Post Phoenix Pics Please

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

well they look to be getting their first ones on now. Now when they molt their first feathers off into to full on adult plumage is a line game, usually most, especially hatchery birds will do it at 6-10 months old, so lines do it once a year or so from then on, some every 2cd year or so.
My guess is these will molt often, about like a normal chicken.

 

[mopargal1972]

My bantam Golden Phoenix has lost all of his tail feathers

. Is it common for them to molt their entire tail? My white roo still has his long beautiful tail. My golden's saddle feathers are so long that they drag behind him. He looks like a rumpless Phoenix right now....lol

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep most will do it every year , 12 months or so. Some lines go 18 moths to 2 years, then you have the non molters that go longer.

Yes usually when they molt, boy do they molt. They'll drop them right down to the nub.
Important thing to watch is your hens, they can see those nice shinny blood feather quills now and they can be irrisitable to some of them. If they peck at them now, they will ruin your boys tail for the whole year, and toni told me this week end, in some cases it can ruin it for life. During these heavy molts, if possible it's best to seperate them til they at least have a full looking tail too.

Your white is from Cy right? He has some birds that still go 2 years, my white from him is one of mine thats not molting right now too, but he will sooner or later and it'll be the same.

Watch the whites with the hens especially, that bare pink rump draws them like flies to it. My whites are the only ones so far to feather pick during molt.

 

[mopargal1972]

Actually, both of my roos are from Cy. I have the gold roo in with Tonie Marie's black pullet and my Silkie/Phoenix cross. Thanks for the advice. I will keep a close eye on him. I am getting an egg every other day out of my other pen (the one with the white roo). I can't wait to see what I hatch. I have him with a white and a silver birchen from you, and a white and Lav from Cy.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep they can go either way. Some will molt quicker and more often thatn others, but it that time of year, so the other one may start any time. You'll know what you have after this though and know how often to expect them to molt.

As for the chicks, the white male to those should mainly give black chicks from all but the white hen, obviously they'd be white. Good luck, let us know what comes out on hatch day!
Glad to see you got a few lavs from Cy too. I have mine in with Toni's lav cuckoo right now, and put them with Cy's black male I got too to help they type, they need a little more work yet, still can see the old english in them, but are a great start to the color.

If you get a good black out of the breeding you are doing. Cross all the lavenders to them. You'll get all black birds split to lavender. Back cross those to each other and you'll get about 50% lav and black. The lavs will have much better type now though if you had good blacks to start with. If they still are a little off, just do it again.
It takes a little longer than some colors due to lavender being recessive, but the end result will be well worth it. Think Cy said he was on year 8 with them last year when I got mine if that tells you anything.

 

[Dragorra]

To Aubrey and all the other longtail, phoenix experts on here I've got some birds I am trying to figure out what to do with. The birds below (except the silkies) were all hatched out from eggs from Aubrey. All except Phil the SDW roo were hatched out this past march/april, Phil was hatched out last spring. I'm planning on keeping Phil and all the hens for sure but am not entirely sure what do with the 2 cockerels I got.
Phil and his girlfriend Pearl

Black Longtail cockerel....I'm tempted to keep him just to see how he turns out. He's definitely a project bird. LOL

White cockerel with red leakage? He also has one tail feather that is grey. Is he a recessive white? If he is, he can be bred to a SDW hen and produce SDW chicks right? Is he worth keeping?

Both white pullets have some degree of salmon in their breast but the one pullet also has very faint grey?silver?lavender? lacing on her back. Almost a very faded appearance. I tried to capture it with the camera but I don't think I did a good job. Is that the recessive white again or something else?

 

[onagadori]

There are more than one type of rec. white. I have seen them this color before. But usually there was a white leghorn in the wood pile. I would cull the roos on account of feather type and tail angle. But that is my thought. If you want to breed them there is no harm, but probably won't be anything spectacular tail wise. However, if you are willing to work with them a few years, you could make something from them. The "black" which looks a bit more like a "golden Birchen" to me would be fine bred back to good silver hens. If you had a bb red, you could try the whites with them. If they are rec, they are more than likely a bb red base, not silver. Also, the one hen, I had some like this, but the guy I got them from had put a white leghorn in with them. It is a pale gray color, almost like khaki, and may or may not be stippled. It never hurts to try the cross, but I would pick the best white, either hen or roo. Select for tail angle, feathering, multiple etc, and go from there. If the white hens are better, put them with the silver roo. Breed your offspring back to each other to see what crops out. If it is rec white, you should get no whites the first year, unless your silver's are carrying one rec white gene. These are just my thoughts. I am not expert however.
Aubrey, any thoughts?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep all sounds about right on the breeding to me.
If they all came from me , I can clear up a lot of them

the salmon brested hen toward the bottom is a khaki silver duckwing

the white male with the high tail is one out of my pair of Cy Hyde's whites, any white hens you have with a touch of faint salmon to the brest will be Cy's white line too. Actually my male had the same angle for quite a while, didnt really like it either, but he got massive lenght for a bantam this year, still growing too and had him for over a year, so he's pushing at least 18 months already, so there are some genes there to work with, just dont like that leghorn angle, but with a tail like he ended up with, I can look past that.

the white male with the red shoulders, ?? I'm thinking is out of Cy's too (same tail angle) . As I said earlier, they are actually recessive cream pyles, from what Toni told me about them. Personally I only have bred my whites and silvers together, no other color to the whites, but that is where I got my birchens from too. (most all my silvers carry rec white, as that's how I got most of them) , never had one with red shoulders pop out, so figuring it has to come from Cy's some where. That leghorn look does too of course.

The black one, yep thats a Cy bird too, gold birchen. He'd most likely be from that male of Cy's I have and Toni's Schubert black hens I put him with for a while this year. From what Cy told me about him, mine also carrys lavender, so may get some if this male is split too, just depends on what was passed on to him. If bred to your sdw's it should give you a good base for birchens too. Same with bb reds toward brown reds. My boy ended up being about 4 foot this year, had a very long tail for a bantam. Did molt at 18 months old. and was pretty darn thick, seen thicker, but he wasnt bad.

Any of my whites that you may have that are just plain jane white with no salmon or back color, yep will be recessive white and should at times have a little of the silver leak threw, (would be a black streak here or there in the feathers.) and can be bred to silvers very easily. Like Ongadori said, bred to silvers they should make mostly silvers unless they are my silvers, then you'll get some of both first time for sure cause they already have been crossed together here for years. Started with a nice pair of whites and a few silver hens , made them all off them.

The silver boy looks pretty dog gone nice to me. They are usually a little thicker in the rear, but he has some great lenght for a 15 month old bantam, nice saddles, and I love his hackle. He and all my whites that arent funky one way or the other are from Toni's bantam line by the way.
Breed him to that khaki silver pullet and you'll get dun silvers. From there you can work with all 3 versions, black, dun, and khaki silvers.


Can also breed her to that gold birchen and work the dun gene into them too.



Hope that helped you a bit.

 

[onagadori]

Quote:
Well said, and I agree. That silver is very nice.. Would definately hang on to him. My silver is just over a year now and has a 49" tail. I am hoping he will continue to be a nonmolter for years to come. I also recommend crossing the whites with the silvers. Actually I would take both colors back to the silvers as they are nicer birds. I personally like thin (more onagadori) ribbon like feathering. They tend to be good nonmolters. The birchen and white roos have the thick more phoenix (molting) type feathering.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep that's spot on about the feather type on those.