Showgirl Roosters - Why So Large?

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i am having a hard time hatching out nice looking normal-size Showgirl Roosters. i haven't done a ton of hatching, and have been using purchased eggs from folks on this board, or eggbid or ebay. But it seems the girls come out nice and small (or rather normal size) but the roos seem really large. And then the roos who have hatched out have red in their necks which i assume means they are not too far from the initial Turken cross.

Have other Showgirl breeders found this to be a problem? Can anyone recommend someone who sells hatching eggs that hatch out a smaller rooster, or is it just common for the roosters to be about three-times the size of the hens? This breeding thing is a new project for me. Hoping someday to have some nice little lavender showgirls.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

This is not something I've heard of previously. I wonder if the naked neck used to create your showgirls was a bantam or large fowl?

 

[laughingllama75]

At this time, I only have one showgirl roo (and one hen) and he does not seem any bigger than my silkie roos..... I wonder if Sonoran Silkies is right? Is there a way for you to find out from the breeder of yours?

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

The showgirls i have recently had were hatched from eggs from two different people on this board. They both had the reddish neck. i didn't realize there was a bantam turken until i checked the feathersite website. Perhaps these were created with a standard size turken cross.

Before i rehomed one of the roos i hatched out babies from him and his girls. Two are showgirls and i'm hoping for a roo out of one of them.

So i suppose the showgirl roos i have hatched out have not been the best quality and are close to the initial cross which may be lending them to the larger size. There is a woman who sells Showgirl and Silkie eggs on ebay and eggbid. i bought eggs from her in the spring and unfortunately only hatched out one chick who turned out to be a pullet. But she is small and very lovely with a long dark neck. Maybe i should get another batch of eggs from her and hope for a normal size roo.

i'm actually really curious to know how someone in England has created those miniature silkies. i would love to develop some miniature showgirls.

 

[Shannon's Chix]

Interesting...I have 2 4 week old showgirls and one is MUCH larger than the other...maybe that's a roo???

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Quote:
Probably. i notice the boys will show themselves early by being larger than their litter mates and they will also have larger legs and feet.

 

[kelliepulido]

I bought eggs from trueblueshowgirls here on byc all of them are the normal size.I have 2roos,2pullets and 1 silkie she has just a tad bit of red in her comb all the rest are black skin,normal size,the 1 roo who is older has a bit of mulberry hue to part of his neck and he has a walnut comb I believe..the black shogirl pullet is so darn cute her name is Dianna Ross

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

That's funny, i have a black silkie named Diana Ross.

i just won an auction from a woman on ebay for showgirl silkie eggs. i hatched from eggs from her during the Spring and had a terrible hatch, only one baby, but she is gorgeous. But i will also look into ordering eggs from trueblueshowgirls, once i make sure i have enough broodies to cover all the eggs.

i thought i was done hatching for the year, but i just did not get a nice quality roo.

 

[Attack Chicken]

I have a showgirl roo which he is still young. He's the biggest bantam I have. He also has red on his neck. I wonder if its a sign of testosteron (can't spell today)? Like roos get the red in their legs?

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Oh, it never occurred to me it might be testosterone. i was thinking it was because it was not many generations since the cross to the turken. But, now that i think about it, the pullets from those same batches are normal size and have completely black necks.