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Junior's type is still not the greatest. Junior is not as nice as his dad but nicer than his son's... But his son has breast flowers where Junior does not. I was hoping to put Junior's son back over the girls Junior is in with (also the son's mother). Those girls are my most MFC like w/ breast flowers. Junior isn't going anyplace until I have a good replacement. I got 2 new cockerels from Erin at the Sept 21st swap, but they also are lacking breast flowers. The one's type is nice the other isn't filled in enough to know yet.
I still have 8 or so Byron daughters and 3 Byron sons growing out, too. Of course, the tail eater is still running loose and I have no idea what anyone's type is like yet.
I know I haven't been around nearly as long as some others here but do you think it could be your hens? Because if you have the same hens in with Junior as you did with Byron and the type is growing down hill then that would be my guess. From the chicks I hatched this year or others hatched from my eggs, the majority could go right back into the project and have just as good if not better type than the parents. I know people say that you should hang on to most of the hens but everything I bought for hens and didn't have the type I wanted threw chicks I really didn't want to use. So, I know the more hens you have the more variety of chicks you have, but I think if your hens are slacking in type, they are just giving you more to cull. Look at my chicks from my Mottled rooster Dudley's daughters compared with chicks from Chipper or Tuba. Dudley's daughters were pinched tailed, had bad heads, and very loose wings. I bred them to Roscoe and I still couldn't pull it off. Yes, the type did get better than the mothers, but it still wasn't there. My daughters from Chipper and Tuba all looked good. Some were better than others and I would have put them back into my project but everything got killed or they were hatched from hatching eggs from somebody who sent me pics. Now, if you compare my chicks from Rem and Max, they all have different qualities. Rems chicks were smaller, tighter cushions, and really nice wings. Now, from Max, I only have Eli who I can somewhat judge. Eli has a wider cushion, tight but not as tight wings as Rem's chicks, but id growing like you wouldn't believe. his head is also better than Rems chicks. So, I guess from my 1 1/2 of experience, you are better off having a few birds with great type than a lot of birds with ok type and say I will use them and keep there few good chicks. I hate raising them, realizing I can't use them, and then parting with a bird that has become a part of my life the last 6 months. This is the reason why Rafael is still hanging around. I think I made my point but I'm not sure how clear it is.![]()
Mike, you are so wise. I need to take a page out of your book.I know I haven't been around nearly as long as some others here but do you think it could be your hens? Because if you have the same hens in with Junior as you did with Byron and the type is growing down hill then that would be my guess. From the chicks I hatched this year or others hatched from my eggs, the majority could go right back into the project and have just as good if not better type than the parents. I know people say that you should hang on to most of the hens but everything I bought for hens and didn't have the type I wanted threw chicks I really didn't want to use. So, I know the more hens you have the more variety of chicks you have, but I think if your hens are slacking in type, they are just giving you more to cull. Look at my chicks from my Mottled rooster Dudley's daughters compared with chicks from Chipper or Tuba. Dudley's daughters were pinched tailed, had bad heads, and very loose wings. I bred them to Roscoe and I still couldn't pull it off. Yes, the type did get better than the mothers, but it still wasn't there. My daughters from Chipper and Tuba all looked good. Some were better than others and I would have put them back into my project but everything got killed or they were hatched from hatching eggs from somebody who sent me pics. Now, if you compare my chicks from Rem and Max, they all have different qualities. Rems chicks were smaller, tighter cushions, and really nice wings. Now, from Max, I only have Eli who I can somewhat judge. Eli has a wider cushion, tight but not as tight wings as Rem's chicks, but id growing like you wouldn't believe. his head is also better than Rems chicks. So, I guess from my 1 1/2 of experience, you are better off having a few birds with great type than a lot of birds with ok type and say I will use them and keep there few good chicks. I hate raising them, realizing I can't use them, and then parting with a bird that has become a part of my life the last 6 months. This is the reason why Rafael is still hanging around. I think I made my point but I'm not sure how clear it is.![]()
Mike, you are so wise. I need to take a page out of your book.![]()
That is so frustrating! I'm so happy that with my current grow out there doesn't seem to be a tail eater - for once!I still have 8 or so Byron daughters and 3 Byron sons growing out, too. Of course, the tail eater is still running loose and I have no idea what anyone's type is like yet.