japanese bantam

[Megs]

here are a few photos of my japanese bantam chickens (the grey are my trios offspring and the black tailed white i bought as chicks) they are now 5-6 months old, and i just want to see if you all think the white are long legged. i know my grey all have the short leg gene (the parent trio does as well), but the white i purchased off of someone and at the time didnt know enough about the japanese to ask, it looks to me as though they are long legged? therefore not show quality (as from my reading they must have short legs to be 'show quality')

not a great photo of the grey japanese pullets, but they are standing and you can hardly see their legs (because they have the proper short legs)

im sure my whites are long leggs

which is unfortunate, but i love them anyways, i may have one short legged white hen (possible one rooster) out of 10

 

[b.hromada]

So pretty! I'm not certain about the legs. But I've got a black tailed buff Japanese Bantam, she's got short legs, hence her name, Low rider! I'm sure someone will come along and let you know for sure.

 

[Msbear]

I believe, let me stress believe... (Im sure someone with more expertise will chime in)... that the leg lengths can be short - long with lengths of medium in between. I think your hens look nice ..maybe not show quality but pretty close. Their legs look a bit long but not "long" You can check out the standard of perfection and it gives and exact measurement of what "short" would be.

 

[Megs]

humm i do have a copy of the standards, i guess i should measure their legs and check, at 5 months old im not sure if their legs will still grow though? this is my first time raising japanese

 

[Camelot Farms]

I think that they come in two styles.... short legged and long legged. Mine were the short and sooo cute!

 

[threehorses]

I was curious, so I looked it up in my standard and this is what I found:

"The Japanese bantam does not breed true because it carries a lethal factor associated with short leg. Short leg x short leg yields 1/4 long leg, 1/2 short leg, and 1/4 dead-in-shell. Long leg x short leg yields 1/2 long, 1/2 short. Long legged birds are not suitable for showing." (1997 standard).

It doesn't say a length but if these aren't 'showable' use them in your breeding pen.

 

[Megs]

im wondering if long leg X long leg makes only long legs or if there is a possibility of short legs, need to do more research!! as i will most deffinatly keep them for breeding, but i would love the opportunity to make 'show quality' short legs out of them. ive lucked out that my short leg greys have produced only short legs so far (so far only had 7 chicks of theirs hatch this summer, they dont lay super well though so i havent had to many chances to incubate them)

EDITED: "When the long-legged birds are bred together, they never produce offspring with short legs"

found that on the internet, if its true, i really hope that i have at least one short leg in the white color!

 

[threehorses]

According to wikipedia (I was looking up to see if they said either trait was dominant) two long legs will never make a short leg.

So yep. You might have to outsource to find some pullets for your best cockerel.

 

[Megs]

unfortunatly i have yet to find anyone in my area that has the black tailed white japanese except the man i bought these off of as chicks (on my island, he was actually from a small neighboring island), but im going to a chicken show this weekend, i am doing some volunteer work so should get to mingle with some local chicken people, with any luck i will find some (even hatching eggs!! im not picky)

i will take individual photos of my 10 white japanese tomorrow to see if i may be right in that i possbily have 1-2 short legs in my group.