I sure hope there is something to work with out of the 17 straight run. I got them from ideal, and I know there is some breeder out there who has much better stock. I will see what y'all think when I post up pics.

Btw, do you know of any byc members who are working on this breed?

Cheers
M

Okay, there are quite a few photos here, and most are of the roosters with some of hens. Please don't be afraid to tell me that what I have isn't worth breeding on either. These are hatchery birds from Ideal, and we all know what you get with hatchery birds. I just didn't know of anywhere else to get them. Thanks for looking and commenting.

Cheers!

BTW,

It just occurred to me that there are some chickens in cages on one of those pics. The cages are always open and the chickens come and go as they wish. Those were my old bunny cages which I had stacked on the floor. When I introduced the polish into my hen house, they took up roosting on top of (and even inside) the cages. They have never decided yet to roost anywhere else, so I can't remove the cages even though they are in my way. I just didn't want anyone to think that my chickens are caged, they are just silly enough to wish they were

Cheers
M

These are all Large Fowl, right? I think if you work hard with what you have you can improve any strain. From what I understand, Black Crested Whites are a variety that needs improvement in general. I think they were created by using Lakenvelders, so it's hard to keep the black in the crest only. Boggy Bottom Bantams had Black Crested Bantam Polish.

What do you make of the solid or almost solid white birds? My absolute pick birds (as far as body and form) are these white ones. They just seem more solid and "better in general". Is there a chance they are BCWs in genotype and will produce black crests, or were these just hatchery oopsies?

As well, I have quite a few roosters and my hens are what I would call marginal at best. Which of the roosters that you see here would you choose to use if any?

These are large fowl, not bantams. They are only about 6 to 7 months old. They have matured a great deal in the last month and I need to separate my culls out so that when these hens start laying I can incubate the eggs. I have an odd way of handling my breeding birds. I run one rooster in my hen house depending on what breed I am wanting eggs from. If I have my Ameracauna roo in the house, I only let my ladies set tinted eggs. I will soon be removing the ameracauna and letting my polish roos do the work. I will only let my girls set white eggs, once again ensuring me purebred chicks. The rest of my eggs from my laying hens are gathered up and fed to my dogs, my family, or the neighbors. These Polish roos are starting to breed, so I need to get the non keepers out of there.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment. I am really a chicken breeding newcomer and you aren't going to hurt my feelings at all. I have only my time in these chicks at this point. What I don't want to happen is for me to work on this for years and do the breed a dis service because of foolish decisions from the get-go.
Cheers
M

Isnt this color similar to moore kopp (sp?) in the dutch owlbeard? I think I remember reading somewhere that you will never be able to get a perfect BCW polish, they will always have some black at the top of the neck atleast because of how the genes work. I have seen some good ones though.
Just remember type before color and as others have said, if you have a bird with great type but ok color and a bird with good color and ok type, mate them together and hope the best traits combine.

I actually think you have a good start and I really like that roo in the 10th picture. I do not like the one in the first picture near as much. I think some of the ones that are mostly white have good type and I would keep them. I would not use the ones with too much spangling on the breast. I like the little hen with the black head, although her crest looks a bit off. I'm not an expert but I think you could work with them and get them to look better eventually.

Thanks for the input. I like that tenth photo roo as well, I am glad he stands out in your eyes too. There are two all white roos who have really nice bodies. I have one hen that is totally spangled, and she has never been quite right. Her tail feathers have always pointed downward and she gets poop on her rear all the time. I was going to cull her and make her a yard bird since the condition has not spread in the months since I have had them all.

Is it normal for this type and age of chicken to be of this size? They just seem as a whole somewhat scrawny to me.

So far, I think the plan should be then to keep roo in the tenth photo as well as the best of the two white roos. I will send out any hen with spangling on her body and keep the rest - especially the little black headed hen who is also very sweet...

The rest will be yard birds.
Cheers
M