Minorca thread!

[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.

 

[Coveny]

Well I'm just starting out, and these are the birds that I liked. I currently don't have any intentions of showing them, but I do want the eggs. My biggest goal currently is to keep them alive until they're full grown.

Maybe next year summer I may look at doing some breeding or something. I'm just a noobie who's been doing some reading, and wants to give chicken raise'n a try. The wife is doing gardening so she wants the fertilizer. Trying to talk her into getting a couple of goats so we don't have to mow. I'll post some pics when I get them, if I remember.

 

[CRAJ]

Would love to see some photos of the buffs you guys got from the mc murrey hatchery. I would never buy chickens from a store like that cause you normally won´t get show quality animals.

Well unfortunately it is not easy to find a Minorca breeder in Wisconsin, so my only source of these birds is through a hatchery or preservation center.
While I do appreciate a "show" bird, I must also consider that with Organic feed at $22.00/bag I have to have hens that lay a good amount of eggs. I have a niche market for organic eggs and these Minorca will do.
I have all three colors of Minorca and am currently only intending to raise the Whites for improvement to the standard. The Blacks and Buffs need to just be productive.

 

[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 .

 

[omegorchards]

Hello Mincora enthusiasts. I wanted to bring you all up to date on my White Mincora (WM) breeding program. As many of you know the WM has almost lapsed into obscurity. I am in year two of my WM breeding program. I have enjoyed this breed tremendously and fully intend to keep working on this project with the long term goal of getting these birds back into the mainstream as the beautiful workhorses they can be. Fortunately I was able to find a breeder of Whites so I was able to save quite a bit of time in my improvement program by not starting with hatchery stock. At present I am focusing on improving size and depth of keel. I follow the old addage "build the barn then paint it".

If you would like to talk White Minorcas or have any suggestions please contact me. Thanks!

Anyway, here are some photos of my breeding stock and a few of my 2013 hatch. Click on them to enlarge to full resolution. And Dan H- I know I need to email you some of these!

 

[redandalusian]

The cocks look great. I like hens with a longer back and tail, and more of a brick shape to their body

 

[WyandotteTX]

Great to see the progress Mike!
I am impressed with the size and type of the male birds. Previous poster is correct in the observation of the females could be a little larger and I am sure Dan could help you out with a plan to do that.
With that being said, they are still better than I would have imagined them to be. Keep up the great work Mike!
We are having some success with the RC Blacks this spring and I look forward to having some good birds to breed from next year.
Thanks for all of the pictures.
John

 

[SanderB]

I like the big white ones, nice colour too. But I prefer the Belgium animals with the big white earlobes (as big or almost as big as the wattles.).

 

[Ron Presley]

Mike. I really like the cock bird.

 

[omegorchards]

Thanks for the comments! I have some splash females that are quite bit bigger than the white hen (which is one of my smallest birds) in the photos. I have struggled to get good sized white females and would appreciate any ideas. Also note that one of the birds was a 3mo old cockerel and not a female.

Unfortunately my stock produced a lot of splash and cuckoo colored females this season. Since I was told that my white males mated to splash and cuckoo birds would produce only white offspring I included several splash and cuckoo females (big ones) in my breeding pens. Unfortunately the offspring proved this statement from my source breeder to be incorrect. I only ended up with two white females! I did get 10 white cockerels though. One thing I am trying to do is purify the white genetics so the birds produce consistent white offspring. Here are a few pics of this years mix of offspring (click the image to enlarge it):