Best practice in aiming toward smaller combs and wattles?

[littlebigwattle]

Hello! New here.

I have decided to make the jump into chicken breeding! and have chosen about 60 eggs from an old-timey free-range mixed flock. I intend to "bend" the group to my will over time as my first foray into chicken genetics.

I would like to first try (besides more 'natural' coloring) breeding out the large combs and wattles, as frostbite is an issue here in Minnesota.

I was just going to eat the whitish ones with big combs and wattles as my primary technique. However, I have a hunch this may be not the most efficient method!

Can anyone out there with a bigger brain than me point me in a smarter direction?

Note: I would like to accomplish this without introducing new lines - through inbreeding/selection if possible!

 

[Amer]

Actually, what you are doing is exactly what artificial selection entails!
Keep around the little combed ones and get rid of the larger combed birds.
You actually do have a surefire way of eliminating the white, however. If it is dominant white it can be removed within one generation, but if recessive simply keep one of the white ones around. (Or two, a male and a female.)
To find out if a bird carries recessive white, breed it with a white bird. If it produces chicks that are white it is a carrier. Remove all the chicks as they will carry white.
Of course the quickest way to get small combs and dark feathers is to pick a breed with that trait, like these amazing bantam Buckeyes.

Just kidding, you don’t have to do that, just spreading propaganda. (Though it would be the fastest way. )

 

[littlebigwattle]

Keep around the little combed ones and get rid of the larger combed birds.
You actually do have a surefire way of eliminating the white, however. If it is dominant white it can be removed within one generation, but if recessive simply keep one of the white ones around. (Or two, a male and a female.)
To find out if a bird carries recessive white, breed it with a white bird. If it produces chicks that are white it is a carrier. Remove all the chicks as they will carry white.
Of course the quickest way to get small combs and dark feathers is to pick a breed with that trait, like these amazing bantam Buckeyes.
Just kidding, you don’t have to do that, just spreading propaganda. (Though it would be the fastest way. )

Thanks for the reply! That segment on clearing the recessives is exactly this kind of info I need to be thinking about. So much to learn!

I just read Lamon and Slocum's Breeding Poultry, but just about the only thing I figured out was that I know nearly nothing, but definitely need a bunch of breeding pens.

Those exact bantam Buckeye's are one of the breeds I have had my eye on, but decided to wait in line for full-size partridge Chantelclers first!

In the end I might find it easier to add the free-ranging abilities to the small comb breeds, rather than to taking wattles and combs out of the free-rangers...

 

[Amer]

Thanks for the reply! That segment on clearing the recessives is exactly this kind of info I need to be thinking about. So much to learn!

I just read Lamon and Slocum's Breeding Poultry, but just about the only thing I figured out was that I know nearly nothing, but definitely need a bunch of breeding pens.

Those exact bantam Buckeye's are one of the breeds I have had my eye on, but decided to wait in line for full-size partridge Chantelclers first!

In the end I might find it easier to add the free-ranging abilities to the small comb breeds, rather than to taking wattles and combs out of the free-rangers...

Well Buckeyes and Chanteclers are definitely free-rangers. They don’t get almost all of their food out of the land like an Ancona, but they definitely like to range. Very predator savvy too.

 

[littlebigwattle]

Well Buckeyes and Chanteclers are definitely free-rangers. They don’t get almost all of their food out of the land like an Ancona, but they definitely like to range. Very predator savvy too.

Great to know! The ones I am starting with don't like feed much, so I will be able to compare.

I hear Icelandics will also work on the land good, but they too have massive combs.

Thanks for the input!

 

[ANightPerson]

If you have any rose combs, or even better pea combs in your flock, then select towards it. Pea combs are the smallest and most frost-resistant comb type.

If you only have single combed birds (or if you only want single combed birds,) then what you're doing is perfect. Cull off the ones with the largest combs in each generation for as many generations as it takes to get the result you're looking for.

Also, if you've got any muffs/beards/afros in your flock, I would suggest selecting more towards those as well, as they add cold resistance. (Personal preference, entirely. I'm just biased because I love Ameraucanas. Ameraucanas are very cold resistant, though.) My flock is currently (mostly) Dominique/Ameraucana mixes and they do wonderfully in the cold months (I live in Northern Massachusetts.) I'm really satisfied with the blending of the hardy heritage traits and the Ameraucana traits.

Could you post some pictures? How many birds are in your flock, and what trait compositions do they have? (colors, shank colors, egg color, comb type, patterns, or any other traits that you're trying to breed towards or away from.)

 

[littlebigwattle]

If you have any rose combs, or even better pea combs in your flock, then select towards it. Pea combs are the smallest and most frost-resistant comb type.

If you only have single combed birds (or if you only want single combed birds,) then what you're doing is perfect. Cull off the ones with the largest combs in each generation for as many generations as it takes to get the result you're looking for.

Also, if you've got any muffs/beards/afros in your flock, I would suggest selecting more towards those as well, as they add cold resistance. (Personal preference, entirely. I'm just biased because I love Ameraucanas. Ameraucanas are very cold resistant, though.) My flock is currently (mostly) Dominique/Ameraucana mixes and they do wonderfully in the cold months (I live in Northern Massachusetts.) I'm really satisfied with the blending of the hardy heritage traits and the Ameraucana traits.

Could you post some pictures? How many birds are in your flock, and what trait compositions do they have? (colors, shank colors, egg color, comb type, patterns, or any other traits that you're trying to breed towards or away from.)

Alas, I don't have any pictures, they are still in the incubator. But the mother flock is of mixed colors and mixed combs, so your advice is PERFECT.

I chose this flock to test with because of it's forging ability and winter laying skills, but would like to get rid of the combs and wattles, as practice in breeding. On the side, I will also be getting some bantam Ameraucanas to play with, but plan to try and follow the SOP for that flock.

I'm am not sure I can do much selecting until I can see the comb type, and then the size, but is there a way to tell if the females have genes for large combs and wattles? or will I mostly focusing on the roosters?

Thanks for the input! I love it. It is super helpful.

 

[Amer]

Alas, I don't have any pictures, they are still in the incubator. But the mother flock is of mixed colors and mixed combs, so your advice is PERFECT.

I chose this flock to test with because of it's forging ability and winter laying skills, but would like to get rid of the combs and wattles, as practice in breeding. On the side, I will also be getting some bantam Ameraucanas to play with, but plan to try and follow the SOP for that flock.

I'm am not sure I can do much selecting until I can see the comb type, and then the size, but is there a way to tell if the females have genes for large combs and wattles? or will I mostly focusing on the roosters?

Thanks for the input! I love it. It is super helpful.

Yes, the females with larger combs will produce larger combed offspring, and they do make fifty percent of the DNA.