Picking up Chanteclers - 1 "coquelet" & 1 pullet from each of 4 blood lines

[Ted Brown]

...these birds need to be broad backed the entire length too. You've got a great start.

Can you elaborate pls. Why and what that looks like?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'm not sure how to explain that better. Broad, wide, thick body the entire length of back from shoulders to tail the bird should be like a rectangle not narrowing to tail. The wider the rectangle the more dual purpose and better carcass. This will not affect egg laying rather your feed to egg conversion will lessen.

If you've got a copy of SOP then page 22, fig 41 Desirable and defective head and body characteristics.

The tail tents from the few photos seem a little narrow. They've yet to grow out but could be wider. I was attempting to say that this is a dual purpose breed and the Chantecler description in SOP follows suit with that body type. Keep an eye on the width of birds.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Here are a few manuals from the American Livestock Conservancy. I've posted the meat quality assessment on BYC many times. It's fantastic. It cuts through what is written in the first pages of the SOP. It's the same material presented in a better format. I'll also attach the manual for selection of egg laying qualities which I'm sure will just be a recap of what your breeder showed you. The third is an ongoing selection for breeding.

http://heritagebreedmarketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ALBCchicken_assessment-1.pdf
Page 4 has a photo of tails demonstrating some of what I was saying.

http://heritagebreedmarketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ALBCchicken_assessment-2.pdf

http://heritagebreedmarketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ALBCchicken_assessment-3.pdf
"the best tool you can use to improve the quality of your birds is an axe!" -p. 17

I find these more useful than the SOP. Oddly the SOP has nearly all this information but it's difficult to navigate, in the first 40 pages. The SOP is useful for written variety description (partridge is harder to maintain than you think) and illustrations of breeds for top line, tail set examples are invaluable. And of course the specific page on a particular breed. You find yourself flipping back and forth from the illustration to the description.

 

[Ted Brown]

@Egghead_Jr

I have the SOP plus an earlier write up by Wilfred Chatelain. This is my second go around with White Chants so I collected but set aside once I lost my four males to a predator (I assume mink). I will dig them out.

After some thought I guessed SOP characteristic and had not looked at Chantecler thread.

Very useful guidance all round, much appreciated.

 

[Ted Brown]

As we stopped at Rejean's I saw half a dozen cats atop an above ground pool. Guessing there were half a dozen more in and out of the barns.

Barn cats intended for rat abatement. A recent explosion "now under control". Rejean also produces lamb.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I was tossing some scraps to the birds just now and with thoughts of wide birds recently being on my mind I had to get the camera. I like photos from straight down looking at the back. I make up for the lack of depth in quality of my hens by doubling efforts to produce the best possible cock I can. Hopefully this is the year it pays off in more breeding pullets produced. I've been improving the cocks for four years now. This one may make two seasons of breeding. Of the two K's I kept this fall one has potential to be better but isn't there yet.

This isn't the type of top photo I like showing the width of a bird full length and into a wide tent tail but I'll try to make up for it with two photos.

Note the pullet on the right is not wide enough for me in tail. The post molt hen on left is but she has other issues and is kept as a back up.

Maybe the Chantecler has a bit longer body than this Wyandotte but you'd be amazed just how meaty you can get any dual purpose breed. Between the two photos I think it shows a square from shoulders to base of tail and a tail with an angle of tent well more than 45 degrees. I really like this boy, it took effort and an eye on the goal to produce him.

 

[Ted Brown]

Going through pictures, male almost twice the size. My females are medium to big, not sure which this is.

 

[Ted Brown]

@Egghead_Jr .

I have had to go back and forth between your two pics above and the Chants I have in Isolation. I think I see the box effect in my coquelet but it does not have the strength of tail that your boy above has.

I am sampling the Chant thread, seems it is predominately Partridge, darker than I have had in my mind. Is this accurate?

Do your comments re preferences apply to the White breed?