How old is your cockerel? A nice medium sized comb on a boy is more desirable than the tiny ones. I'm not sure if it is true, but all year long at the shows the breeders I have talked to have told me that fertility is higher on a boy with a nice big comb. Now... they are NOT talking about outrageously large combs that are just all over. But it still must have the correct shape and texture to it. I have a rooster that has IMO a pretty big comb. He was judged in both Showmanship and at a couple of shows and not deducted for it. I asked the last judge if he thought it was too large and he said it was about as big as he'd want to see it, but it was fine. Any larger, and it was going to be out of hand. I think I have a close up of it... Anyway, if you have something this size, it's FINE. Anything larger and it's probably getting out of hand.
As for roosters challenging people, yep, they do. Silkies don't do that so much. But I've raised a lot of other breeds and they sure will! Seems like the bantams are the worst for that trait! LOL The LF roosters seem more laid back, or I've just had good luck with them. I do have a couple of silkie boys now that are ankle attackers. I don't really like that, but it's right when I first walk into their pen. They settle down when I am busy with chores and don't bother my feet after the first initial-- "YIKES-- there's something coming in here!". And even though they attack when I first walk in, they are still really easy to pick up and relax when I hold them. I like them, they have some spunk and aren't overly hopped up on hormones about it. Now, I did have a rooster that would just not stop attacking me (NOT a silkie) and after months of this and trying to "work with him" (yeah, right) he would not calm down. He became dinner. I was getting tired of walking outside with a broom. His name was Susan, because I thought he was a "she" when he was a chick. He probably just never forgave me for it. LOL
Splash-- he's not holding his wings right. But when you spread them out, they look fine. The first picture of the slash, it looks like he's just holding them loose. But then the next one looks like they are stacking wrong...? Let me show you what you want to avoid and what I had to cull this summer:We have three cockerels that are approx 6-7 months old and I am concerned about their wings. Can you please advise as to whether these guys should or should not be used for breeding and if you would keep them or rehome?
Bird #1
Bird #2 has identical wing carriage and here are his wings...
Bird #3
These are all different birds! ALL BAD wings! Can you say FRUSTRATION?!
Anyway, the only picture that really worries me of your Splash boy in the span is #4--- it looks like the Secondaries are swept back more than the Primaries... but you'll have to really look again, because if those are all of the same bird, which I am assuming it is, then it doesn't look like that on the others. He may just have a stacking problem-- sort of like a slipped wing in a goose. The very last picture of the Splash wing is perfect. They CAN have one bad side and one good side. Many of mine that had. His right side looks like it's just loose, but the left side looks sort of "slipped" or stacked wrong. I would watch him. Can you hang on to him for the winter and see what happens with him in a couple more months? Are you sure he's 6 months? He looks a bit younger, or just into 6 months-- I would not peg him at 7 for sure.
Okay, now your black does have loose wings, but does not look like they stack wrong. Just loose. The left wing is fine, BUT the right wing has a gap between the secondaries and Primaries. See my pictures above-- I have (had) several of those! I petted them out. But this is where you have to be careful-- if he's young, he could be missing his axial feather and a primary or two. On the right wing, I'm only counting 8 Primaries... is that right? Go count them and see. If he's missing some, they might come in later if they've fallen out. He should typically have 10 and up to 12. But his secondaries are swept back from the Primaries. I'm ify on him. I'd want to see if 2 or 3 months improved his wings, and if not, reevaluate then. Of course, he could be missing the follicle for those missing feathers, in which case isn't good. But I don't think that is very common.
My son is doing 4-H too! We prepared 3 birds for Showmanship this year. That way, if one is acting a bit goosey at the show, he has a couple back ups. They need to be cage trained. So put them in show cages (or wire dog cages) and give them a treat up front like the soft dog burger food. I forget the name of the food, but it's easy to find. You can also treat with sunflower seeds. Get her to be excited about seeing you come up to the cage. Then work on carrying her and handling her. My son would carry around his birds and pet them and look them over and get them used to be examined. For the judge, you'll be lifting the wing and blowing under it, so practice that. Practice running your hand/fingers down the legs and holding the legs out so you can count the toes and show them to a judge to prove the color and number and spacing. Practice turning the bird around so you can go through your list of points on the bird. They just need lots of handling. The younger you start a bird, the better. We had a rooster trained last year, and he was perfect! This year, we trained up 3 pullets. You want it to be one of your best looking birds, BUT--- the calmest. So always go with calm over flighty. So just LOTS and LOTS of handling and carrying and holding. You don't want them freaking out when you pull out their leg to show to the judge or to go flighty on you when you lift their wing.
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