Andalusian - male- Evaluation?

[RememberTheWay]

Ok.... I know this guy isn't perfect by any means. But I've seen photos of terrible Andalusians both male and female and personally I feel like this guy has some decent traits about him. I think he probably is much too large for the standard. But I think he has nice chest depth. I like his wings and tail set. He also has pretty wide pelvic bones. I need to evaluate keel length. He has a long back. For my particular area I prefer birds with smaller combs. Anyways, at the moment I only have one remaining Andalusian pullet. She is black but I had considered possibly getting more. I like the production side for Andalusians but I'm not in love with the combs.

Has anyone had success selecting towards smaller straight combs with this breed?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am not an expert on the breed. His comb has too many points, and he looks a bit heavy. They are a Mediterranean breeds, so they are built for heat. They generally are light, and have large combs and wattles to help disperse body heat. Breeding for a smaller comb isn't to breed standard, so I'm not sure if you will find many who do it. He's a good looking rooster for sure. Just depends what your end goal is. To keep his offspring pure, or mix it up for your own purpose.

 

[RememberTheWay]

I am not an expert on the breed. His comb has too many points, and he looks a bit heavy. They are a Mediterranean breeds, so they are built for heat. They generally are light, and have large combs and wattles to help disperse body heat. Breeding for a smaller comb isn't to breed standard, so I'm not sure if you will find many who do it. He's a good looking rooster for sure. Just depends what your end goal is. To keep his offspring pure, or mix it up for your own purpose.

I'm definitely am not an expert either but I do have a copy of a later APA standard book. I don't remember if Andalusian is in it or not though. I do appreciate the input.

The female I have for him is much closer in size to the appropriate weight and I've heard it said size of mainly inherited by the female side of a line so maybe with him and his complementary traits they will produce decent offspring. I am going to use him to produce some sexlinks with my barred rocks which of course will probably end up being larger birds. But he has very wide pelvic bones so he should produce very productive daughters. IMHO not enough people pay attention to the males production traits and pelvic widths and end up breeding in narrow pelvic bones bc they never thought to evaluate the males width. He is probably one of my widest males in that area. And the pullet I ended up with will definitely need his wide PBs to produce better daughters. He also has a better tail spread then she does.



Personally, I do keep standards in mind when I'm making breeding selections but it isnt the end all be all for me either because I also value production, hardiness, and practicality. Bc it gets cold here if my line is prone to frostbite it would effect vigor and production so I have to keep that in mind when selecting for comb sizes and will prioritize hardiness traits over standards any day. I want my birds to represent their breed well but they also need to perform well for people. Birds that get sick or under the weather simply to do not perform as well as their hatch mates that do not get sick.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

When I kept a few they all lost comb points to frostbite their first winter, but than were fine. I was surprised how much the combs shrunk back in winter which helped.

 

[RememberTheWay]

When I kept a few they all lost comb points to frostbite their first winter, but than were fine. I was surprised how much the combs shrunk back in winter which helped.

Mine lost much more then just the points. They look like they've been dubbed and I don't like it at all.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Mine lost much more then just the points. They look like they've been dubbed and I don't like it at all.

Unfortunately that happens with big comb breeds in places that it gets cold. I now prefer smaller combed breeds here.