Hi 4myboysandme
I think that Ozzie looks like a young serama from this picture. He seems more vertical, has a rounder chest and seems to have a shortish back for his age. His comb seems a bit big right now, but that doesn't mean that he is a "cull".
It depends on where you are with your flock. If he has nice type as he matures, you can breed later and choose for smaller combs. Sometimes you have to work with what you have. I like the way he holds his head back. I think I would give him a year, and Ill bet he turns out pretty nice.
Problem is, if someone starts with birds that don't have many (if any) of the serama characteristics... it will be a long time trying to turn one "breed" into another with different shape and characteristics. Therefore many call them Culls, because you were better off getting rid of them (however you do it) and getting better birds. Cull simply means to separate and reject (chickens) with undesirable traits.
Now if you don't have something to begin with that fits the standard, you might want to start out with a better specimen of the breed's standard when breeding.. it depends on the length of the list of "problems" you will have to work out to get them "pure". Big comb---not that big of a deal---white legs & earlobes, horizontal shape, wrong wing position etc------lots more work that may not breed true in the end.
You dont have to cull these birds by killing them, you can cull them out of your flock by selling them. When you remove undesirable traits from your flock, you can kill, sell, choose not to breed or give away--its your preference. Culling doesn't have to mean chop off its head right then. You can keep and enjoy them as another small type of chicken, or you can sell them as Tiny Mixed Pet Bantams therefore keeping their unwanted genes out of the Serama gene pool. I cull in all those ways, but it gets confusing since its the same term.
Some of the birds in the link that you had, dont have many Serama characteristics in my opinion... the horizontal shape, pearl legs, white earlobes, and longer backs dont say Serama to me. Im not that familiar with OEGBs, but I am with serama, and if I saw these in a swap pen, I wouldn't think they were serama, but that is a standard I am familiar with. There are a couple in there that could be more like Serama if they had more vertical wings, but maybe they just dont have perfect posed pics or are young and have not filled out yet...or maybe they are just not very good seramas... they could even totally not be serama and just be some somewhat similar mixed bantam in size, leg color, etc....which can lead to more confusion.
Problem is where chickens dont have "registries" with papers like dogs or horses do. They have to have the breeder keep a pedigree and choose to breed toward a standard or goal that that breed has, and continue to produce birds that breed true to that standard...and many do "cull" birds that deviate too much from the standard to keep them from getting back into the gene pool.
"To breed true means that specimens will breed true-to-type when mated like-to-like; that is, that the progeny of any two individuals in the same breed will show consistent, replicable and predictable characteristics." At one time all chickens were jungle fowl, and they were chosen for mutations and selectively bred (by humans or naturally,as in a landrace) to produce wanted characteristics, producing separate "Breeds" that the creators and now breeders are proud of.
You have to know with chickens what to look for in a breed, or they all might just look like......chickens.
Like Racuda was saying that silkies dont get bashed...its a lot easier to tell the difference between a silkie and another breed of chicken. Most newbies can see that, so then you just have to judge whether its pet quality or show quality---- I'm sure there are lots of disagreements in that department.
Think if dogs didnt have papers, you had never seen a dalmatian, but had heard that they were white with spots and about a medium size with smooth coats and long pointed tail. You decide you want one, and are not really sure what to look for, but you think you have the basic idea.
One day someone offers to tell you a dalmatian with these characteristics, but it has vertical pointy ears. If you were not familiar with the breed's standard then they would seem purebred to you. Only someone familiar with the breed and educated on the standard, would know that the standard disqualifies pointed ears. Now you see all breeders of dalmatians with the correct characteristics and bred toward the standard would be telling you that you had a "cull" or "pet-quality" dog, which you might dispute or even have your feelings hurt discovering this.
Breeders are the same way with chickens. They are quick to let someone else know when they have something that is not desired in the breed. Because chickens dont have papers, its imperative to the breed itself that breeders know what the standard or goal of breeding them is, so that they can keep the breed pure and of the right size and shape with the needed characteristics. Especially with a young breed like the serama, that has not been in the United States for 100 years or more, and is a relatively new breed.
Breeders do a lot of work keeping the breed within the standard, and seeing something being stated as 'pure' (that is not close to the standard) can be upsetting to those who have worked hard for the breed. Not saying that it can't be done in a positive & nice way.......but its a thing that people don't often like to hear, which ends up being frustrating to both parties. I'm so sorry your feelings got hurt in the process, but I think you have handled yourself well! I wish you lots of luck, and if you ever have any serama questions there are tons of breeders who would love to educate you and turn you into one of us, lol!
~Jessi
PS---
Keep us updated on Ozzy!
Try your local Craigslist to sell a small flock of "small cute pet sized mixed bantams", or a Yahoo! Group like FarmSwap or PetCycle.
...and sorry for the novel! I write more when its late.. lol
I think that Ozzie looks like a young serama from this picture. He seems more vertical, has a rounder chest and seems to have a shortish back for his age. His comb seems a bit big right now, but that doesn't mean that he is a "cull".
It depends on where you are with your flock. If he has nice type as he matures, you can breed later and choose for smaller combs. Sometimes you have to work with what you have. I like the way he holds his head back. I think I would give him a year, and Ill bet he turns out pretty nice.
Problem is, if someone starts with birds that don't have many (if any) of the serama characteristics... it will be a long time trying to turn one "breed" into another with different shape and characteristics. Therefore many call them Culls, because you were better off getting rid of them (however you do it) and getting better birds. Cull simply means to separate and reject (chickens) with undesirable traits.
Now if you don't have something to begin with that fits the standard, you might want to start out with a better specimen of the breed's standard when breeding.. it depends on the length of the list of "problems" you will have to work out to get them "pure". Big comb---not that big of a deal---white legs & earlobes, horizontal shape, wrong wing position etc------lots more work that may not breed true in the end.
You dont have to cull these birds by killing them, you can cull them out of your flock by selling them. When you remove undesirable traits from your flock, you can kill, sell, choose not to breed or give away--its your preference. Culling doesn't have to mean chop off its head right then. You can keep and enjoy them as another small type of chicken, or you can sell them as Tiny Mixed Pet Bantams therefore keeping their unwanted genes out of the Serama gene pool. I cull in all those ways, but it gets confusing since its the same term.
Some of the birds in the link that you had, dont have many Serama characteristics in my opinion... the horizontal shape, pearl legs, white earlobes, and longer backs dont say Serama to me. Im not that familiar with OEGBs, but I am with serama, and if I saw these in a swap pen, I wouldn't think they were serama, but that is a standard I am familiar with. There are a couple in there that could be more like Serama if they had more vertical wings, but maybe they just dont have perfect posed pics or are young and have not filled out yet...or maybe they are just not very good seramas... they could even totally not be serama and just be some somewhat similar mixed bantam in size, leg color, etc....which can lead to more confusion.
Problem is where chickens dont have "registries" with papers like dogs or horses do. They have to have the breeder keep a pedigree and choose to breed toward a standard or goal that that breed has, and continue to produce birds that breed true to that standard...and many do "cull" birds that deviate too much from the standard to keep them from getting back into the gene pool.
"To breed true means that specimens will breed true-to-type when mated like-to-like; that is, that the progeny of any two individuals in the same breed will show consistent, replicable and predictable characteristics." At one time all chickens were jungle fowl, and they were chosen for mutations and selectively bred (by humans or naturally,as in a landrace) to produce wanted characteristics, producing separate "Breeds" that the creators and now breeders are proud of.
You have to know with chickens what to look for in a breed, or they all might just look like......chickens.
Like Racuda was saying that silkies dont get bashed...its a lot easier to tell the difference between a silkie and another breed of chicken. Most newbies can see that, so then you just have to judge whether its pet quality or show quality---- I'm sure there are lots of disagreements in that department.
Think if dogs didnt have papers, you had never seen a dalmatian, but had heard that they were white with spots and about a medium size with smooth coats and long pointed tail. You decide you want one, and are not really sure what to look for, but you think you have the basic idea.
One day someone offers to tell you a dalmatian with these characteristics, but it has vertical pointy ears. If you were not familiar with the breed's standard then they would seem purebred to you. Only someone familiar with the breed and educated on the standard, would know that the standard disqualifies pointed ears. Now you see all breeders of dalmatians with the correct characteristics and bred toward the standard would be telling you that you had a "cull" or "pet-quality" dog, which you might dispute or even have your feelings hurt discovering this.
Breeders are the same way with chickens. They are quick to let someone else know when they have something that is not desired in the breed. Because chickens dont have papers, its imperative to the breed itself that breeders know what the standard or goal of breeding them is, so that they can keep the breed pure and of the right size and shape with the needed characteristics. Especially with a young breed like the serama, that has not been in the United States for 100 years or more, and is a relatively new breed.
Breeders do a lot of work keeping the breed within the standard, and seeing something being stated as 'pure' (that is not close to the standard) can be upsetting to those who have worked hard for the breed. Not saying that it can't be done in a positive & nice way.......but its a thing that people don't often like to hear, which ends up being frustrating to both parties. I'm so sorry your feelings got hurt in the process, but I think you have handled yourself well! I wish you lots of luck, and if you ever have any serama questions there are tons of breeders who would love to educate you and turn you into one of us, lol!
PS---
Keep us updated on Ozzy!
Try your local Craigslist to sell a small flock of "small cute pet sized mixed bantams", or a Yahoo! Group like FarmSwap or PetCycle.
...and sorry for the novel! I write more when its late.. lol
