Do you have to dock old english bantams?

[TayFray!]

I have a roosted wheaten old english bantam, i just got today, I am not sure how old he is but his comb is not docked or dubbed, am i supposed to to show him?? What do I do? How do i dock or dubb???
Thanks

 

[Timmy]

Yea to show them cocks need to be dubbed. The best piece of advise I can give you would be to find a breeder of old English bantams locally who is willing to show you how to do it. second to that would be to do a u tube search and find a good video. another good idea would be to find a good book or article on the subject. Any way I'll go ahead and tell you how I do it, but before I do you need to know there will be blood and there is a small chance that the bird could die. Also everyone does it a little different and this is just the way I do it. First you will need a good pair of dubbing shears, a towel, something to stop bleeding (I just use flower) and water to clean your tools and hands. For shears I use leather cutting scissors, but they do make shears specifically for dubbing. Having someone to help and hold the bird is a good idea also, but not necessary. The first thing you do is wrap the birds body in a towel so that it can't move. I start at the comb I think most people do the comb in two steps removing the large blade in the rear first then the top portion. I do it all at once starting in the rear and cutting forward. It is important to leave about 1/2 inch of comb when dubbing old English. Do not remove the comb completely like you would on American game or moderns. Next I do the ear lobes. You pretty much just grab them and snip them off. I do the wattles last. You grab the wattle between your thumb and index finger and cut it off where it joins the throat. You don't want it to look like it had it's throat slit. There should be skin left between the wattles when your done. Then I sprinkle some flower on there head to stop the bleeding and wait for it to heal. It would probably be a good idea to practice on a bird you don't plan to show.