A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[gjensen]

This thread died, what happened? I was hoping some experts might take a look at my 4 Chantecler's for me and give me an idea of what they think of them.
These birds are from Gregg Oaks line through another source. These are my first Heritage birds that I am trying to work on. They do need some work on their leg color their legs should be yellow. The first bird my cockerel has light yellow legs but the pullets have (pink?) or very washed out leg color.
Please be honest and I will not take it personally.
These birds are nearly 6 months old.

Bird1 cockerel




Bird2


Bird3


Bird4

I am not familiar enough with this breed to feel comfortable offering advice. Especially at that age and from pictures.

I could possibly share some thoughts when they were a little older, had better footing, and in natural poses.

Is that sandy soil? Are you on a hill?

The light colored sandy soil seams to be able to have some effect on leg color. Mine can bleach out a little more than otherwise. I do not know what the reason is, but extra effort in the feed could help. The white on these legs look genetic.

Hopefully someone more familiar with this breed will come around. There is only a half dozen breeds that I feel comfortable commenting on.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Thank you gjensen. It is clay soil but I have the cage up on a tote trying to get it high enough to take the pics. I guess that was a bad idea. lol sorry. But they sure did not like being in the cage either I had to take at least 20 pics of each bird trying to get some this good.

 

[gjensen]

Chikadoodles, it is difficult to get good pictures that capture a bird's form, and especially some colors. It is even more difficult when they are uncomfortable. You can take a subordinate cockerel that looks pretty good, and place him near a dominate bird and suddenly he will look like a cull. His tail might be down, low on his legs, everything pulled up tight making him appear less wide, etc. etc.

A good natural pose when the bird is comfortable is what we try to get. Not always successfully.

I could comment more when the birds were more mature.

 

[chickadoodles]

Chikadoodles, it is difficult to get good pictures that capture a bird's form, and especially some colors. It is even more difficult when they are uncomfortable. You can take a subordinate cockerel that looks pretty good, and place him near a dominate bird and suddenly he will look like a cull. His tail might be down, low on his legs, everything pulled up tight making him appear less wide, etc. etc.

A good natural pose when the bird is comfortable is what we try to get. Not always successfully.

I could comment more when the birds were more mature.

Thank you I will wait and get some better pics of them. I will work with putting them in the cage and giving them treats to help get them used to the cage. And find something else to set the cage on so it won't wobble around.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

They're definitely too young for serious assessment. You'd want to wait until they were a solid six months old, especially as you're learning the breed.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Unfortunately, I cannot offer any insight as to why the eggs are hatching on the incorrect side. That seems very frustrating.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I think the thread petered off a bit because we need more lurkers to start asking questions and trying to work with standard-bred birds. When folk's are ready, we are

 

[MagicChicken]

I've been quiet lately because a series of dog attacks has wiped out most of my flock. I don't have much left to ask questions about. Working on security issues before I consider restocking with anything valuable. The buggers keep finding creative new ways to break in. So far I haven't managed to catch or shoot them. Don't want to start a ruckus about dogs. Just wanted folks to know why I've been lurking lately instead of asking questions.

All I have left is a few mediocre birds I had been keeping for layers and meat. This is a powerful example of the lesson I had previously failed to learn: Only keep birds you would be willing to use as breeders. Because you never know what is going to happen to your actual breeders. I was planning to improve the quality of the layer flock over time. Fate did not give me enough time for that plan to work. Live and learn. And move to Plan C.

Sarah

 

[chickadoodles]

They're definitely too young for serious assessment. You'd want to wait until they were a solid six months old, especially as you're learning the breed.

Thank you Yellow House Farm I will wait.

 

[chickadoodles]

I've been quiet lately because a series of dog attacks has wiped out most of my flock. I don't have much left to ask questions about. Working on security issues before I consider restocking with anything valuable. The buggers keep finding creative new ways to break in. So far I haven't managed to catch or shoot them. Don't want to start a ruckus about dogs. Just wanted folks to know why I've been lurking lately instead of asking questions.

All I have left is a few mediocre birds I had been keeping for layers and meat. This is a powerful example of the lesson I had previously failed to learn: Only keep birds you would be willing to use as breeders. Because you never know what is going to happen to your actual breeders. I was planning to improve the quality of the layer flock over time. Fate did not give me enough time for that plan to work. Live and learn. And move to Plan C.

Sarah

I am so sorry for your losses.
I had the same think happen to me last year. One thing that did help was motion detector lights.