Let's talk wing cuts and color
When I first started with some birds that were highly bred for production, the surface color of the males was sort of OK. The females lacked surface color altogether, something every typical of a production oriented bird. In better lines, the breeder has paid close attention to color, but to speak of color, one must speak of under color. This is the color of the butt fluff, and the color of the feather below the surface, Dig down deeper on the back of your birds and look to see if the top surface color, a rich, dark red, as the Standard calls it, goes down the feather all the way to the skin.
In lesser birds, when you dig a bit deeper, you find lighter colored fuzzing down there. Often, you will find a slate color as well. If you find these features, just scrap what you have. Just start over with better birds. There's little to be accomplished wasting years on a bird with genetics of rusty, tan colored or slate colored under color. No matter how slick the surface color, if the under color is not reasonably dark to the skin, and good reddish color in the quill going down to the skin, you would be better off scrapping and starting over in most cases.
So what does the wing cut teach us? Consult the first 40 pages of the SOP book for wing studies, feather identification, etc. I'm not going to bother rehearsing what you can read for yourself. Those first 40 pages are the true bang for the buck in buying the SOP. Trust me on that.
OK, a win cut or a wing opened and spread correctly will show you a lot about your bird's breeding. On a Red, the definition of the black and the placement of that black in the wing is critical. A production oriented strain will look similar to this photo which I just pulled off the images on the net.
A bird with a wing cut such as this? Scrap it.
It will simply take too long to "breed it up", a concept largely ill conceived and an enormous waste of time and feed.
Throw it in the layer pen, but forget about it. It isn't a true Red at all. It is a scrub.
Here's a better wing cut. Again just a net image.
This is a better wing cut. Note the black is marked better, but upon closer inspection, you'd likely find some peppering. I couldn't find a good photo of peppering but you'll know it when you see it. It's not a pretty sight.
Now here are two wing cuts that show what you're looking for in your birds. The first is a bantam, but the Standard is the same, remember.
I want to draw your attention to this last presentation of a bird, I believe by Danny Feathers and yes, that is his name. Here we see a richness in the red. It is free of peppering and the black is well placed in the primaries. (We aren't seeing the secondaries.) The deepness or richness of the red in the wing cut will show you the true under color of your bird. Lay that open wing on the back of your richest colored bird. The red in the wing should approach the same richness in color as the surface color of your best bird, especially your best male. When you get that? You're getting what you want in true color, true rich under color, not just surface color. Most folks who don't know Reds well only look at the surface color of their birds. Until we learn to dig deeper and commit to judging how we're doing with under color and wing color, we''re missing an important aspect of our program.
One of the things I've pushed on very hard in the breeding pen, what old timers call "putting pressure on it", has been under color. I am thrilled with under color in this year's birds and am equally pleased with wing cuts in most of the birds.
There remains sooooo much more work to do however, as it is always something that needs attention. We never "arrive".
Hope this helps. It's all stuff we all have to learn. Nobody here was born with this knowledge. Nobody.
When I first started with some birds that were highly bred for production, the surface color of the males was sort of OK. The females lacked surface color altogether, something every typical of a production oriented bird. In better lines, the breeder has paid close attention to color, but to speak of color, one must speak of under color. This is the color of the butt fluff, and the color of the feather below the surface, Dig down deeper on the back of your birds and look to see if the top surface color, a rich, dark red, as the Standard calls it, goes down the feather all the way to the skin.
In lesser birds, when you dig a bit deeper, you find lighter colored fuzzing down there. Often, you will find a slate color as well. If you find these features, just scrap what you have. Just start over with better birds. There's little to be accomplished wasting years on a bird with genetics of rusty, tan colored or slate colored under color. No matter how slick the surface color, if the under color is not reasonably dark to the skin, and good reddish color in the quill going down to the skin, you would be better off scrapping and starting over in most cases.
So what does the wing cut teach us? Consult the first 40 pages of the SOP book for wing studies, feather identification, etc. I'm not going to bother rehearsing what you can read for yourself. Those first 40 pages are the true bang for the buck in buying the SOP. Trust me on that.
OK, a win cut or a wing opened and spread correctly will show you a lot about your bird's breeding. On a Red, the definition of the black and the placement of that black in the wing is critical. A production oriented strain will look similar to this photo which I just pulled off the images on the net.
A bird with a wing cut such as this? Scrap it.
It will simply take too long to "breed it up", a concept largely ill conceived and an enormous waste of time and feed.
Throw it in the layer pen, but forget about it. It isn't a true Red at all. It is a scrub.
Here's a better wing cut. Again just a net image.
This is a better wing cut. Note the black is marked better, but upon closer inspection, you'd likely find some peppering. I couldn't find a good photo of peppering but you'll know it when you see it. It's not a pretty sight.
Now here are two wing cuts that show what you're looking for in your birds. The first is a bantam, but the Standard is the same, remember.
I want to draw your attention to this last presentation of a bird, I believe by Danny Feathers and yes, that is his name. Here we see a richness in the red. It is free of peppering and the black is well placed in the primaries. (We aren't seeing the secondaries.) The deepness or richness of the red in the wing cut will show you the true under color of your bird. Lay that open wing on the back of your richest colored bird. The red in the wing should approach the same richness in color as the surface color of your best bird, especially your best male. When you get that? You're getting what you want in true color, true rich under color, not just surface color. Most folks who don't know Reds well only look at the surface color of their birds. Until we learn to dig deeper and commit to judging how we're doing with under color and wing color, we''re missing an important aspect of our program.
One of the things I've pushed on very hard in the breeding pen, what old timers call "putting pressure on it", has been under color. I am thrilled with under color in this year's birds and am equally pleased with wing cuts in most of the birds.
There remains sooooo much more work to do however, as it is always something that needs attention. We never "arrive".
Hope this helps. It's all stuff we all have to learn. Nobody here was born with this knowledge. Nobody.
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