Red Laced Cornish X and project talk (pics p. 8)

[al6517]

Thanks Shelly : It's going to take me awhile to get it there but hey that's the fun part LOL.

AL

 

[shelleyb1969]

You're my hero, Al.

As they say...no guts, no glory. You're a visionary and you have the determination to get it done. The proof is in what you've already accomplished. You are BYC's official "Cornish King".

 

[al6517]

Quote:
No No not even, I am just lucky to have some great Cornish men near where I live and we get to visit often. This idea I fear I am not the only one to has tried it, but I think I have some new thing's to try so I am going after it.

AL

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

steve - interesting pics. I had one CXX pullett turn out exactly like that one of yours with all of the gray and I have several with the occasional black feather. But my roos from the same CXX breeding all have some light red across the hackles although it started as yellow (I thought at first from the corn)

al - I'm not sure I understand, well actually I am positive I don't understand, how the silver gene = dominant white, that seems to be a contradiction of terms. would you give a more sophomoric explanation for me . . . please

I was torn between breeding for all white as you are or red's like the FR. I've got the makings for both and had pretty much made up my mind to do both . . . but a few days ago I had a big talk with myself about size of operation and number of birds and have pretty much decided to pare back to just working toward reds (or white/red). I think your reasoning is very valid though, and I am trying for red feathers with white shafts which is what I have now, I'm just hoping the black from the BCM doesn't pop up later.

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
Thanks for the info Al , and no I'm not worried about the color as every shaft is white . I plan on keeping some colored birds in addition to but seperate from the whites anyway . The ticking I was mentioning is not the faint , faux , barring on the wing feathers ; occaisionally a nearly pure white feather has a very small tick of color on it .
I'm not sure I understand the silver your talking about ; silver as I understand it is used to create sexlinked birds on red x silver crosses . I know it also sometimes coexists under white birds so are you saying you prefer your whites to be carrying silver also ?

On a light note , today an EE , a WLRC , and the alpha CX got into the first crowing contest I've actually witnessed with them . None are really loud , but the CX is so gutteral or deep it surely can't be heard for any distance by humans . When he took a step towards the EE [ they're seperated by a fence ] and stood up with his hackles out , that EE suddenly decided to move to the back of his pen and shut up .

 

[al6517]

Steve wrote....I'm not sure I understand the silver your talking about ; silver as I understand it is used to create sexlinked birds on red x silver crosses . I know it also sometimes coexists under white birds so are you saying you prefer your whites to be carrying silver also ?

Katy Wrote....I'm not sure I understand, well actually I am positive I don't understand, how the silver gene = dominant white, that seems to be a contradiction of terms. would you give a more sophomoric explanation for me . . . please

I think perhaps I may have not phrased it right........... when I say or refer to the silver gene I mean the white gene, Silver is the true white gene, it's just what it's called. When you get a white bird it's colored white but if it changes or fades with age or is slightly mixed with another color. Silver on the other hand is true white and doesn't fade, common breeders sometimes confuse the white/silver gene, I must admit LOL the study of poultry genetics get's my head spinning.
In short I am just saying that I have the silver gene in these white birds and want to try to preserve that because it can be hard to find in some breeds. I have some other birds I am working with seperately that have color and will end up throwing color to the chicks, but the experiment sounds promising so I am trying it in a control group.

AL

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

very cool, thanks for explaining. Now onto my next question

I like what you are saying about longer shanks. I was breeding towards a longer leg myself, but now knowing the proper terminology. I wanted a taller bird for better breeding, but didn't want the long thin leg muscles that many of the laying breeds lean towards. You said it exactly longer shanks - thanks! Now I have achieved that in my birds, however about 50% of my roos still have that far forward heavy breasted stance of the CX, I have a feeling that inspite of the longer legs they still may have breeding issues, we'll see. The others have the longer shank, double breast, and the upright stance of the BCM . . . I am very happy with these guys! So I guess what I am wondering is beyond the shank length what are your thoughts (and what would be the proper terminoligy?) for what I am calling the stance of the bird?

 

[al6517]

Quote:
That forward heavy breasted stance you speak of in my opinion is just fine, you are probably thinking ( it's going to effect mounting balance ) Kate if you want to have a well muscled bird you have to have the frame to carry it, sometimes..... Ok often these glutons will have a very full crop and along with a straighter back line and it looks so full and forward. It will be much easier to breed in or cull for a upright stance if you like, but I prefer that waddle stance, I haven't found that that is the issue with fertility only the shank length and width. A word about shank length along with a longer shank you have to have the shank girth also, without which they still can't carry the weight, I may be on the path to that proper proportion of length, Girth and pad breadth this helps balance too. I look very closely at every carcass for bone formation and thickness of the bone, by doing this I can handle a bird and know if it's got the frame under the fluff.

More on frame structure and tissue building some other time I gotta run for a bit.

AL

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Something for me to think about, thanks again for sharing your thoughts. I agree with you whole heartedly on the girth of the shank I too have been very selective regarding this.
Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[SteveH]

from al6517 .....................

I think perhaps I may have not phrased it right........... when I say or refer to the silver gene I mean the white gene, Silver is the true white gene, it's just what it's called.

I'm trying to wrap my brain around color genetics , and getting there slowly LOL . IF I've got it right the S or silver gene is an inhibitor for gold , but does not change or suppress black as far I know . Its an incomplete dominate and I think it will allow red bleed in the shoulders or yellow hackles if a bird is hetero for it and carries gold . Its also sex linked so I think that means roos get two copies but hens only one . That way a red [ or really gold ] roo such as a RIR crossed on a visually white hen that's silver such as some strains of white rocks will produce female chicks that are mostly red and male chicks that are mostly white .
Dominate white [ can't remember the symbol ] is a common one for commercial crosses but it is " leaky " [ meaning it allows small bits of color to show ] , and does not suppress red as well as it does black . Having genes for white does not prevent a bird from also having genes for silver ; I don;t think its an either/or condition . I suppose a meat bird that's both would be an asset as a breeder if you're wanting the clean looking carcass of an all white chicken .​