Is there any documented proof that breeding an "overly red" rooster to a "too black" hen will "correct" both problems in subsequent offspring? It sounds ok on the surface, but I simply don't buy into the concept that breeding two birds with significant, serious, color faults will somehow miraculously "fix' the offspring by merely cancelling each other out. Conventional wisdom would dictate that breeding forward ANY serious fault would do more to perpetuate further more serious faults, and less "correct" birds. In my experience, it's much easier to just use 2 birds without any serious faults to produce better birds.
I'm not a genetics expert by any means, but I have years of experience selectively breeding and improving exhibition rabbits. Over time I took slightly better than average stock and improved them to a point where the animals consistantly placed in the top of their classes at National events, in very tough competition. I know that chickens and rabbits are different animals, but I would think that successfully breeding and improving a line by selecting for certain traits would apply to either animal.
It's just my opinion, but I don't think that those "overly red" BCM's belong in ANY breeding program where the desired result is BCM coloring that complies with the proposed standard, and I don't use them period. I've been following this thread for the last couple of days and it seems like there has been quite a bit of misinformation posted lately, from well-meaning folks, but is based upon personal opinion rather than fact. For example, someone made a comment about a picture of a rooster and proclaimed that it had "good coloring", when in fact it visibly had way too much yellow in the hackles, a problem that most of us are plagued with. If someone inexperienced, and new to BCM's were to read that, he/she might be inclined to believe that yellow hackles are a good thing. There is always a great amount of good information shared on these forums by some very experienced, dedicated breeders, but it is wise not to believe everything that you read here. If someone out there is consistantly producing better birds by breeding two birds with significant faults, then I'll admit that my line of thinking is short-sighted, and I'm totally wrong in my approach to breeding better stock.
