Thanks Tara I will try to get some profile pics of them to post and some shots of their body thickness.
Chantecler Thread!
- Thread starter Chickenrandomness
- Start date
Here are the photo's Tara that I could get they did not like being in the cage and would not hold still so this is the best I could get.
I guess I could have added these are from Gregg Oaks line through a third party.
these two are Bird 1 cockerel
Bird2
Bird 3
Bird4
I guess I could have added these are from Gregg Oaks line through a third party.
these two are Bird 1 cockerel
Bird2
Bird 3
Bird4
Last edited:
Smart way to get side profiles
Thanks it was not easy!
Heel low:
There we go...now we can see them. Thank you for doing that!
No worries about the caged pics...they are active youngsters who won't hold still...tee hee--go figure that! Birds need to be trained to be cage bound...more on that in a moment here.
Looks like you got length of back...the legs all look long for the birds and this is a GREAT thing because you will note on the young birds that they will be gangly which is wanted so that they can grow INTO their legs. Legs look too long and feet too big and then one day you look and your adult birds don't have that length of leg or big feets no mores...they GREW to suit their skeletons!
I see blocky shapes which is great! I expect to see MORE depth of body in their second year...gravity is a great thing for chickens...not so much for us humans, eh? Ha ha ha!
Feather colour looks very nice...a clean white dovey colour, so pretty indeed! The contrast in the White feathered Chants of white, red and yellow...so very pleasing to the eyes.
Facial gear is a good healthy red...well done Lady! Love when youngsters exude health and happiness, so much so they GLOW it like a beacon of RED!
There is more yellow hue in the first one, the cockerel's legs. Like I said, I want to see yellow in the legs and feet in all Chants! Sometimes in older birds, the leg scales dilute the vivid yellow colour (for shows we would want to pre-condition the legs with something like bag balm to help moisten and then remove old scales to make the yellow as yeller as it can be!).
Bird 4 has a longer tail than the rest...but keep in mind, Bro W had some Chants with longer tails too...maybe this female will have inherited the more Leghorn aspects and will be an awesome producer of good eggs for it?
Bird 4 also looks to have firmer feathers than the others...her feathers might fit tighter to her body so do keep this aspect in mind and weigh the birds when deciding on size aspects...who is heavier is always best to know in pounds/kgs than what they look like since a softer feather can make them appear bigger (think Cornish...some look so much lighter than when you pick them up). Softer feathers may mean that certain members of your Chant flock will lay eggs thru colder or warmer weather simply because they are better insulated against the extremes of temperature than a firmer feathered individual. Keeping track of who lays what and when also teaches us to appreciate the diversity in our flocks...attributes towards production and the ever changing conditions where some traits are better than others at certain times.
Bird 3 needs to learn to hold up its tail nicer if you plan on showing them...could be a less confident female, could be sulking about being caged on a fine day like today...like dogs...we can see their moods in tail carriage some times! I adore when I see a Roo wag his tail...sorry, I just laugh at that sight! Really...wagging??
I guess it won't hurt to discuss getting birds use to cages too...I don't show any more because of the more strict biosecure protocols we have adopted here but when we did, it was only waterfowl...never landfowl for higher disease issues...and quarantined all returning birds for eight weeks post the show. Thankfully never brought nothing bad home!
No laughing but you can teach a bird to be happy in a cage for shows (show training) and use a small dowel through the cage bars to primp the tail up and get them to stand purdy with wings tight by side and tail & head held up nicely. It is by the concept that you get gently disturbed or messed with (kind and calm movements always!) if you do not stand/perform in a certain way. Like the concept in riding a horse, you have the beast move away from pressure--some get cattle to stand with pointy stock sticks...I don't like that, just the fact that you get handled is enough messing with for birds!
Don't stand up balanced and right, Momma is gonna mess and fuss with you...stand proper, leave you alone to look purdy good all by yerself.
For breeds like Runner ducks, they are trained to stand high and erect in their cages by people approaching and giving treats thru the top of the cage...stretch way way up to get the treaty. Birds naturally learn to anticipate what is expected of them to earn a treat and then anyone coming close gets the "I'm the best bird" and pretty POSE!
Carefoot talks about working with birds in cages...he shows up to remove birds from the community pen to be put in a training show cage with fresh feed and water waiting...the birds quickly learn to approach any admirers (greet the judge with sweet attentions!) to be picked up and handled because they get handled to have fresh feed/water so people mean good things like special treatments! Handling = good things!
Play a talk music radio channel to mimic the activities that go on at the show and have the cages where you walk by and do things so they learn to ignore any traffic by them. By cage training, you are handling the growing birds, getting them accustomed to handling (no issues and enjoying the process!) and you then are getting to make selections based on the "hands on" approach in a daily fashion...you can feel a keel bone growing in crooked, etc.
Take your own feed and water for the show...one less thing for the birds to adapt to.
Make sure and use the kind of bedding that will be used at the show...I used softy rodent wood chips and not sharp chips and one of my better Call drakes would not stand level at the show...spoilt bugger...shavings were too sharp and he stood tippy toe for a whole day till he got use to them. Course judging was the first day and he looked like a Penguin instead of a pudgy Call duck...sigh! You learn from your errors, eh!
I begin training with oat straw which is what they are use to here - I had special cages made up and put them right outside the duck barn where I walk back and forth a lot. These are Call ducks in February, 2008.
and then change out the oat straw to shavings with rabbit cage rests to stand on where they can relax.
Silver Appleyard hen on shavings and rabbit cage plastic liner
Indie young drake - Reserve in Breed
By the time they are at the show...lots of time to get use to the conditions there.
So I figure you have some nice juvenile White Chants there to continue to watch develop...looks like they have nice structure, good facial colour, and very nice plumage. Skeletons looking good to give them room to grow into.
By gut reaction to the photos you have kindly taken....I like bird 2 the best (maybe because she posed the best!) and I like bird 1 your cockerel--he is very pleasing overall and should be a nice mate for your three females. Bird 3 is the thickest of the females and bird 4 may be the best egg layer...maybe a shot in the dark but fun to guess anyway!
Every one has something to contribute to future generations in your strain. Good show!
Young birds with promising prospects (so keep watching and clicking pics--you can go back and REstudy them at your leisure!)--something to be joyful for!
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
There we go...now we can see them. Thank you for doing that!
No worries about the caged pics...they are active youngsters who won't hold still...tee hee--go figure that! Birds need to be trained to be cage bound...more on that in a moment here.
Looks like you got length of back...the legs all look long for the birds and this is a GREAT thing because you will note on the young birds that they will be gangly which is wanted so that they can grow INTO their legs. Legs look too long and feet too big and then one day you look and your adult birds don't have that length of leg or big feets no mores...they GREW to suit their skeletons!
I see blocky shapes which is great! I expect to see MORE depth of body in their second year...gravity is a great thing for chickens...not so much for us humans, eh? Ha ha ha!
Feather colour looks very nice...a clean white dovey colour, so pretty indeed! The contrast in the White feathered Chants of white, red and yellow...so very pleasing to the eyes.
Facial gear is a good healthy red...well done Lady! Love when youngsters exude health and happiness, so much so they GLOW it like a beacon of RED!
There is more yellow hue in the first one, the cockerel's legs. Like I said, I want to see yellow in the legs and feet in all Chants! Sometimes in older birds, the leg scales dilute the vivid yellow colour (for shows we would want to pre-condition the legs with something like bag balm to help moisten and then remove old scales to make the yellow as yeller as it can be!).
Bird 4 has a longer tail than the rest...but keep in mind, Bro W had some Chants with longer tails too...maybe this female will have inherited the more Leghorn aspects and will be an awesome producer of good eggs for it?
Bird 4 also looks to have firmer feathers than the others...her feathers might fit tighter to her body so do keep this aspect in mind and weigh the birds when deciding on size aspects...who is heavier is always best to know in pounds/kgs than what they look like since a softer feather can make them appear bigger (think Cornish...some look so much lighter than when you pick them up). Softer feathers may mean that certain members of your Chant flock will lay eggs thru colder or warmer weather simply because they are better insulated against the extremes of temperature than a firmer feathered individual. Keeping track of who lays what and when also teaches us to appreciate the diversity in our flocks...attributes towards production and the ever changing conditions where some traits are better than others at certain times.
Bird 3 needs to learn to hold up its tail nicer if you plan on showing them...could be a less confident female, could be sulking about being caged on a fine day like today...like dogs...we can see their moods in tail carriage some times! I adore when I see a Roo wag his tail...sorry, I just laugh at that sight! Really...wagging??
I guess it won't hurt to discuss getting birds use to cages too...I don't show any more because of the more strict biosecure protocols we have adopted here but when we did, it was only waterfowl...never landfowl for higher disease issues...and quarantined all returning birds for eight weeks post the show. Thankfully never brought nothing bad home!
No laughing but you can teach a bird to be happy in a cage for shows (show training) and use a small dowel through the cage bars to primp the tail up and get them to stand purdy with wings tight by side and tail & head held up nicely. It is by the concept that you get gently disturbed or messed with (kind and calm movements always!) if you do not stand/perform in a certain way. Like the concept in riding a horse, you have the beast move away from pressure--some get cattle to stand with pointy stock sticks...I don't like that, just the fact that you get handled is enough messing with for birds!
Don't stand up balanced and right, Momma is gonna mess and fuss with you...stand proper, leave you alone to look purdy good all by yerself.
For breeds like Runner ducks, they are trained to stand high and erect in their cages by people approaching and giving treats thru the top of the cage...stretch way way up to get the treaty. Birds naturally learn to anticipate what is expected of them to earn a treat and then anyone coming close gets the "I'm the best bird" and pretty POSE!
Carefoot talks about working with birds in cages...he shows up to remove birds from the community pen to be put in a training show cage with fresh feed and water waiting...the birds quickly learn to approach any admirers (greet the judge with sweet attentions!) to be picked up and handled because they get handled to have fresh feed/water so people mean good things like special treatments! Handling = good things!
Play a talk music radio channel to mimic the activities that go on at the show and have the cages where you walk by and do things so they learn to ignore any traffic by them. By cage training, you are handling the growing birds, getting them accustomed to handling (no issues and enjoying the process!) and you then are getting to make selections based on the "hands on" approach in a daily fashion...you can feel a keel bone growing in crooked, etc.
Take your own feed and water for the show...one less thing for the birds to adapt to.
Make sure and use the kind of bedding that will be used at the show...I used softy rodent wood chips and not sharp chips and one of my better Call drakes would not stand level at the show...spoilt bugger...shavings were too sharp and he stood tippy toe for a whole day till he got use to them. Course judging was the first day and he looked like a Penguin instead of a pudgy Call duck...sigh! You learn from your errors, eh!
I begin training with oat straw which is what they are use to here - I had special cages made up and put them right outside the duck barn where I walk back and forth a lot. These are Call ducks in February, 2008.
and then change out the oat straw to shavings with rabbit cage rests to stand on where they can relax.
Silver Appleyard hen on shavings and rabbit cage plastic liner
Indie young drake - Reserve in Breed
By the time they are at the show...lots of time to get use to the conditions there.
So I figure you have some nice juvenile White Chants there to continue to watch develop...looks like they have nice structure, good facial colour, and very nice plumage. Skeletons looking good to give them room to grow into.
By gut reaction to the photos you have kindly taken....I like bird 2 the best (maybe because she posed the best!) and I like bird 1 your cockerel--he is very pleasing overall and should be a nice mate for your three females. Bird 3 is the thickest of the females and bird 4 may be the best egg layer...maybe a shot in the dark but fun to guess anyway!
Every one has something to contribute to future generations in your strain. Good show!
Young birds with promising prospects (so keep watching and clicking pics--you can go back and REstudy them at your leisure!)--something to be joyful for!
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Tara, thank you so much for looking at my birds and giving me some advice and helpful hints! I do appreciate it very much.Heel low:
There we go...now we can see them. Thank you for doing that!
No worries about the caged pics...they are active youngsters who won't hold still...tee hee--go figure that! Birds need to be trained to be cage bound...more on that in a moment here.
Looks like you got length of back...the legs all look long for the birds and this is a GREAT thing because you will note on the young birds that they will be gangly which is wanted so that they can grow INTO their legs. Legs look too long and feet too big and then one day you look and your adult birds don't have that length of leg or big feets no mores...they GREW to suit their skeletons!
I see blocky shapes which is great! I expect to see MORE depth of body in their second year...gravity is a great thing for chickens...not so much for us humans, eh? Ha ha ha!
Feather colour looks very nice...a clean white dovey colour, so pretty indeed! The contrast in the White feathered Chants of white, red and yellow...so very pleasing to the eyes.
Facial gear is a good healthy red...well done Lady! Love when youngsters exude health and happiness, so much so they GLOW it like a beacon of RED!
There is more yellow hue in the first one, the cockerel's legs. Like I said, I want to see yellow in the legs and feet in all Chants! Sometimes in older birds, the leg scales dilute the vivid yellow colour (for shows we would want to pre-condition the legs with something like bag balm to help moisten and then remove old scales to make the yellow as yeller as it can be!).
Bird 4 has a longer tail than the rest...but keep in mind, Bro W had some Chants with longer tails too...maybe this female will have inherited the more Leghorn aspects and will be an awesome producer of good eggs for it?
Bird 4 also looks to have firmer feathers than the others...her feathers might fit tighter to her body so do keep this aspect in mind and weigh the birds when deciding on size aspects...who is heavier is always best to know in pounds/kgs than what they look like since a softer feather can make them appear bigger (think Cornish...some look so much lighter than when you pick them up). Softer feathers may mean that certain members of your Chant flock will lay eggs thru colder or warmer weather simply because they are better insulated against the extremes of temperature than a firmer feathered individual. Keeping track of who lays what and when also teaches us to appreciate the diversity in our flocks...attributes towards production and the ever changing conditions where some traits are better than others at certain times.
Bird 3 needs to learn to hold up its tail nicer if you plan on showing them...could be a less confident female, could be sulking about being caged on a fine day like today...like dogs...we can see their moods in tail carriage some times! I adore when I see a Roo wag his tail...sorry, I just laugh at that sight! Really...wagging??
I guess it won't hurt to discuss getting birds use to cages too...I don't show any more because of the more strict biosecure protocols we have adopted here but when we did, it was only waterfowl...never landfowl for higher disease issues...and quarantined all returning birds for eight weeks post the show. Thankfully never brought nothing bad home!
No laughing but you can teach a bird to be happy in a cage for shows (show training) and use a small dowel through the cage bars to primp the tail up and get them to stand purdy with wings tight by side and tail & head held up nicely. It is by the concept that you get gently disturbed or messed with (kind and calm movements always!) if you do not stand/perform in a certain way. Like the concept in riding a horse, you have the beast move away from pressure--some get cattle to stand with pointy stock sticks...I don't like that, just the fact that you get handled is enough messing with for birds!
Don't stand up balanced and right, Momma is gonna mess and fuss with you...stand proper, leave you alone to look purdy good all by yerself.
For breeds like Runner ducks, they are trained to stand high and erect in their cages by people approaching and giving treats thru the top of the cage...stretch way way up to get the treaty. Birds naturally learn to anticipate what is expected of them to earn a treat and then anyone coming close gets the "I'm the best bird" and pretty POSE!
Carefoot talks about working with birds in cages...he shows up to remove birds from the community pen to be put in a training show cage with fresh feed and water waiting...the birds quickly learn to approach any admirers (greet the judge with sweet attentions!) to be picked up and handled because they get handled to have fresh feed/water so people mean good things like special treatments! Handling = good things!
Play a talk music radio channel to mimic the activities that go on at the show and have the cages where you walk by and do things so they learn to ignore any traffic by them. By cage training, you are handling the growing birds, getting them accustomed to handling (no issues and enjoying the process!) and you then are getting to make selections based on the "hands on" approach in a daily fashion...you can feel a keel bone growing in crooked, etc.
Take your own feed and water for the show...one less thing for the birds to adapt to.
Make sure and use the kind of bedding that will be used at the show...I used softy rodent wood chips and not sharp chips and one of my better Call drakes would not stand level at the show...spoilt bugger...shavings were too sharp and he stood tippy toe for a whole day till he got use to them. Course judging was the first day and he looked like a Penguin instead of a pudgy Call duck...sigh! You learn from your errors, eh!
I begin training with oat straw which is what they are use to here - I had special cages made up and put them right outside the duck barn where I walk back and forth a lot. These are Call ducks in February, 2008.
and then change out the oat straw to shavings with rabbit cage rests to stand on where they can relax.
Silver Appleyard hen on shavings and rabbit cage plastic liner
Indie young drake - Reserve in Breed
By the time they are at the show...lots of time to get use to the conditions there.
So I figure you have some nice juvenile White Chants there to continue to watch develop...looks like they have nice structure, good facial colour, and very nice plumage. Skeletons looking good to give them room to grow into.
By gut reaction to the photos you have kindly taken....I like bird 2 the best (maybe because she posed the best!) and I like bird 1 your cockerel--he is very pleasing overall and should be a nice mate for your three females. Bird 3 is the thickest of the females and bird 4 may be the best egg layer...maybe a shot in the dark but fun to guess anyway!
Every one has something to contribute to future generations in your strain. Good show!
Young birds with promising prospects (so keep watching and clicking pics--you can go back and REstudy them at your leisure!)--something to be joyful for!
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
I will keep taking pics and start working with them in the cage more, they are used to me handling them already. They don't like it much but they are used to it.
I was wondering why the one birds legs were more yellow than the others...
I love all the pics you post of your birds I know how much work I put into the ones I have and I cannot even imagine how much work and time you have to put into your birds you have so many.
Tara, thank you so much for looking at my birds and giving me some advice and helpful hints! I do appreciate it very much.
I will keep taking pics and start working with them in the cage more, they are used to me handling them already. They don't like it much but they are used to it.
I was wondering why the one birds legs were more yellow than the others...
I love all the pics you post of your birds I know how much work I put into the ones I have and I cannot even imagine how much work and time you have to put into your birds you have so many.I love the duck pics that indie is gorgeous! I am very excited to see how they progress and what their off spring will look like!
Always fun to see other birds and enthralling to feel your excitement in the mix too!
I am no expert by any means and always the very best person to judge is the person that LIVES and breathes with these birds. That be YOU!
The birds basically have to make YOU happy with them.
Put a bit of a treat in the cage before each one goes in...they'll come round real quick...bribing the guts are the quickest path to glory!
Male chickens often will tend to express better yeller in the feet and legs plus beaks and skin ... simply because HE is not donating the yellow pigments to egg production (the egg yolks!). Girls can be just as yellow pigmented as the boys, but keep in mind, as egg season progresses...the girls with the yellowest pigments are probably the stingy egg layers! Having depleted pigments in yellow legged/skinned breeds is even noted in the SOP's so judges will make certain allowances that productive girls are not going to express the same intensity of yellow pigments as boys and females that have quit laying eggs or gone baron plus time of year too.
APA SOP 2010, page 28:
The best egg layers give it their all and they look depleted at the end of an egg laying cycle--stop to moult and ramp back up on the brown egg shell pigments and yellow too! Sorta like Momma dog and the pups...she will blow coat and look like crap while surrounded by vibrant and vigorous puppies...the best Moms give it their best in sacrifice for the next generations!
Try feeding some crack yellow corn and greens this fall (when hot foods like the corn won't overheat the birds). It can be a genetic thing as well as pigments in their foods being upped to make better yellow legs and feets & dem beakies and skin.
We had an issue with some steam rolled corn being moulding and did not feed yellow corn for one season...ALL the birds suffered a lack of yellow pigments for it. Still fed greens but nothing like yellow corn to booster up the yellow pigments.
Lots of YELLER pigments in cockerels and pullets
Lesser pigments in legs - egg laying increased in them as hens and NO corn that year!
See too how the hens thicken up over being just pullets AND how gravity is a BIG bonus...bulkers in girls is good in chooks! LOL
Glad you did not chastise me for the duck pics...tee hee...everyone loves a duck, eh...or NOT! I am semi-retired and get to dive totally into this fun stuff...I hope others do the same too--so much FUN to be had with feathers!
Yes, be excited...it makes trudging thru the winter weather bearable...thinking of the new crop of future chicks you will be having to access!
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Heel low:
Quote:
Originally Posted by chickadoodles
Tara, thank you so much for looking at my birds and giving me some advice and helpful hints! I do appreciate it very much.
I will keep taking pics and start working with them in the cage more, they are used to me handling them already. They don't like it much but they are used to it.
I was wondering why the one birds legs were more yellow than the others...
I love all the pics you post of your birds I know how much work I put into the ones I have and I cannot even imagine how much work and time you have to put into your birds you have so many.I love the duck pics that indie is gorgeous! I am very excited to see how they progress and what their off spring will look like!
Always fun to see other birds and enthralling to feel your excitement in the mix too!
I am no expert by any means and always the very best person to judge is the person that LIVES and breathes with these birds. That be YOU!
The birds basically have to make YOU happy with them.
Put a bit of a treat in the cage before each one goes in...they'll come round real quick...bribing the guts are the quickest path to glory!
Male chickens often will tend to express better yeller in the feet and legs plus beaks and skin ... simply because HE is not donating the yellow pigments to egg production (the egg yolks!). Girls can be just as yellow pigmented as the boys, but keep in mind, as egg season progresses...the girls with the yellowest pigments are probably the stingy egg layers! Having depleted pigments in yellow legged/skinned breeds is even noted in the SOP's so judges will make certain allowances that productive girls are not going to express the same intensity of yellow pigments as boys and females that have quit laying eggs or gone baron plus time of year too.
APA SOP 2010, page 28:
Thanks Tara. I guess I will have to find another source for some birds to add to my birds and get the yellow back in their legs! I will try some corn also. Thanks
Lots of YELLER pigments in cockerels and pulletsI was in chicken bad books for sure THAT year...now we feed CRACKED yellow corn which does not go mouldy and are back in the good books again...yah!
Lesser pigments in legs - egg laying increased in them as hens and NO corn that year!
See too how the hens thicken up over being just pullets AND how gravity is a BIG bonus...bulkers in girls is good in chooks! LOL
Glad you did not chastise me for the duck pics...tee hee...everyone loves a duck, eh...or NOT! I am semi-retired and get to dive totally into this fun stuff...I hope others do the same too--so much FUN to be had with feathers!
Yes, be excited...it makes trudging thru the winter weather bearable...thinking of the new crop of future chicks you will be having to access!
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Thanks Tara. I guess I will have to find another source for some birds to add to my birds and get the yellow back in their legs! I will try some corn also. Thanks
You are most welcome.
Try the corn later on when the temperatures of summer subside...
Now please don't get too ramped up over the yellow pigments. Yes, could be something missing in the line but try the diet first, easiest to do and the chickens will enjoy your doing this! CANDY CORNS!
Now the opposite of Chanteclers and where phaeomelanin pigments (red, orange, yellow) are WANTED...recall I said males have more YELLER in their shanks and toes. Well indeed, this Indie young drake has not perfectly BLACK shanks and toes, now does he...see on his webbers inside part, down the front of the shanks and across the tops of his toes...you see that! That sure ain't NO black!
APA SOP 2010, page 344:
Now looking at my YOUNG Indie drake, I could have been all head hanging because his feet are NOT completely black to dusky black but a combination of the black and already showing those "orangey" pigments. <<Oh BOO HOO!>> I could have been SO put off with this one fault on him that I never entered him...and yet, he still took RESERVE in Breed...so in reality, be careful on the faults we do find. There is no perfect anything past some perfect conditions like being "dead" dead as a duck ...ha ha ha.
Another tip on showing East Indie Ducks...we don't make a habit of peeling off old leg and toe scales in the young birds...leave the foot be as often it is the next shedding of scales as the duck reaches maturity when the black younger scales peel off to reveal oranger shanks and toes underneath. Don't touch those duck toes...not on the East Indies at least!
ABA SOP, page 272:
In the East Indies...it is a gender and it is an AGE THING for the shanks and toes to get orange.
Now If you had birds that have all the attributes you adore, yes, the lack of yellow leg pigments can keep them from being shown as in a disqualification (wrong coloured shank/toes for breed and variety) if the judge figures there is NO yeller period...but let's look at the point system on my Indie drake for comparison to importance. Ducks are fun to use as they are pretty neutral territory here!
In the ABA SOP, Page 260:
So TWO points out of 100 for the colour of the feets! Now if I had only one two point problem in my birds...glory be & slop those chickens! Mercy I would be doing that chooky dance and grossing people out..."oh my eyes!"
Important for showing...but showing is not the be all to end all. We can function quite fine breeding our birds to attempt to have them suit the SOP's...but in the beginnings...I would have loved to acquire any new breed/variety with only a two point out of 100 fault. Talk about a good start!
I am not so stupid to say any birds I have ever seen are 98% perfect...but maybe this puts the not so yellow legs into perspective for you. You are now aware you want yellow legs as in RICH YELLOW but you also have some structural bonuses and lots of things you like already in this line...sometimes the introduction of new blood can take all those lovely things you already had and throw them all away, or just simply mess up a good thing you had at the beginning.
Would you rather trade what goods you now have away for the one attribute of yellow shanks & toes?
There had to be something that caught my eye that was not right as did things that are right.
Try corn and if this is not the answer, carefully find a line similar to yours that does have the rich yellow you want.
Now not in the White feathered Chants, but in some of the Partridge varieties, I have seen some sanctioned judges being EVER so generous on leg and shank colours...there is the concern the female has been in extra heavy lay and slaty yellow gives some DECENT leeway to interpretation. Unfortunately, the White variety is seen to be a little less allowed to skip the rich yellow legs.
All in all, I think you are going to have some fun with these four.
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Heel low:
Quote:
Now looking at my YOUNG Indie drake, I could have been all head hanging because his feet are NOT completely black to dusky black but a combination of the black and already showing those "orangey" pigments. <<Oh BOO HOO!>> I could have been SO put off with this one fault on him that I never entered him...and yet, he still took RESERVE in Breed...so in reality, be careful on the faults we do find. There is no perfect anything past some perfect conditions like being "dead" dead as a duck ...ha ha ha.
Another tip on showing East Indie Ducks...we don't make a habit of peeling off old leg and toe scales in the young birds...leave the foot be as often it is the next shedding of scales as the duck reaches maturity when the black younger scales peel off to reveal oranger shanks and toes underneath. Don't touch those duck toes...not on the East Indies at least!
ABA SOP, page 272:
In the East Indies...it is a gender and it is an AGE THING for the shanks and toes to get orange.
Now If you had birds that have all the attributes you adore, yes, the lack of yellow leg pigments can keep them from being shown as in a disqualification (wrong coloured shank/toes for breed and variety) if the judge figures there is NO yeller period...but let's look at the point system on my Indie drake for comparison to importance. Ducks are fun to use as they are pretty neutral territory here!
In the ABA SOP, Page 260:
So TWO points out of 100 for the colour of the feets! Now if I had only one two point problem in my birds...glory be & slop those chickens! Mercy I would be doing that chooky dance and grossing people out..."oh my eyes!"
So as with issues over comb types and us all knowing that we cannot SHOW a Chantecler that does not possess a Cushion comb, yes, having yellow legs and shanks IS a necessary thing for exhibiting your birds. It disqualifies the bird before any judging is even started on it! No rich yellow (white variety) or yellow or dusky yellow (partridge variety-yellow preferred) and that is an automatic disqualification (it is a foreign colour).
Important for showing...but showing is not the be all to end all. We can function quite fine breeding our birds to attempt to have them suit the SOP's...but in the beginnings...I would have loved to acquire any new breed/variety with only a two point out of 100 fault. Talk about a good start!
I am not so stupid to say any birds I have ever seen are 98% perfect...but maybe this puts the not so yellow legs into perspective for you. You are now aware you want yellow legs as in RICH YELLOW but you also have some structural bonuses and lots of things you like already in this line...sometimes the introduction of new blood can take all those lovely things you already had and throw them all away, or just simply mess up a good thing you had at the beginning.
Would you rather trade what goods you now have away for the one attribute of yellow shanks & toes?
There had to be something that caught my eye that was not right as did things that are right.
Try corn and if this is not the answer, carefully find a line similar to yours that does have the rich yellow you want.
Now not in the White feathered Chants, but in some of the Partridge varieties, I have seen some sanctioned judges being EVER so generous on leg and shank colours...there is the concern the female has been in extra heavy lay and slaty yellow gives some DECENT leeway to interpretation. Unfortunately, the White variety is seen to be a little less allowed to skip the rich yellow legs.
All in all, I think you are going to have some fun with these four.
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
Thank you Tara for so much info and help! I will try the corn first. We will pick some up when we get some cooler weather. I have already found another line and emailed the person this morning about their birds. So I am waiting to see where this will go with the corn first.
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