Langshan Thread!!!

[rodriguezpoultry]

I told Mikaela that I would post some pics of the younger Langshans that hatched from eggs from her stock. They are cuties with nice wide bodies and I think have a lot of potential. I do have two 17 week old blue pullets from Mikaela's stock that I haven't taken pics of yet. Cheryl gave them to me and they are beautiful! I'll try to get some pics of them in the next few days.


A young black pullet and white cockerel along with the flock mascot a little white polish named Marshmallow.
Of course I am loving the white male! He's nice and wide, has a nice wide stances, good leg color for a white bird and his head is nice and thick. A little squatty, but that's to be expected. I also like his small, compact comb. His tail coming in nice and slow, to me, is a good thing. Keep an eye on him! Be sure to take a look at his eye color!

The white cockerel out strutting his stuff!


16 week old black pullet

Another pic of the black pullet

I'm not a huge fan of this pullet. Her tail if nice and loose and she has good feather width, but I would be a bit concerned with the back. BUT, if this was my pullet, I wouldn't turn her away just yet. The tail does seem a bit tight to me, more like a Minorca's tail than a Langshan tail. It is possible she will turn out though. Unless that is her behind the black male behind? In that photo, I like her more!


14 week old black cockerel


Top view of black cockerel

I would get rid of this male. He's not going to turn into much I'm afraid. His back, although wide, still pinches tightly at the tail. His head is small, even at this age. If you can get birds to mature more slowly, the size of the birds tend to increase. You won't get eggs as soon, but you will get birds that reach a nice size before their bodies refocus on reproduction instead of growth. This male is already showing his male feathers and a tail. I'm still waiting on my males from this year to get a tail. But is is all just my own opinion.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Please forgive me for being a thread hog with all of these pics! I have more to post of the newest boys that went to the farm. I really would like a splash roo because I love the way that they look. But I don't want to keep one just because his coloring is pretty. Here are pics of the oldest roo in the older group. He crowed for 2 hours the day after I brought them here which hastened their trip to the farm! His body and tail spread are wider than the little splash cockerel #6 but still not as wide as the black boys. I'm wondering if his chest is not deep enough, his back is too long, and his tail angle is not the best. My daughter named him Percy after the Scarlet Pimpernel. He is full of himself and wanted so badly to mix it up with my hens!

CAUTION: Full examination of bird that may or may not cause hurt feelings!!!!! I'm just gonna throw out things that show to me. The thing that shouts out to me on this bird is that his wing hangs lower than his breast. Which means that he may have a "cut" breast where instead of a nice, rounded breast that allows for ample breast muscle, it's angled straight towards the leg instead of a nice curve. The tail, may "settle" but as of right now, it is way too high and has a bad angle on his back. I like his leg length in this picture. How old is he? To me, his comb and wattles are the size that a full grown bird should have, which means it is going to keep growing. This could cause some frostbite issues later on. Be sure to breed for a nice, wide head and a comb that is medium in size. The broader the base of the comb, the better as it will prevent the comb from flopping or twisting.







Although I do love the splash color, I want to warn against keeping a male simply based on color. Pot calling the kettle black there. To me, unless you have NO other birds that you can use to get blue from, which will eventually give you splash when bred together, I would stay away from using a mediocre male. In this picture, I like him better, but I'm still not impressed by his breast or comb. See how one of the points on the comb is starting to fall over? I like his leg feathering.




In this, he has an OK tail spread. It seems a little pointed to me, but again, that might widen as he gets older. Again though, he looks very young, 5 months maybe? Which means he is maturing fairly early. It all depends on what you want in your program. In this photo, his wing carriage looks to be a little low.



It appears here that his width carries throughout the back, which makes me smile! Of course, LOVE the color but I would look to your other males before using him.

 

[Aroz26]

To me, I don't see much Langshan blood in him. It looks a bit more like an Australorp cross.

That makes a bit more sense to me as we have a few hens who I think may also be australorp cross. Thanks

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

OK, so here are my choices. Some were very nice, so I'm going to explain why I have placed them like I have.

I went back and forth on the first two alot.

2. Even though this bird is smaller, I like his tail set best. He has a nice back. I can't quite tell on his breast as of yet, but as long as it is nice and curved, not angled. I'm sure his wing feathers will tighten up as he grows into them, so I'm not quite worried about the carriage on him. I like his eye color and his comb seems fairly straight. There's no photo of his back so I can't tell on the width. The tail carriage already says good things about him. Given time and lots of good feed (and time away from those other males) I have a feeling he will grow into something nice. His leg width is also fairly wide for his age. Beware the leg feathering and breed to females that show less leg feathering.

5:
I like his breast. I am worried about his leg length and the width of his stance. He has very heavy foot feathering so only breed him to females that have less foot feathering than he does. Watch his comb, in the picture it looks like it is starting to fall over, which could mean he has a narrow head and a narrow base of comb. The tail angle seems low, but mine never come up until later. It's like the "muscles" don't develop until they mature. I like his width of back. He may be a good bird to start a "female" line.


4. This male has leg length on him. He has a nice wing carriage and a nicely rounded breast from the look of the photo. His tail carriage is not the best and is fairly flat. Given time, this may change. His tail is not as wide as I would like it to be. I'm not worried about the white in his wing, that will grow out. I like that the comb is fairly small at this age but I do not like how his tail connects to his body. He doesn't carry the width of his back through his tail.

3. I'm not fond of this bird. He has short legs a back that angles towards the ground and a tail that shoots upwards from the back. He has a narrow stance and a narrow space between his legs. He has a nice green sheen, but you have birds better than him.

It's hard for me to pick between 6 and 1. I just wouldn't even consider them as breeding birds, they look more like production birds than the others.

But, I think I will go with
1. He has nice leg length. His eye color is too light. His wing carriage is not good and he doesn't have a tight wing. His tail angle is very poor and his back is very long. He is pinched the entire way down his back all the way to his tail.

6: This bird...I don't know. Of course the color is nice, BUT, his back is narrow, his tail is pinched. He has a nice eye color. His tail angle is completely off for his back, which is flat instead of a nice U shape. He has a narrow stance and his legs are a bit too close together. Looking from the back, he could have the beginnings of "cow-hocking" going on.

SO, looking back: 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 6

LOL! I think I told Jim I chose something completely different earlier on! It took some time to go through them!

 

[mrheinz77]

I'm still learning too. It really helped my ability to look at and analyze the birds. I've only had my Langshans for 11 months now. Seeing Mikaela's analsis confirmed some things for me and showed me other points to look at. Thanks Mikaela and good job Debi!

The one advantage I have is that I saw how my guys matured and grew into their bodies. I loved my cock bird in pen 4 and just thought the two in pe 5 were ok. Well, that bird in pen 4 will be my back ups back up as soon as I get a chance to do some rearranging. Now I need to decide who my back up will be.

 

[mrheinz77]

My choices from the first set are 5, 2, 4, 3, 1, 6.  (Best to not the best) 

I need to go get my drivers license renewed so I'll see if I can explain later.

Not bad. Pretty close to Mikaela's ranking.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

This is just one person's rankings too. I'm sure others with much more experience would have placed them much differently.

If I offended with my bluntness on them, sorry! Just gotta get it out there.

I've got about 15 chicks growing for this next year! Hopefully I'll get some really good breeders from them!

 

[mrheinz77]

I like the White Cockerel and the bottom Black Cockerel

I goofed on this one.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Jim, WHY do you like the bottom cockerel?

I just want to know your reasons if you want to share!!

 

[mrheinz77]

Let me look at him again. BRB