d'uccles- which rooster to keep for breeding

[NateinFL]

Nancy sounds like me and you have a lot in common, I went through a period where I blew money on things I had no business doing. I look back and ask WHY but it must have been something to do with the hormone factor, I got wild and crazy for a few years but fortunately snapped out of it before it got the best of me. I really think it was my animals that kept me from going off the deep end. Interesting what comes out on these forums

 

[lilcrow]

Good thing for you Nathan, you're still very young. You're a fascinating young man and from the looks of your BYC page and the menagerie that you have, I would say that you have a wonderful path ahead of you. You could be the next Jack Hanna! I had to wait until I became a crone

before it let go of me, but better later than never. I'm just grateful it finally happened.
(You know I don't really have a beard..........yet).

 

[Megs]

i just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the info, interesting reads and great photos to look at! i think what i might actually do is have 2 pens of d'uccles for breeding initially (see what comes of the crosses), mate the cockeral with the nice hen (both unrelated-anticipate decent offspring), and mate the rooster with the not as nice hen and the pullet (all non related, as i hate to get rid of them, though that is also an option), i realize i might not get the best birds from the roo/hen crosses as they are not as nice, but with any luck the hens muff/beard will pass along to offspring and the roosters nicer comb will pass on, improving on the parents type, at any rate it will be a fun experiment. there is no shortage of people looking for pet quality bantams in my area, in case resulting offspring are lacking desired traits to breed (i realize some of my breeders arent the nicest either but i would be happy to get a bit better birds and replace the old ones, i know this improving the breed stuff dosent happen overnight)!

 

[lilcrow]

Sounds like a plan Megs. If you keep getting those REALLY black birds from your roo, I'd let him go, sooner than later; and I don't think I'd keep any of the seriously dark birds as breeders. Then again, I'm not really sure that I wouldn't maybe feed them out and see what they look like as adults. I was just thinking, if you look at the picture of the hen that I think is SO gorgeous, she is basically a very dark bird, with high contrast markings.
What's everybody else think?

 

[Megs]

yes i will keep an eye on the offspring for those weird dark ones, i dont know what happened there :S not ideal! he might just end up in the pet pen if he can get along with my weird little dwarf australorp cockeral (from standard size birds!) Im trying to hang onto that one to see what it turns out like, running short on space so he will be turfed back into the chick rearing pen (currently empty, and will be until at least march) so theres no chance hes doing at fertilizing! as they are all together, just splitting them up for spring breeding to give the hens a month so i know what roo/cock is the dad.

 

[NateinFL]

Nancy you are too nice!! Such kind words I tell ya too bad I dont hear anything close to that at work! Very nice of you though to say that, I've always been the different one in the family. I'm 27, not really "young" anymore, I've been having to make big decisions lately I hate it and it hurts but I gotta grow up and face the facts of life....ROFL

about the beard...beards are good for mille fleur ladies, not good on human women just get the laser surgery thing whenever it happens.

Megs I think its good to get rid of a roo (and possibly hen for that matter) that "threw" a black chicken. Unless it was a genetic mutation, which is probably unlikely, your birds are mixed somewhere. That's my opinion and NO I dont speak from experience. Good luck you can always get eggs from Lynne in CA, she is taking egg orders for Spring

-Nathan

 

[orionburn]

Blowing the dust off this thread. I'm looking into breeding MFs in the near future. I've been trying to study and get a better understanding of the genetics of them, and I'll be the first to admit I have a long ways to go until this all makes sense. Do all "bad" traits pass on to the offspring? Let's say you get a roo with good coloring but has a poor comb. Will that trait pass on to the chicks, or is it a guessing game as to what they'll turn out like?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

depends on what the other parent looks like. Yes it will pass along any faults it has, but if you are breeding it to a better quality mate, it can combate those problems and help improve the offspring, then only keep the best of the best of those for your next round of breeders. it takes several years, but you can weed out the poor gene eventually as long as you strive to only keep the best quality birds for your breeding program. if quality is your goal, then hard culling has to be your #1 priority in keeping back breeding stock.

 

[NateinFL]

Nate- you have a LONG, fun road ahead with MF d'uccles. I've only had mine for a year and a half and the juveniles I'm getting are not perfect but like BBB said, you have to cull heavily, especially when you start out. I hate getting rid of some, but if you really want the top quality ones, I've found that heavy culling is the best way to go. And its tricky to tell what a juvenile is going to look a couple more months down the road so unless you plan to keep all babies until adulthood, you'll have to get good at predicting what the adults will look like. And, unfortunately it seems like the bad traits pass on easier than the good traits, its very hard to get a perfect chicken, and if you ever do, I suggest you line-breed it. Plenty of info. out there on line breeding but you will end up with a relatively homogeneous group with desirable traits. After many generations you'll run into the problem possibly of producing less robust stock, but that is when you work in another bird from an outside source into the bloodline and give them that extra kick. Good luck! -Nathan (I also go by Nate sometimes but to avoid confusion-Nathan).

 

[orionburn]

Thanks for the tips. I'm really looking forward to doing this. I know it's going to take some time getting used to culling birds, but I understand that's what has to be done in order to obtain a good flock. I'm losing track of which threads I've posted what in, but my plan was to try and get 1 roo and 2-4 hens from two different flocks. Does that seem like a reasonable place to start? Too few or too many?