Minorca thread!

[ca]

Here is my rooster. I am not sure he is REALLY Minorca (holding tail way high!)

 

[danhonour]

How old is this male? If he is mature ,he is way too small,perhaps a hatchery line.Minorcas are very long,big,and strong birds,shanks like turkeys and weigh about 9 pounds for males,7.5 pounds for females.They lay extra large white eggs.

 

[Justuschicks]

Minorcas have pinkish legs too....I believe. Beautiful roo no matter what he is. Thought mine was a leghorn but was told that he was a minorca because of his pink legs.

 

[danhonour]

The skin color is white,White Minorcas and Buff Minorcas have pinkish white legs,reddish bay eye color.The Black Minorca has dark slate leg color,dark brown eye color.All have white earlobes.

 

[ca]

Quote:
He is now 20 weeks old. Still pretty young. He is hatchery though and the girls I got at the same time are way small. Therefore I think they are not pure minorca. Unless they grow very slow. I am getting some more minorcas in April this time from Sandhill and then have something to compare to.
What really surprised me is that he started crowing at 9 weeks or so (!) perfectly without pathetic ramping up like some of the other breeds I have.

He is also tending to his rooster duties (started actually at about 17 weeks) while some other breeds (same age) have no clue what they are supposed to do

.

 

[danhonour]

Yes I figured they might be hatchery production Minorcas,they tend to look more like production Leghorns,but are small even for Leghorns.The commercial Minorcas can mature fast,which may be one reason they are small.I mentioned before that true Minorcas are rather big and they are tall and long as well.They also tend to be slow to mature,their bodies grow frame and look look awkward and boney,but they evenually fill out and have some meat and muscle.I find they do not reach full development until almost two years old.

 

[Justuschicks]

Took a better picture of my Minorca Roo today.

And a not so great one of my black minorca hen. She always gets that "deer in the headlights" look when I take her picture.

 

[danhonour]

The Buff Minorca male has a nice earlobe and looks of good size,fair type and color.It looks like mice might be chewing on his neck hackles or maybe the females are picking at the feathers.

 

[Justuschicks]

Actually the black minorca hen is the picker. I have tried many things to get her to stop but haven't found anything that works. My roo just sits there and lets her do it which drives me nuts. She has picked apart my EE and she looks horrible! Anyone have any ideas? Oh and his legs are usually pink but they got dirty from some rain we had.

 

[WyandotteTX]

Have 28 RC Black Minorca eggs left, set to hatch out on Wednesday. Hope to get a good number of chicks....