Minorca thread!

[danhonour]

These Black Minorcas look extra good at this point.I like them very much.Watch them closely as they get more maturity,you want them long,tall and wide.The wide ones will have good strong legs,spread far apart with any indication of knock knees.Look for good dark brown eye color ,especially in males,avoid reddish bay eyes or yellow..Large white earlobes are a plus and not often seen today,but try to avoid white in face of cock birds.You want a fiim base to the males comb to stand erect and wide wedge shaped points and a blade that does not turn upwards.You want the cockerels and pullets to put on weight and be near standard weight by 1 years old. You also want the female to lay large and extra-large.white eggs,the breed is noted for large eggs,so do not set in the incubator eggs that are not at least large from hens. Try not to use for breeding males that get mean and fight the owner,and also wild,crazy,or sreaming when handled birds or either sex,as they bred more of the same poor disposition. Reasonably calm birds are so much nicer to work with. Dan Honour

 

[ChicksandWeeds]

I'm getting my Buff Minorca's in in just a few weeks! I've been planning on using them as my backyard flock, the girls for egg production and the culling the extra boys for meat birds. I live in a pretty hot climate and am betting on the Minorca's ability to take the heat. Plus I plan on letting them forage quite a bit for food. Are they as flighty as some say? I'm buying them from Sand Hill if that helps. Can't wait to post some pics of the new additions!

i have buff catalanas and buff minorcas from sandhill - great birds - the girls can be shy - but they come for treats and feeding, great at foraging - the roos especially are very sweet, and i didn't even spend much time with them. pretty big early on, the roos....so it is a good dual purpose.

 

[Bo Garrett]

Cross the whites with exhibition type blacks to improve the size and type of the whites. This can also be done with the buffs although it will take a little longer to get the buff color back to a pure golden buff. I did this with large cochins and now have an excellent line of large whites. More people need to be working with the white and buff minorcas as they are very rare and good birds are even more rare.

Bo

 

[danhonour]

I bred Buff Minorcas about 20 years and they were of good type,size and color I selected for large egg size too and had a good sized flock,even sold chicks.,Anyway my reason for posting is I corresponded with a fellow that raved about his Buff Minorcas that he got from an oldtimer a few years before at an estate sale and no newblood was added by him. I ordered some hatching eggs from him to see if they were better than my own. The eggs arrived and a few did hatch,but the birds were extremely poor ,having stubs,side sprigs,poor size ,poor type and poor color. Needless to say they were all culled.They were not bred to standard and were not even poor specimens of their breed.

 

[danhonour]

HONOUR’S POULTRY BOOKS

By Danne J. Honour 2013

I have updated my poultry books for 2013. I should say e-books as they are now too many pages to print on paper.So they are available on CD’s as word file docx format.These are greatly expanded editions with pictures and additional text. They contain great poultry history and breeding advice by the masters as well as fine illustrations. Much of the information I have gathered from my own poultry library collection, some I have written, but fear it may be lost if I do not make it available to those interested .

For a very limited time I will be selling these on CD –all 4 e-books for $50 plus $5 shipping. (Checks or Money Orders) Dan Honour,8 Old North Road,Apt. A , Amenia ,New York 12501 .


AMERICAN BREEDS OF SPANISH ANCESTRY 2013 , 1348 pages , many devoted to Minorcas.

BUFF COLORATION 2013 1126 pages ,all about buff color breeding in chickens.

ART OF BREEDING 2013 ,608 pages,many good general ,showing and breeding articles.Wonderful articles on Anconas,Dark Brown Leghorns , Long tailed fowls,and much more.

THOUGHTS ON WHITE LEGHORNS 2013 ,229 pages just on the popular White Leghorn ,more towards the exhibition side than commercial, but some good practical information .

 

[danhonour]

The White Minorcas may not clearly show the pink leg color until 2 or three months old,and the same can be said of White Leghorns,the yellow leg may be pale and can look pink/white.I would give them plenty of time.Strains vary and yes sometimes you can tell earlier than this,but to be sure it is best to wait.

 

[danhonour]

Roo is short or slang for rooster,which only indicates a male and not age like cock and cockerel.. Yes you can use your white leg Buff Leghorn hen,it is a slower process ,mainly since the one female does not produce as many eggs/chicks,but yes you can do it in reverse and hopefully the hen will live and lay enough years to get into 3 or 4 generations.

 

[danhonour]

It may seem like I run the hatchery birds down,but they can be a starting point to work from and breed up into better birds by outcrossing to show stock and using strict selection and culling. They are new blood and are often good layers.

 

[danhonour]

A show bird should be a standard bred bird,or a bird bred to the breed requirements.That also means a healthy bird with good meat and egg production. This takes into consideration what they are supposed to be,meat breeds,dual purpose breeds or egg breeds.For Minorcas to be even considered for meat,they need size,breast muscle and strong thighs,and even then they are better when used before 5 months.The breed is noted as a very good layer of very large eggs.Again without size, without a long body and back,plus width, you are apt to have a small bird laying a small egg and prone to prolapse. The standard does include production characteristics .

 

[SanderB]

Buff Leghorn bantam X Black Minorca bantam




F2 generation Minorca standard X Minorca bantam, blues








The blacks








And 2 black Minorca bantams