Bought my first red goldens today...is the hen PURE? HELP?

[lexgold]

Cool, I'll get the brown one because he's offering, but I'll probably trade her to someone who doesn't want to breed from her. Wonder if the yellow one is a pure yellow golden?

 

[lexgold]

Got the birds home today and noticed the male has some plumage loss, especially around the legs. Could it be mites? The females are in perfect feather so I wondered if maybe he'd just been picked on. I plan to worm the birds after a few days...please advise on worming and dusting???

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

safeguard liquid goat wormer 3 cc per gallon of water, and a sevin dust bath goes a long way on both. I know a lot of folks use some kind of special organic mess to dust, but sevin is perfectly harmless to you and the birds, I use it regularly.Just rub it into the feathers .

Never hurts to do both even if they dont have them, this way you'll know for sure they are clean. If you're like me, you dont have time to try to find a avian vet to test for all this stuff. My local dog vet wont even let birds in his shop, so kind of leaves you no options, and he's a personal friend of mine..

 

[lexgold]

Thanks for the advice...now I see my one new hen has a middle toe (sorry if this isn't the correct term) that points off too one side.
Is this a birth defect and does it mean I shouldn't breed her?
Otherwize the hens are beautiful looking and a local pheasant breeder came to see them and thought they looked in great shape. I forgot to show him her foot!

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

That's referred to as crocked toe. It's fairly common, often a birth defect usually from inbreeding in most cases. Not too major of a concern, would be best to find unrelated stock to breed her to. That way new genetics will be introduced to the offspring and will help prevent them from having the same problems.

 

[kikescove.com]

Very common for them to break their toes as well, especially in a pen set up as described above, so it may not be genetic at all. Unfortunately, kinda hard to tell the difference if you didn't raise the bird. Check ou t my website kikescove.com for pictures of your different goldens if you want reference pics. I raise only pure birds. I might have had one amherst Red cross on there, but I quit that long ago.

 

[lexgold]

beautiful pictures on your website!