Minorca thread!

[danhonour]

Maybe you could scan the drawing again with the males comb not cut off? Looks like a nice one. Thanks

 

[SanderB]

Maybe you could scan the drawing again with the males comb not cut off? Looks like a nice one. Thanks

I don´t have the original papers, only the scans. But the comb should have 5 comb theet or 6.

This is how I want my Minorca bantams to look like:


The white rooster his comb could be better, a bit bigger and the heel should be like on the scan.


And a black rosecomb rooster

 

[danhonour]

In the US the standard call for a long sloping back with a spread tail above horizontal.A tall bird with somewhat high shoulder. I know there are several standards around the world to take into consideration.

 

[SanderB]

The heads on my roosters.

An F2 blue rooster, going to a fellow breeder (i got the blue grandparents from him).
Not a bad comb, maybe following the neckline too much. But he got 5 good comb teeth.
Shape and size of the earlobe and color are very good, but I believe they should not be so wrinkly.
The watles are a bit to floppy/big.
Good redish head/skin, dark brown eyes and a black beak.




My second rooster, and the one I am going to use for breeding next year. Also a blue one (brother of the previous).
Almost perfect comb but I draw a black line to show you how I would like the comb to be like. Then is is the same as in the picture of the scan.
Same good earlobes as his brother, only they be a bit more oval in shape.
I think his wattles are also perfect, but they are damaged on the right side as you can see. But the shape and size is very good.
Good red skin, dark brown eyes and a black beak.




And then my black rooster, a pure bantam, got a 95 on his first show, He is 2 years now, He got into a fight with his son (the father of the 2 previous roosters, so he is the grandfather) and lost his wattles which where very good.
Same comments on his comb as the second blue rooster, but he has 6 comb teeth. Or had 6, in the winters he got some frostbite.
Earlobes where great but when they age they look worse. However his mothers earlobes tend to stay better so maybe it is possible to breed them with earlobes that last more then a year (as to showing quality).
Also when ageing they get more white in the face, but the hens don´t so it probably is possible to select on this.
Good dark brown eyes and a black beak.




Here he had the same age of my 2 blue roosters.


A short movie of almost all my bantams.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

SanderB I enjoyed the movie...your cockerels are absolutely gorgeous! And so proud!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I am still loving my switch from Buff Orpingtons to Buff Minorcas (well except for my BO cockerel "Cheerio" I kept). They are fast on their feet, quick to evade predators, and not clingy and whiny like the BOs were.

I am expecting eggs here soon and having had one Buff Minorca pullet before a few years ago, I know I will love the eggs. My three cockerels have shown no sign of aggression and I love them. No sneaking around behind my back or steadily walking up to me to "eye" me. Just keeping away from me and being respectful.

They do come up for treats but that is quite different.

 

[4hmom]

just wondering have any of you have tried sand hills minorcas and if so do any of you have any pics

 

[danhonour]

I hear they are intermediate,not as big or of the type of the better show lines,but are better than the small off type commercial hatchery lines.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I hear they are intermediate,not as big or of the type of the better show lines,but are better than the small off type commercial hatchery lines.

I was thinking seriously about ordering some too from SandHill. Also their blacks. I was thinking if I mix my current Buffs with the Blacks I will get a larger bird eventually. I love the Buff color the most.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

We are about to have a strange weather change. Our normally wet weather is going to turn dry and freezing cold. This will be quite a shock to my chickens. I put a 150 watt bulb out there over the roost for the large fowl (bantams have a light bulb on a thermocube) today, so that I can just adjust the timer to run all night long instead of from 4:30 to 10 pm (normally I just run a 25 watt bulb until 10 pm for them).

The cold weather is supposed to start tomorrow. It will go down to the 20's at night! Fortunately during the day it will be in the 40's. (Their coop is a metal shed and is simply a windbreak. The temps inside are not warmer than the outside except in summer.)

I don't want those beautiful combs to freeze- those Mediterranean combs.

Do any of you with Minorcas provide heat lamps for the combs? Sorry if this was discussed on the thread previously...I don't remember seeing it.