Euskal Oiloa ( Basque Thread)

[CackleJoy]

It is annoying not to know for sure, but ruling out anything spreading to your others is good news.

How is your new boy liking his new digs?

He is in quarantine. The pen is a 6 x 6 dog kennel. On grass so he is pretty happy. I'm having a hard time waiting this quarantine out!

 

[RFR of CA]

See my newest boy.... comments? I think I have the hen standards understood but I am not sure about the cockerels..... I think he is an improvement over his father though. He is about seven months old.

 

[RFR of CA]

His other side.....




One of his day old chicks with same age quail babies

 

[ronott1]

See my newest boy.... comments? I think I have the hen standards understood but I am not sure about the cockerels..... I think he is an improvement over his father though. He is about seven months old.

Wow!

He looks very nice. Check the standard--The shape might be too straight in the front of the chest.

I like the tail angle and there are no white feathers.

How old is he? has he gone through an adult molt yet? Is he a Skyline Basque, GFF or from Megan?

 

[RFR of CA]

His parents are from Greenfire. I bought them early 2012. Here is his father:

 

[ronott1]

His parents are from Greenfire. I bought them early 2012. Here is his father:

Your are definitely improving them!

Good job!

 

[Maggiesdad]

@chalk - That's a good looking boy! Would love to know what he weighs now, and at 12 months...

 

[CackleJoy]

I'm going to show my ignorance here. Since I've never handled an adult EOB cock, I don't know what is normal. Mine died before 1 yr of age. This one has a pendulous chest. It swings when he walks. I'm not sure if it is a growth or a fat pad that adds to their yumminess. Hence, the "Ark of Taste" label. I've watched him for a long time and finally decided I should just ask if this is normal.
This is the underside. It is round and bulbous, hanging free - rather large like a softball. Sorry about what looks like pooh attached to the bare spot. He won't roost and just lays on the ground. It was very scary the first time I saw him I thought he had died his first night here. Nope, he just flattens himself so he looks dead. I think its designed to confuse predators.

Trying to hold him out so the pendulous part shows. His feathers hide most of it, but you can see the outline even under the feathers.


So is he normal or is he growing a goiter?

 

[1muttsfan]

He has a distended crop.

 

[Maggiesdad]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that's not normal. I don't know what it could be.

But thinking aloud, #1 pendulous crop shouldn't keep him from roosting, #2 in my short experience w chickens, none have had pendulous crop, plus I thought that it was a hen's ailment?

#3 I once had a large brood of chicks that started roosting on a wire fence, and I let them. The fryers all developed breast blisters, which were pretty gross during processing, but never kept them from roosting. The biggest blisters were the size of my two thumbs together, with maybe 1/4 -1/3 cup of fluid in them. I changed the grow out pen set up.

#4 it's not fat, my Basques and the Basques of friends I've seen are lean, with almost 2/3rds leg-thigh meat to breast meat. Raising the cockerels as capons will result in fat distribution on the leg-thigh and heavy deposits of fat in the pelvis and around the gizzard.

#5 The 'poo spot' looks like part of him, to me... I hope I'm wrong, but something tells me he's a short timer.