Euskal Oiloa ( Basque Thread)

[naturespace]

I think your labels are correct and they are sex-linked if the sire was a Wellie and the dam was an EO: The barred W/EOs should be male and the non-barred will be female which seems to be how you have it labeled.  I think you are right on the EO sexes, too.  What an adorable group!!!!  I bet that EO/Orp will be very pretty!

If the dam is barred and the sire is not barred, then the male chicks will be barred.  The female only passes her Z chromosome with the dominant barring gene to her sons, and the male has none to pass.  If the sire is homozygous barred, then all of the offspring will be barred because he will give one Z containing a dominant barring gene to each.  If he is heterozygous, then the offspring will be a mix of barred and non-barred, but it won't be related to sex.  This is the image I made to illustrate this on my blog, but the barring gene is the same whether it is on an EO or a solid-colored chicken:

Heather, thanks for confirming my labels. As for auto sexing, I guess I was thinking about when they were day olds. I couldn't tell who was who then, but if I had a whole flock that i knew the sire was non-barred and dam was barred, they could be sexed on day one. I was working with a lot of variables.

Love your charts. They really help me understand.

 

[GaryDean26]

That is a very pertinent question! I wish we could get some folks from Biskaia to chip in with some thoughts on that one...

I hang in the heritage breed threads to glean what info I can for these very questions. I don't think that pushing for the meatiest carcass will preclude the 220 per year egg goal.

Thanks for your thoughts. I did look at the proposed standard and it reads the following

Quote:
I was hoping it would say something like long, mederatly long, medium in length, etc. like I had seen on other standards.

I look for more thought and information on length vs width.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Here is the French Standard , I'm leaning toward long...

...still looking for the original Spanish Standard by Orozco.

 

[Maggiesdad]

I believe This is what we were working with...

 

[ChestnutRidge]

..........................excuse me...would you mind taking my eggs off the grill. They are exactly the way I like them!

Heather, I have heard all of you say it a million times but I was just reading in The Poultry Magazine how tremendously important your Flock Rooster is to your entire operation. I know that guy isn't as knowlegable as you are in genetics but it seems to make sense??!!! GaryDean26......hey man...pick the 'Bestun'...I tried to find you yesterday on a Texas map....but....I didn't have my glasses on...it's just an ole man thing. Glad to see everyone posting again....I thought everyone was Moulting

.................Mike

I am not too knowledgeable in genetics, and I am completely new to breeding. That guy probably has a lot more experience and practical knowledge than me. I've just been writing about the genetics concepts that I understand from an academic standpoint. Most of the stuff out there is pretty thick, so I was trying to make something easier to read. I feel confident writing about theory, but I am still getting my feet wet in practice.

I see that others are selecting for width, depth, and a thick frame.

What are people's thoughts on length? I evaluated 13 EO's on Saturday and four cockerels looked pretty good. The two with the thickest frames both had short backs. The other two had slightly lighter frames but were wide from the shoulders back through the legs and had longer keels and backs than the first two. What is better longer birds or wider birds assuming all else is equal?

Also on the frame I was told that medium thick to thick frames were good for dual purpose birds, but the extra thick frame were better suited to meat only breeds. Any thought on this? I can only compare with what I have. I don't have any meat breeds to compare to so I don't know how thick to watch for.

I think the links from MD were really helpful. They mention that the back slopes towards the back, so we definitely don't want that curving-up-to-the-tail short back that you see on some birds. We want an upright stance and sloping back, so I think your emphasis on length would be valuable. The males tend to muscle up as they get older, so a nice long frame would fill out into a large bird, I think. The thickness and depth of the abdomen are definitely emphasized in the standards. Ideally, I guess we want a long, sloping, wide back.

I think the medium thick you referred to is probably what we want. I just wanted to emphasize sturdy over a slight or fragile frame within the range of normal EOs. I didn't mean to overemphasize thickness.

In the birds you described, I think I'd go with the lighter frames with the width back through the legs. I would probably put width above thickness when making my selections if I had to decide between teh two. I haven't seen any EOs with a super thick frame typical of meat birds like the Cornish. I was just thinking about thick for an EO, so aiming for dual purpose.

Really good points, Gary.

Look at the legs on this guy. Medium thick? He's the rooster I drool over on Euskal Roots. How would you characterize his back?


How about this fellow's legs? Not that they're easy to see.

 

[mzstre]

Good morning! I have more EO eggs from James in the bator. Out of 15 eggs, 14 started developing and I've had 2 quitters. For comparison, I had 10 of another breed in with them. Only 5 began developing and I'm unsure if a couple are still viable as of day 9. So...EOs 12/15 on day 9, other breed 3-5/10 on day 9. Hardy eggs from the EOs!

 

[alisar]

More pics of this little one, please!

Sigh. The color. Like a slightly dirty creamsicle. In love

 

[ronott1]

Quote: The color and barring look like a male pattern. Also, the light head color.

They are big and grow fast.

 

[SherrieT]

Good morning! I have more EO eggs from James in the bator. Out of 15 eggs, 14 started developing and I've had 2 quitters. For comparison, I had 10 of another breed in with them. Only 5 began developing and I'm unsure if a couple are still viable as of day 9. So...EOs 12/15 on day 9, other breed 3-5/10 on day 9. Hardy eggs from the EOs!

I had my best shipped egg hatch rates from James also. Not as good as yours but still good for me.

I can't believe how hardy this breed is. Every EO and SFH that I hatched back in March/April is still alive. And that is saying something considering the summer we had here in Tucson

 

[naturespace]

The color and barring look like a male pattern. Also, the light head color.

They are big and grow fast.

agreed. that's a little boy. good news is, he looks like he will color out nicely.