Hi there! I am fairly new to breeding chickens for high quality results. I searched high and low for the best start I could. I purchased a trio of 100% English Orpingtons, one black roo, one black hen and one blue hen. They are large! And so beautiful! I hatched out 35 chicks a few weeks ago (like 3 almost 4 weeks). I can not keep that many though. I want to sell some but am not sure how to decide which ones to keep and which ones to sell. I keep reading to keep ones with good shape but I don't know what shape that is! I can not find picture of perfectly shaped chicks. I know there are some I can part with right off because of simple reasons... A few have a white feather or two growing in. A few have yellow beaks when they are supposed to be black and a few have partially yellow feet which are also supposed to be black. Any advice? I am going crazy standing here staring at these chicks!
Oh and one more question. If a chicken breed is supposed to have a black beak and not having a black break is a disqualification then does every inch of the beak have to be solid black? I have some that are black but have just a speck of yellow (or natural color). Would those be DQ because the ENTIRE beak is not black? Or do they only worry about the primary color?