d'anver lovers,discuss the breed and post some pics!

[KrisH]

Ouch, AUbrey. glad you are ok. I have had a few boards get me, too.

JJ, nice looking pair.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep I usually go that route too, or have my wife hold one end, but she was gone and I didnt bring the work trailer home this weekend, so I was slumming tool wise. That's about what happened too. I laid it up on top of 2 poles to get a gate post at the right level. It needed a touch more dug out and I completely forgot the 2x4 was up there. when I bent down to lift the post out of the ground, yep I knocked the 2x4 off the top and down it came. Still hurts, big ol goose egg up there. but I'll survive haha.

and yep JJ those girls look exactly like the ones I got from Don several years back. Was breeding them to my blue to help type 'em up a bit.That's where the blue red by product came from too.

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

and yep JJ those girls look exactly like the ones I got from Don several years back. Was breeding them to my blue to help type 'em up a bit.That's where the blue red by product came from too.

I was thinking that I like the color but I see a little old english look to them. Going to cross them with mine that have good type but could yse some color help.

 

[BantamBabesFarm]

Ouch! Sounds painful! Be careful out there Aubrey. Jj those girls are so pretty.

 

[BantamBabesFarm]

I was looking at all the pictures and really listening to the critiques and then went out and looked at my guys, i pulled and switched the quail girls from being with my blue quail rooster because his comb is really flat. I ddont want to use him and have that pass down. So i just have 1 quail roo with 3 bluequail hens and the other pen is all quail.

Everyone else looks pretty good.

Someone on chickens of VA FB group was actually looking for silver duckwing oegb roosters... score, getting rid of two mean roo's is a Xmas gift in itself! Lol.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

I was thinking that I like the color but I see a little old english look to them. Going to cross them with mine that have good type but could yse some color help.

yep, they do. It's almost as if he got them to that point then stopped refining them. Doesnt take much more, they are pretty close. But that's what I did. Bred them to some real good blues. Back bred them and got blue reds and new bb reds that looked a good bit better. They still are nice, just need a little tweaking

 

[Backwoods Bntms]

I was looking at all the pictures and really listening to the critiques and then went out and looked at my guys, i pulled and switched the quail girls from being with my blue quail rooster because his comb is really flat. I ddont want to use him and have that pass down. So i just have 1 quail roo with 3 bluequail hens and the other pen is all quail.
Everyone else looks pretty good.
Someone on chickens of VA FB group was actually looking for silver duckwing oegb roosters... score, getting rid of two mean roo's is a Xmas gift in itself! Lol.

Alyssa, if it were me I would pick the quail hen with the biggest comb and put with the blue quail roo. Then you will have some slightly different birds to cross in the future. From what I have seen the combs that look good the first year end up huge. On the blue quail if his comb doesn't have a hollow spot in the front or a valley running down the middle, I would use him. The bumps will come from the quail hens.Look at your quail male, the hens are carring the same genes.

jj

Aubrey, let us know if I am giving her bad advice. I am still learning too.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

nope all sounds about right to me, was exactly what I was thinking. Just remember not always, but a lot of times, the hens give the most influence to male chicks and the roosters to the girls. Plus it makes good sence too, If you have a perfect male but weak hens add him to those girls to help improve the over all hatch quality anyway and vice versa sex wise. Of course always try to use the best available in both sexes.

But if you have say a good pairing, but over time start noticing weak quality chicks in one sex, try rotating out the oposite sexed parent. That usually helps a lot. Like I said, it doesnt always work on every trait, but it does help in the long run on most of them.
So like JJ was saying, if you need to use that flater combed blue, just put him with some really nice combed quial hens. You're still going to get a few weak combs, but those girls will help get you some decent males. and a different blood line going too. Cull out your weaker quality ones and then start using the better new males in the future, so on and so on. Takes time, but that's what we all have to do.
Plus it's fun! Especially when you see your plan come out like you were hoping, gives you a little bit of pride in them knowing " I made that happen like that".
Good luck with them.
If you want to post some pictures of all of them, I'll be happy to look them all over ans see which way I'd go with them.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Oh I did look over your pics on the other page too. all in all they aint bad. good shape to the combs on most and decent type on most. The silvers could use just a tiny bit of tweaking, but they are pretty good as is.
I did see what you ment about the blue quails comb though. That's pretty common, the ol slick no bumped comb. It can be bred out but when it's that slick it's a pain. On the other hand the quail roo does look really good.
I might would just use him over all the quail and blue quail. you'll get 50/50 blue and black quail off the blue quail girls anyway and wont have that pain in the rear comb issue.
But if you dont mind a little breeding work, you can go both routes and have 2 lines of both quail and blue quail then to work with.
Just do it like JJ was saying, and cull all the weaker combed birds out. That kind of comb doesnt get better with age, if it's slick as a cockerel, it'll be slick when he dies an old man too.

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry about your poor noggin, Aubrey! Construction is always good for some ouchies.

I tried to get pics of the four little ones and you can tell I wasn't very successful today, not having my chick wrangler-he'd been cutting up wood and crashed on the couch so wasn't available to hold the little heathens. The two older ones are 26 days old, which means the for-sure cockerel in the first picture and the feather legged mille, which seems to be a pullet at this point-it's Aimee's and she usually throws girls. The two younger ones, the porcelain and the darkest one, are two days younger and up in the air on sex. I think the porcelain looks girly. The really dark one is anybody's guess, but it will probably turn out to be another cockerel. It's really a bit early to call for 100% sure on all but that first guy.