Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[gallorojo]

Should be ( I think!) 7 main tail feathers per side on both sexes, plus sickles in the adult males. If your birds have multiple feathering, they would have more than 7 feathers per side. They could have more sickles as well. You can count the feathers, but I promise all your birds will have the typical number. The birds with fuller tails have a better horizontal spread, combined with wider feathers.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Longtail/ReederLongtailGenetics.html. This link will be useful to help you understand.

 

[cubalaya]

i would think that by this spring his tail will be as good as it gets. the wheaton hen will gain more weight going into her 3rd year and should be near the 3 and1/2 to 4 lb mark by then. if her tail is full then she should hold it below horizontal unless alarmed or alert. everything is moulting out tails here except the younguns.

 

[wood&feathers]

Thanks guys!

So that's her problem - the Hooligans, my batch of incubator younguns, keeping her stirred up. The two older hens had most of their moult while brooding and are getting well feathered and laying again now. The wheaten hen is currently running all over teasing the boys, maybe that's her "high tail" problem! I sold two red pyle and one black breasted red cockerels. Still have a few too many.

 

[gallorojo]

My very best birds from my original Zook line wheatens can't raise their tails above the horizontal even when excited. They may go up to just at horizontal if they are really wound up, but never above. Now, all the other lines and colors and crosses i have had will often flip their tails up well above horizontal quite often, only keeping the tails down when relaxed. I personally much prefer the birds that cannot move their tails up high as they always have the very best, truest lobster tails.

 

[cubalaya]

yes any cubalaya, as you know, when pictured on a perch will keep their tail down. we are all breeding for the tail to be held below horizontal. i like to judge mine overall as they move around, perch, get alarmed or out foraging. i am going to be more selective on the hens this year as far as beaks. only short beaked will be allowed to breed. while the sharp dropoff tails of one strain is nice, the castagnatti strain gradually drops allowing for a fuller tail on some birds,

 

[gallorojo]

 

[gallorojo]

This is my best hen, about 2 years old. Very nice but still not perfect, beak could be shorter. And she could be heavier overall, but a pretty respectable one .

 

[DaveK]

Gallo, I very much like the general impression your hen presents. Looks like she'd have the true lobster tail as well and this is often missing on some of the birds being worked with. The stock I was familiar with that had been inbred from Schmudde's stock were as you have described your Zook stock for tail carriage. As soon as those little tails started to come in they were like divining rods over an underground spring. And they never, ever came up above horizontal no matter what. You could raise them with other strains and find that toe punching wasn't needed as they were so different that way. John's birds could have amazing tails but it was a matter of spread combined with a wide feather of good substance and quality. Some of the Rose birds have shown this trait as well. Tail is only part of the whole picture but for me an important one. One of the things that makes a Cubalaya distinct and is just plain beautiful to look at. We always tend to think in terms of the cocks but that hen with her well spread and lobstered tail is a real sight for sore eyes.

 

[gallorojo]

Thanks a lot Dave!! There are things I'd like to see better on that hen, but, she is the best I have and the best I've bred. It's hard to get them to come really consistently nice. The comments regarding strains is interesting and useful. I know my birds are at this point a blend of Schmudde and Castagnetti stock, I never knew if the lower tails went with which line, so thanks for that . I have a son from this hen I really like, I could pick him out at a few weeks old based on the tail alone.

 

[wood&feathers]

This is a five month old hen, the best bird from this year's chicks I think. She just won best large fowl hen in our local fair show last Thursday. The judge came over and said "don't let that one get away from you, she's something special."