black comb and face

[perched]

I would love to see pics of those black combs and other interesting features described in this post!

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
This is my black sexlink when she was 1 month old (far left, with the black comb).

Here, she's a couple months old (not sure of exact age). It's not the best picture, but if you look close you can see that she had her comb was black/grey and so were her wattles. The chick behind her (and all my other black sexlinks) had normal pink combs.

This photo was taken when she was 17 weeks old - you can still see some black, but both her comb & wattles are mostly pink/red.

 

[GardeNerd]

I couldn't find any good shots where I could easily show it. But here are some pictures of my BA.

She was the one on the right. 4 days?

6 weeks

15 Weeks

Close up of same photo as above

15 Weeks

I will have to take some more recent pictures of her. She is not dark gray or black like these anymore. But she is also not the same red as the other girls.

 

[ChickenCharmer]

Check these black combs out-

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Cemani/BRKCemani.html

 

[GardeNerd]

Quote:
That bird almost doesn't look real it is so black. COOL!

 

[GardeNerd]

I took photos. This is Vader with her mulberry colored comb.

Here are pictures from today. She is 22 weeks I think.

 

[aveca]

thats not as bad as mine, was it very dark when she was just a few months old?
Overall she is a very nice hen. ,. I will try to get some close up pics of my hens so you can see the combs are just black at 4 mos. Interesting but Ive never seen this befor. There is a new book about australorps I am going to get. the man has bred more top show birds than anyone and is an authority. Funny all three of my mulberrys came out of the same hen yet her and the roos combs are red.

I wish there was an expert in this type of thing (dark combs, doesnt appear to be any illness but instead something in the genes.) that we could all talk to about these issues..

I did contact a couple different people about this, one said that treat it with suspission but It may be something that can be bred back out without too much trouble. Somewhere in thier past this gene was a normal occurence like sumatra ect..., He said something about it is not from inbreeding but outbreeding I didnt really understand that part.
He said the best australorps in Australia (show birds) are in very big demand, short supply and long long waiting list. You can view just a sample of the long list on australorps australia web page. You see one seller and hundreds of wish lists.

People write from all over the world looking for the really top show birds but the breeders , if they have good pullets are like platinum to them and they just do not give them up for any price.

The conversation got interesting, There are 2 types of australorps, the utility egg breeders complain that the show breeders are ruining the birds by turning them into what they call ""feather dusters"". The birds were bred for egg and meat production to some breeders That was the origional intention., The show people have an ideal of what they want a bird to look like and do not include egg production and quality in the judging which to certian people is not acceptable, Some australorps breeders show both birds and eggs, some show only birds, some only eggs.

He said at one time the buf orp was nearly ruined by show people many years ago and fell out of fashion because of it in a lot of places, buf orp is on the watch list for too low number in britian. sebrights too, birds fall into and out of fashion. people trying to breed for a certian look and not the overall quality , again he called them feather dusters, but breeders are working back to good quality nice looking buff orps again today, and they are gaining in popularity from a handfull of dedicated caring breeders.

I was told be careful breeding australorps with too much white in the beak , thier offspring tend toward purple in feathers, big no no, but again there is a way to breed it out careful selection.

I told him three hens with the mulberry or dark colored combs are overall good birds that lean more toward the ""feather dusters"", super nice build eyes, head , beak shape ect... the rest of our flock have red combs and not as plump looking.

Thanks for posting the pic.

. I am really bad at getting good pics but will try to get a hen to hold still for a second to get a pic.. I think you'll find it interesting.

Hopefully its just nothing that we should be too worried about and can be corrected.

Overall that is a nice hen
.

 

[aveca]

I beleive I caught one of the three hens in this pic, you can see the pullet in forground has normal color comb out of same rooster different hen.

Nope sorry she just ducked out of the picture, these 2 (3 MOS) have the normal colored combs that will be red.
Darn this camera, there is a delay and hens can move around by the time the thing takes a pic.

I will try again tommorrow to get a close up, even the face is turning mulberry on the one hen. If nothing else its interesting.

 

[aveca]

on the left side of pic is one of the miss mulberries, she is the head in the far left....sorry bout my poor photography normals and then?

another miss mulberry

 

[aveca]

She is a very nice bird. She is such a nice addition to your flock. I like the looks of her.They are real reliable egg layers and sweet temprament. The three I have with the mulberry combs are the most attractive of all of ours birds. They are built a bit better by todays standards , all of the others are a little more stringy. It will be very interesting to see the combs turn out later on our three. Funny thing is, their mother won several blues and her comb was bright red, roo too.The person I got this hen from has retired and moved to florida and doesnt show the birds anymore.

The hen I have in the training coop at this time (matilda)is a bit more refined and also a bit more skittish at times than they usually are. . The rooster dundee is just so laid back he just flops down like a bear skin rug in his cage And takes the whole thing in stride. I love his big perfectly round dark eye balls. Hes just cute for a big bird. Hes just beginning to fill in a bit and doesnt look so much like a skinny teen. Hes going to be a nice bird next year and matilda will settle down a little.

There are a lot of people picking up poultry keeping and a lot of very experienced people retireing from it. I would love to apprentice like they did in the old days with an expert to teach me every point including what will happen if you breed this with that and why.

Im going to have to keep breeding to the standard to the best of my ability for the show ring. I will post pics later on of how the mulberry girls turn out.