See, to me, this would seem a huge step back. If the size is already there and you have a male that has the size, but lacks a little in type that a female could correct or at least balance, I see no reason to keep a small bird for breeding. I know I relate everything back to a Langshan, but if I had a very typey male but he was small, he'd still be a cull. Why? His frame isn't what I need or want in my flock. I need large framed birds if I'm going to continue getting large framed offspring. I could just be prejudiced on it, but there's a fine line that has to be walked when selecting for size. Too big and you'll have too large of birds that may win because of their size, but don't match the standard. Too small and the judge won't even give a look at your birds and, in my opinion, are breeding birds that don't match the "dual-purpose" breeding, even if they are bantams.
All this being said, only choosing the largest birds isn't going to get you anywhere. You'll wind up with big birds that lack proper wing carriage, heads or, my least concern, coloring. It's why I'm culling the males that obviously have the poor wing carriage first. I don't want that in my lines and I just won't deal with "Oh this one has weak wings, so I'll put it with a male with strong wings." No...I just won't have the issue at all and be done with it. Someone else is more than welcome to work with it and clear it up later on, but why choose something that will only cause headaches later on? My biggest worry at this point is the tail angle. They all seem to have nice width of back but the tails are a bit low on all my cockerels. The hens are a bit better, but I feel as though the cockerels need a little more angulation to their tails.
Just some observations and me trying to reason with myself. I suppose I will just have to wait until Shawnee when all will be developed and hopefully I'll have a few pairs to send out into the world.
Have you read the ALBC pages on selection method? It is not adviseable to select for only one trait at a time . . . As I remember communicating with Schrider he said if the bird is smaller but has the right type, use it. He actually didn't say girl or boy . . . Several traits need to be worked on at the same time.
As I have been looking to have chickens provide meat for my table as well as eggs, SS have been a disappointment. THese birds have not been kept up. So I don't see where at this point they can be too big. Maybe some one has a Moby they want to talk about . . . .but I know the stock I have is rather lacking and needs improvment for meat characteristics.
While I am new to chickens and like to hear all ideas, I have been breeding other livestock for a few year . . .
