Minorca thread!

[omalie]

Do you think this is a Minorca? Someone sold me this chick like old english game blue lemon but I don't think.



What's your opinion?

 

[redandalusian]

It doesn't. Look like a Minorca but it could be

 

[omegorchards]

I like the big white ones, nice colour too. But I prefer the Belgium animals with the big white earlobes (as big or almost as big as the wattles.).

Earlobes are on my "to do" list for sure. For now I am focused on getting the body (size, depth and width) and bone nice and big. I agree that the earlobes on these birds is pretty small. For all of the birds I breed (New Hamps, White Giants, White Minorcas) I have an old photo or painting that is my "target" framed and hung around my desk. It reminds me every time I look at it what I am striving for in the breeding of these birds. I prioritize my objectives each season based on what I see is the most pressing needs in my birds. For the White Minorcas I actually have a picture of a Black Minorca framed. I just picture him in white! I suggest this technique for everyone focused on improving a breed.

You can order a copy of this image from the website if you wish:

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

There are 2 colors of white in the USA right now...(I here whispers of a 3rd but no proof yet)

Dominant White if bred to any other color will cover every thing but red... Red Pyle are dominant white with the red showing threw... the main problem with dominant white is that it can be leaky and show a black feather here and there... but if u breed dominant white to any other color u get 100% white chicks...

Recessive white takes 2 copy's of the gene to show white in the bird... so if u breed a white bird to a cuckoo bird the chicks will be cuckoo split to white... if u take 2 of the cuckoo split to white birds and breed them together 25% of the chicks will be white... if u breed a cuckoo split to white bird back to a white 50% of the chicks will be white... the cool thing about recessive white is that it covers every other color 100% of the time so u get a purer white bird most of the time...

Alot of your commercial birds (like the white leghorns are both colors of white at the same time)

the only good way of telling what kind of white u have is to test mate with another color and see what happens...

So i would say u have recessive white in your birds and if u picked out a couple of the best looking colored females and bred back to your white cock u will get 50% white chicks your next generation and still improve like u where wanting to...

Thanks for the comments! I have some splash females that are quite bit bigger than the white hen (which is one of my smallest birds) in the photos. I have struggled to get good sized white females and would appreciate any ideas. Also note that one of the birds was a 3mo old cockerel and not a female.

Unfortunately my stock produced a lot of splash and cuckoo colored females this season. Since I was told that my white males mated to splash and cuckoo birds would produce only white offspring I included several splash and cuckoo females (big ones) in my breeding pens. Unfortunately the offspring proved this statement from my source breeder to be incorrect. I only ended up with two white females! I did get 10 white cockerels though. One thing I am trying to do is purify the white genetics so the birds produce consistent white offspring. Here are a few pics of this years mix of offspring (click the image to enlarge it):

 

[SanderB]

Nice!
You have pictures of your adult blacks and adults cuckoos?

 

[omegorchards]

There are 2 colors of white in the USA right now...(I here whispers of a 3rd but no proof yet)

Dominant White if bred to any other color will cover every thing but red... Red Pyle are dominant white with the red showing threw... the main problem with dominant white is that it can be leaky and show a black feather here and there... but if u breed dominant white to any other color u get 100% white chicks...

Recessive white takes 2 copy's of the gene to show white in the bird... so if u breed a white bird to a cuckoo bird the chicks will be cuckoo split to white... if u take 2 of the cuckoo split to white birds and breed them together 25% of the chicks will be white... if u breed a cuckoo split to white bird back to a white 50% of the chicks will be white... the cool thing about recessive white is that it covers every other color 100% of the time so u get a purer white bird most of the time...

Alot of your commercial birds (like the white leghorns are both colors of white at the same time)

the only good way of telling what kind of white u have is to test mate with another color and see what happens...

So i would say u have recessive white in your birds and if u picked out a couple of the best looking colored females and bred back to your white cock u will get 50% white chicks your next generation and still improve like u where wanting to...

Thanks for the excellent information! I intend to breed back some of the best looking birds to get full white. Does the splash color work the same as cuckoo?

 

[omegorchards]

Nice!
You have pictures of your adult blacks and adults cuckoos?

I do not have any adult blacks sorry. I have a cuckoo and splash hens I could photograph if you are interested.

 

[omegorchards]

Here are a few of the White Minorcas from my March 25, 2013 hatch. Click the image to enlarge.

 

[SanderB]

Yes every photo is good for me.

 

[danhonour]

Mike thanks for posting the pictures.Your White male looks very good in type.Size appears good and I like the tallness.The long thighs and tight feathering are nice traits to have. If you have a big splashed hen,mate her to a good white legged ,white male.Then use her biggest daughters back to another good white male.You may get plenty of color culls,but it would be a shame not to make use of the size.If you only get a few useable birds,at least some additional size will make it worthwhile.Your birds are surely worth using,they are as good as I have seen.I used some pictures and articles in my ebooks from a 1930's White Minorca club yearbook. .