The Great Tolbunt Polish Hatch!! - Babies!!!

[cherylcohen]

Ok thanks, I see there is a very pricey auction from Greenfire...but other than that I never hear of any available, I'm sure people are probably trying to increase their own flocks! They are gorgeous!!

 

[klf73]

Illia, do you mind doing a brief "recap" for me. I acquired some tolbunt chicks(unexpectedly) and read about using the gold laced, got gold laced eggs and all 8 developing nicely so I figure I should be able to get at least 1 or 2 usable birds. I will definitely post pics of them as they grow to figure out which would be best to use.
What is the usual outcome of a tolbunt x gold laced and do you need to cross the F1's back to the tolbunt? I am sure this has been beaten to death somewhere but I have only found some answers here and there....thanks in advance

 

[KellyHM]

Quote:
Speaking of auctions, where is the "happening" place for egg/poultry auctions these days? I haven't found a site I liked since eggbid shut down.

 

[Illia]

In most cases, people breed them back to Tolbunt. I'm not. Why? Because it doesn't help the genetics too much, and I've heard a lot of stories of 3/4 Tolbunt chicks unexpectedly dying. Instead, I'm breeding one 1/2 Tolbunt to another 1/2 Tolbunt, both with different mothers from unrelated stock, and the fathers not being the same, but instead half-brothers.

Tolbunt x Gold Laced usually produces a bunch of Gold Laced offspring, but they're Tolbunt split, as the mottling gene is recessive, and they all carry one allele. Some will indeed look Tolbunt in appearance though, as the mottling will show up in a few.

Since my boys have a few flaws I'd love to fix, though (squirrel tails, too small of crest, one has no cavernous nostrils and a leaf-type comb) I'm using only the best suited Polish hens I can find. I will admit, they're ALL hatchery stock, but I'm sure some of you know just how hard it is to find non-hatchery, good quality laced Polish.

That are bearded.

 

[cherylcohen]

Are there any great resources for chicks and eggs?

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Quote:
Of the about 30 Tolbunt/GL crosses we have hatched, none of them have looked Tolbunt. They are all feathering in GL and a few with a tiny amount of white in the front of the crest. So, I wouldn't expect any of them to look Tolbunt or even close to it. Ours have varied in color range from almost all black, to almost all gold, but nothing even close to Tolbunt colored.

 

[onthespot]

I agree about outcrossing. When I got my first mille fleur cochin to hatch, a single roo, the mille fleur cochins had a TERRIBLE record for shipped eggs. Many many many buyers had zero hatches. I outcrossed to mottled cochins, then crossed offspring back to the father, and immediately had much better shipping and hatch rates, and fertility is fine, type even improved some. Two years "wasted" with lots of mottleds split to mille fleurs going to pet homes, but it was so worth it. That, plus I would sneak in a mille cochin egg in with other egg orders here and there, and people always went NUTS over them when they feathered out. That helped to get a lot more people interested in the variety too I think, people who had never considered them before. I think outcrossing takes some time, but it is worth it. One good thing about hatchery stock, they are selected for increased egg laying, fertility and being able to hatch in an artifically incubated environment. That can only help the breed to be stronger, I think. There is still time to work on type and pattern.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Of the about 30 Tolbunt/GL crosses we have hatched, none of them have looked Tolbunt. They are all feathering in GL and a few with a tiny amount of white in the front of the crest. So, I wouldn't expect any of them to look Tolbunt or even close to it. Ours have varied in color range from almost all black, to almost all gold, but nothing even close to Tolbunt colored.

I get mottling on the breast, sometimes the thighs. To some people that's good enough to call Tolbunt.