Beak Not Closing, Heredity

[Chickassan]

It's not a serious case,so why do you worry? Seems kind of overkill to stop breeding plans over an extremely mild scissor beak. You could breed an absolutely physically perfect rooster and still have it pop up. You have to pick your battles wisely my friend.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

Gout is an easy one to solve. There are two main causes for gout. One is too much calcium in the diet, which is easy to avoid. Just don't feed layer feed and let your hens regulate their own calcium intake via crushed oyster shell. The other main cause is too much protein. Also easily avoided if you keep them on a feed with less than 25% protein content.
Twisted toes is most commonly caused by improper humidity levels during incubation, but may also be caused by insufficient nutrients in the yolk of the egg. It's rarely a genetic issue.
Rooster aggression is greatly reduced if you've got a few battleaxe hens in the flock to beat manners into the boys while they are going through puberty.
Crested Swedish Flower may be a good choice, since the crest has an inhibiting effect on the size of the comb. You also need to make sure your coop has plenty of ventilation to reduce moisture inside.

Very interesting. The ones with gout and the ones with twisted toes were bought as adults, but it's good to know it's not a reason to cull.

I'm not too keen on crests. I've read they cause the skull bone to grow thinner, and diminishes the field of vision. Plus, it seems to me they ought to increase the risk of pests.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

It's not a serious case,so why do you worry? Seems kind of overkill to stop breeding plans over an extremely mild scissor beak. You could breed an absolutely physically perfect rooster and still have it pop up. You have to pick your battles wisely my friend.

Thanks! It seems to me that when breeding "mild case of scissor beak" with "no scissor beak", the result ought to be "super mild scissor beak", and hence nothing to worry about, right?

But genetics can be super tricky (especially, it seems, chicken genetics), so I thought I'd ask...

 

[Chickassan]

True, it really does not hurt to ask lol! Chances are though if you breed him you'll get no scissor beak and if you do it'll be generations down the line. Like i said though you've got absolutely the same chance with a physically perfect rooster, so don't stress just hatch some babies and be happy.

Thanks! It seems to me that when breeding "mild case of scissor beak" with "no scissor beak", the result ought to be "super mild scissor beak", and hence nothing to worry about, right?

But genetics can be super tricky (especially, it seems, chicken genetics), so I thought I'd ask...