A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[Wisher1000]

How precious! Which show will be/was his first?

 

[chambe94]

Fowl Fest tomorrow morning

He finally realized that the birds will get to come home from the show, so now he's very excited. (Prior to this we had been breeding hatchery sebright's and took extra cockerels to the auction, so he was afraid these guys weren't coming back!)

 

[chambe94]

Junior Show Reserve Champion American

 

[ramirezframing]

Congrats to your young man Chambe94.

 

[capayvalleychick]

How exciting for him!

 

[kimberly35042]

Hold them facing toward you and run your finger tips down their spine. Some will have it and not even be noticeable visually. I check every bird before penning them when they get their first adult feathering, and if I find one I ring their neck on the spot that way one doesn't slip by . Pullets will have it too but it's more common in cockerels and I couldn't tell you why that is.

Neil, I was still concerned about this, and last night, I felt their backs with them on the roosts smushing flat all the feathers and any fluff and really bearing down to the skeletal stuff. In all honestly, they are too large for me to be able to hold them and properly feel their backs which span the entire width of my hand with my fingers opened. I did not feel anything like a "hump" of any sort on any of them. So then I moved to the older pullet/hen pen. I couldn't believe it, but one of the 3 original hens had a back that didn't feel as flat as all the others. She's now in the layer yard till she finishes moulting to go on CL.

 

[kimberly35042]

This is one of their sires at 7 or 8 months and the original group from last year at roughly 5 months. The sexes are separated this year, but for just 7 mainly free ranging and such a docile breed, it worked fine at the time.

 

[NanaKat]

Been gone for a while with a shoulder reconstruction...being a one armed chicken tender has been a challenge.
I have test eggs in the incubator from an 11 month old Columbian Wyandotte cockerel that really has nice color and conformation. He is from my original cock that died. I have the two best older hens, two of the 2 year olds, one of the 1 year old and the nicest 11 month old pullet that has been laying for two months. The two youngest birds are laying in the second portable coop I put in the pen and the older girls are laying in the original coop building. I'm marking them separately so I can get a better idea how his progeny will do with the hens.

I'll get pictures to post today and for now am going back to catch up on reading the thread.

Is anyone bringing birds to the Shawnee Poultry Show in Oklahoma on Dec 13?

 

[NanaKat]

This is now year four with these birds. Today I added a few more birds to the pen for the winter months so there are three more in the pen that were not used for the test breeding. I tried to crop them out of the photos of the cockerel and the hens used for the test breeding.

Photos of the Columbian Wyandotte 11 month old cockerel from whom I have currently gathered and am hatching test eggs. I've tried to post photos from all angles. Some of the hens appear in the photos too.
He has been in molt but is filling out nicely. He has a full hand width between his bright yellow legs. He weighed 7.6 pounds when I penned him with the hens and has maintained that while breeding. He has nice white edging on both hackle and coverts.

I like the way he holds his wings tightly closed . I would have liked to get a photo of his wings spread out so you could see the razor sharp contrast of color on the primaries....but my one hand was holding the camera and I can't lift much yet.


His tail is nice and wide and he has a nice white section between his neck and his tail. The sun is washing out his feathering in some of these pictures....


He has what I think is a nice round body with a wide back. While his comb follows the contour of his head, I am a little concerned about the bumps on his comb...it is not as smooth as his sire's. The hens have nicer combs. I will definitely be focusing on combs with his chicks.



A few more photos of the hens...this first picture is the two year old hen that is still in molt . The hen on the right in the second photo is still growing in feathers after her molt and the others are still getting their full complement of tail feathers..

This 3 year old hen has darker down and darker hackle feathers than I would like, but she has good type, comb and legs. Same hen on the left in the second photo ...different lighting. She is the cockerel's mother and was one of the original 5 hens in the flock when I started with the breed.

If you notice things I have been blind to in these photos, please alert me. I would appreciate the comments and any input.
I still have a long way to go with these birds but I think I'm beginning to see a little progress in building the barn......

 

[neopolitancrazy]

Are side sprigs a dominant or recessive trait? Are they purely genetic or is there an environmental component? Of my 6 juveniles with excellent feet, 5 have side sprigs on their combs.

I can curse in 3 languages, by the way.

Looking forward to my first "fancy" chicken show this week in Ohio.
Bet wishes to all,
Angela