Karen- I'm working with the same issues, as you have seen. I think it was you that I showed the very beginnings of off-coloring appearing in the hackle on one of my two best black cockerels at the Stevenson, WA show. Leakage! AHHH!
Out of many boys from Amy I ended up with two that are both pretty nice and have no leakage in the hackle. One has better wings than the other. Of the crosses I made from a cockerel from Amy over hens from Calesta last early spring I got my best show pullets, but I haven't held back males from that cross. I now have the Calesta hens under the younger black cockerels from Amy, and my show hens/pullets (from the crosses I made and from Amy) under a black cock from Calesta (he was at the Spring 2010 show).
BTW Karen, I am finally getting great fertility in the whites, so if you still want some when showtime comes let me know. I had to wait until I knew if I was going to Stockton to trim butts, and I finally get about 28 days ago, so I've had a couple good hatches already.
Sonoran- I went to Goodman Elementary, Anderson Jr. High (some of my friends went to Seton), and Chandler High. I get back to AZ every once in Awhile as my father and many good friends still live there. In fact, one of my good friends works for an exotic vet that does a lot of work with birds of all kinds- used to be the vet for the Phoenix Zoo. I iss being able to go to the Az. Botanical Garden and hiking around Papago.
In regards to blacks in general: While I love black pullets and they are admittedly easier to produce than good black cockerels (because they stay clear)... there is nothing like a nice black cock.
I mentioned earlier the black cock on loan from Calesta- I think he might be one of my favorite birds to look at in my pens. He's several years old and has the body type of a good mature cock. He's got a lot of mihalik blood and he's a bit leggy, but very very nice. If I thought she would part with him I would buy him in a second.
I've raised a heck of a lot of birds and done a heck of a lot of culling to advance the quality. I've also bought and traded birds with other breeders. I've been really really lucky in that the breeders here in the PNW are very open and buy/sell/trade stock and love to talk shop. They've helped me go over birds, helped me learn to AI, how to keep ahead of mites/lice, how to prepare for shows, etc. Karen, Calesta Rieth, Sheryl Butler, Marjorie Best, Dottie, etc have all been so much help and have helped make showing fun even when I don't place well. I also benefited from getting judges to go over my birds which actually prevented me from getting rid of a couple birds that have actually been useful for me in breeding. AmyJo Piehl also helped me a lot. About a year and a half ago I purchased a few young stock on eggbid from Amy that were culls for one reason or another (most relating to toe spacing, which I think is easy to correct) and she let me purchase from her a very typey black cockerel with gold leakage in the hackle. I needed a boy and that was what she had available, and he ended up being a fantastic purchase. He's probably going to be retired this year as I now have clear blacks from Amy that are almost as typey as he is. The problem with the leakage is that it takes so long to show up. As Amy mentioned, she has a black that didn't show leakage until he was a couple of years old. Because of that, it can be really frustrating to work with. There was one young bird I separated out and really really liked (in regards to type and wings) that I parted with because he developed leakage. It sucked because I liked his type SO much and had been conditioning him for the fall shows. Now, toe separation and the incorrect number of toes are easy to cull for. You see it at hatch and can sell or give away the baby at that time, without substantial investment of time, feed, energy, and hopes.
My goal is to get consistent quality so that I don't hatch as much/as many. Right now I've been hatching everything laid by my breeders.
When I look out my window, my car is covered in a thick sheet of ice and my steep driveway looks like a big ice cube! I have to go to the PO to pick up some birds shortly....hope my pregnant butt don't fall and get hurt! I HATE winter sooooo bad!
