Chris I can totally understand why you would think that just looking at the photos. He was the hardest of all the cockerels to photograph and these photos just don't do him justice. No, he's nowhere near ideal, but of this pen of cockerels we think he's got the best type, which is all we're really focusing on at this point.
As far as the white in the sickles, that's actually an issue with all the cockerels in this pen, it could be stress or genetic. If it's genetic, that's fine, coloring is not on our big priority list at this point. We've made notes so that we can look more closely at the next generation and make sure we aren't getting extreme coloring in the flock, but in reality we have to keep focused on type (incl tail spread, overall body style, etc) right now.
We like #59 because he's overall a half-decent bird. I agree with Bill on his back and tail carriage, but I like his tail spread and in person he's a bit more upright than he's looking here in the photos. We're assuming he's low-man on the totem poll and that's whats lead to his sickle feathers being plucked out and his more submissive nature when he heard the other roos outside crowing. He's still young, and we will be keeping him around to see if his overall shape improves as his tail fills in and he gets older. Of course, we've got several females with tail carriage too high, so that might be the females we still choose for him in the end, if we do end up using him for breeding.
For now these two are saved from the soup pot
We need more breeding pens so we can get more trio's set up! Ahhh!! So many projects! Just got the first treadle feeder done this weekend, we need to build a new run on the main breeder coup this weekend... maybe next week we can make one or two more trio pens and then we'll be better prepared for some selective spring hatching
