Saladin- some point within the next month or so I intend to get out to Jim Zook's to look at his birds, I had gotten in touch with him here very recently. Makes sense, as he is within a reasonable drive from me. So, we will see how that goes. Thanks also for the tip on the larger hens.
Any ideas why too small a size is so much of an issue? Is it as much of a problem within other breeds?
It's nice that there are the different strains out there, that can be eyeballed right away. I'm surprised in some ways there still is so many differences this long out from the original importations.
All of my goldens are as yet out of one silver hen, and every one of the males ( goldens) out of that hen shows an extreme slow feathering trait. A higher percentage of the goldens have tails of a shape I don't like, but, some have nice tails. These are all out of one hen, so, hopefully, at some point I can get ahold of a better silver hen, or breed a better silver hen.