Showgirl roo... opinions wanted

[onthespot]

Hi all, Got this li'l feller from a fellow BYC'er last week.
Part1, Was wondering what you all pros thought about his neck feathers. Is that a bowtie indicating he might be homozygous for the NN gene, or just wishful thinking on my part?

Part 2 of the question, is his comb a lost cause?

 

[Kev]

He is probably heterozygous for NN. The bowtie is not so large, but... pea comb also has the effect of reducing the overall number of feathers on a bird, and in my experience Nana with P/? can and often do have a much reduced bowtie than Nana pp. My other reason for guessing heterozygous as he has a lot of fluff around the crop/shoulder area.. NaNaP/?(don't know yet if there is a dose effect with P) seem "very naked", the bowtie is either really tiny or nonexistent and they can look like their whole front half of body is naked along a large naked area around vent and belly. In fact some breeders advise against breeding showgirl to showgirl as they feel this makes them "too naked" but it's probably just hitting on a couple homozygotes here n' there.

His comb seems to be a giant pea comb. Some probably would advise against using him for this reason but then you could look at him as a way to make "true walnut comb" in your line of silkies/showgirls(if what you have are the modified rose comb versions- they are common).

Anyways if you breed him, it will be a very good way to find out for real if he's homo/heterozygous etc..

I also wanted to add, if he's a year old or older, he has very good skin color.. it can be pretty hard to get roosters that keep the nice, deep dark skin color at full maturity.. skin turning cranberry or getting some reddening around the face or various things like dark face but red comb/wattles are very common problems with birds only few generations removed from the first outcross.

 

[onthespot]

I only have two silkie girls and they are not laying yet. One has a single comb. I'm thinking it would be a complete waste to cross her on this roo. The other is a nice blue girl with a very nice small comb an full feathering and a lot of "goodies" got sent her way when the genes were combining. If I use him on anyone it will be this girl. It's the only one I have that would do.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

You can try and see what you get from them. It never hurts to try! It may take some culling to get the results you want.

 

[onthespot]

Pea comb x single comb, = GAK, right?

 

[roosters16]

True BYC Addict? i was wondering if u had any showgirl hens for sale?
please get back to me at [email protected]

 

[onthespot]

Hi rooster. I emailed you. If you were looking I would post a "wanted" ad in the chickens for sale area for best results.