Blue Andalusian thread!

[Marengoite]

What I said I mean generally speaking, any bird bred for appearance first will lay fewer eggs per year than a bird bred for production value first, appearance second. If your birds are different, that is great.

There are many features of a bird you can select for that are traits egg producing chickens will have, however, artificial selection focusing on only the birds that produce the most eggs per month/year or during winter months etc will produce better egg layers. Most people simply do not have large enough flocks to select for all the traits in appearance in addition to maintaining egg production which a commercial hatchery is most concerned with. I would LOVE to find Australorps that are equally as productive egg layers as the original stock. Unfortunately, they are bred more for show/appearance than for commercial egg laying purposes now (thanks to the success of hybrid egg layers) and as a result it is hard to find australorps that would surpass 280-320 eggs a year like they should. You get what you select for, if you want utility you have to find someone that is also concerned with utility.

Nice example of fallacious reasoning. The first paragraph contains the "Either/Or" fallacy or the Fallacy of the Excluded Middle. While the paragraph is true on the face of it - if one breeds exclusively for X, he will not do well at Y - the underlying assumption is that one cannot breed for both simultaneously. While this is unstated, it is implied, and it is also wrong.

The second paragraph is self-contradictory:
"...maintaining egg production with a commercial hatchery is most concerned with..." c.f. "Unfortunately (Australorps) are bred more for show/appearance than for commercial egg laying purposes now..." Yes, it is true that hatcheries make their profits on commercial hybrid layers, but I doubt that they are concerned with breeding show quality Australorps, particularly since you say hatcheries are more concerned with egg production.

If one breeds for the whole package, one can achieve success in both the show ring and production. It's being done in Buckeye chickens where the most productive hens come from lines that have done the best at shows. I suspect there are other breeds that have fanciers with the same commitment to purpose as well as appearance, particularly since the SOP was supposed to support production values in addition to show standards.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thank you Marengoite, you said that so much better than I could have.

 

[Marengoite]

Thanks, Lacy Blues.

You don't happen to be on Facebook by any chance, do you? Stumbled on "Blue Lace Ambition" and wondered if it was yours.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Yep, that's me.

 

[Gingersnap722]

Yep, that's me.

Lol, now we're all going to go look you up.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Well, in that case, please "like" my page and say hello. It gets kinda lonely over there as hardly anybody talks to me.

 

[Gingersnap722]

I liked it a few hours ago and just said hi!

 

[FL Crowing Hen]

I just liked it too and commented.

 

[Gingersnap722]

I just liked it too and commented.

I saw you in there!

 

[PDPercherons]

I had to follow this project