How much over standard is "Big Birds" ?
No roosts ? How are we going to determine pecking order LOL. If I took the roosts out mine might start sleeping in trees.!
4 oz of a good wine is good for brain numbness.
I was running around playing hostess & fetching things when a lot of the real meat of the consultation was discussed, so I missed a lot of the fine print. BUT for Large Fowl, particularly the Dual Purpose birds, the upper weight limit doesn't seem to be a real limit as long as the bird is well fleshed ... not all bones or fat. Some of the historical weight ranges are somewhat obsolete as we get better at feeding & growing birds. For bantams it's another story.
So the Wing Ding ... the "lazy" wings that don't fold properly and look slipped or split regardless of state of feather growth (these birds look key-Ray-zee as they trade baby wing feathers for adult wing feathers) or if there is an Axial Feather or not: the deal there is if the joint is weak or loose. He showed me/had me feel a loose joint and I couldn't "see what he meant" until I got to examine a good one. SO glad there WAS a good one to feel. Cull the ones with the weak joints! Check both sides on any bird that seems okay on the first side. Last year I didn't note it in my flock, but this year the loose wing joints come with knock knees, and probably have other hidden joint issues. Don't breed that if you have a choice. There are reasons both are DQs in the show ring.
Isn't that beautifully simple?!? You can pull a bird off the roost at night and pull out a wing and zip tie the culls in your cull color, then watch them the next day for knock knees and see how true it is in your flock.
Hunched REX wing shoulders?... possibly related but I haven't seen it here.
Beaks. We're supposed to have Reddish Horn beaks, but what does that mean? Most of my birds have yellow beaks, which makes the darker streaked beaks look wrong (seeing some of those this year). But guess what ... darker streaks on the beaks are correct, and yellow beaks are no big deal.
Legs: rich yellow shanks and toes seem to be elusive. Look at the bottoms of the feet. If the bird is truly genetically white-legged, the bottoms of the feet will be white. Any shade of pure yellow seems okay, acceptable, with darker yellow being better. Green (willow) is bad if it comes from black pigment bleeding through the yellow -- but there are greenish shades of pure yellow that are okay. Yes, other birds have more reliably orange legs, so we like to aim for that. It's pretty.
Depth: look for depth of body from the front of the keel clear to the back of the keel. The keel should be long and straight and deep. This helps the bottom curve of the bird AND the top curve. Shallower birds will give you that angular top line. And I gather those nicer longer keels are one reason why letting them sleep in deep bedding is a sensible choice: it helps keep the keels straight. Roosts could be provided, provided they are low, like 18" off the floor, and wide. I've got some high roosts here! The long straight deep keels help keep the bird from going all heart-shaped and front heavy and pinched in the back. Check from the side, the "bottom", and by feeling the gap between pelvis and keel in the back.
Width: preferably equally wide from shoulders to tail.
I got to mark one cockerel as my current breeding choice, and sent one home with the youth breeder (she also got a CUTE little pullet). I held my cockerel on my arm for a bit while we all chatted. He was so even looking and wide from shoulder to tail and felt wonderfully full and fleshed against my forearm. That made me smile. But I've still got a LOT of birds to pick up off the roosts at night and feel and sort.
My birds were completely freaked out by the visitors. I've NEVER seen anything like it.
For sure I need a keg of wine and a long stare at the horizon. Though my best horizon is sunrise, so I'll have to start drinking early to get my brain sorted.
Repeat process down at Zanna's in a few weeks. She has already culled a LOT, but she has other breeds. More info overload!
