Male line / Female line

[fowlweather]

Hi all, Let me preface this by saying that I am a complete newbie so please forgive me if my question is too basic. I have been lurking for a while and am really interested in the breeding aspect of the hobby. I often read that someone has birds from someones male line or that they are trying to improve their female line. Are they just differentiating between cocks and hens or is there more to it?

Thanks

 

[boaz]

I think you have it. The result of a fertilized egg takes two and most are trying to improve both lines to increase the likelihood of desirable traits.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yes, it is just to differentiate between the lines.

For example, in Minorcas.

Say there is a line that throws EXCELLENT females. Nice lobe, no white in the face...etc. but the males always have nice large lobes, but develop white in the face. This is a female line.

The same can go for a male line. Earlobes are generally kept smaller in this line so as to keep the white from entering the facial features. But, this smaller lobe may cause the female lobe to lay over on itself, but the males are top-of-the-line. This is a male line as the males are the concentration.

Make sense?

 

[fowlweather]

Yes, that does make sense. Thank you for explaining it to me.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Then it can vary alot. An example is some of the male line/female line OEGB's. With males they are dubbed and all that so they tend to have white earlobes, bad combs, all that fun stuff because it will all be cut off. So the females from a male line tend to have white earlobes and big combs. Then for female lines they have the nice earlobe color and correct comb size and shape and all that.

Depending on the lines the color can be way different too. An example is the partridge color in wyandottes. The male line has females that tend to have worse pencilling if any at all and they are darker. Then the males from the female line tend to have more red in the breast and all that. Which reminds me. With the APA for pencilled hamburgs they say you need a male line and a female line to get proper pattern.