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Robert Blosl
Rest in Peace 1947-2013
Black spurs were common in my old Reds from Mr. Reese and I see it in my Red Bantams as they have large fowl blood in them from 30 years ago. I only breed from males that have black spurs in my bantams. In my bantams I have some females with ticking or no ticking at all and thier whole body is one even color. If you have stripes which I think is more common in large fowl it can cause fits for color to go to other sections.
Mr. Ralph Brazelton a Orpington breeder once told me you have some good ideas on your R I Red plan and you have done your home work but let me give you some advice.
Go Slow, Go Small and go down the middle of the road.
I think when he is talking about going down the middle of the road you are constantly moving in and out with color some years you may get a pullet with hardly any black in wings or no ticking.
Many will get rid of such a female but Mr. Reese called these $500. females. When you have a male that has it all and he is loaded with to much black or even has black in his hackle feathers he can be mated to such a female. Mrs. Donaldson use to say these females will help absorb the excess black in the male. You may want to mate the best typed male from her with less color faults than his sire and then inbreed back to her for one to two years. Or you may take the best typed pullet with some black in the wings and ticking in the hackle and mate back to her sire. Then mate the best typed pullet back to the sire the next year. Then you get the great traits of type which is so important than color and you have maybe a bird that is got it all. This is called compensating type matings.
Mr. Reese use to have young folks with lots of money come in each year and clean out all his young birds and leave him with nothing but color cull birds or birds with type defects. The next year they would be back with the money and he had twenty or so super birds to sell. One lady who I got my birds from said I dont know how he does it we cleaned him out and he just puts them together the next year and BAM super birds.
Thing about this would you. If a male has a seven or eight point comb but a killer body. Then you have a male that has a perfect head five point comb but a short body get a female that has good length of body , good head and mait her to the poor headed male. Then take him out after four weeks wait one week put the short bodied male with the perfect head in with her. Toe punch the chicks and the next year mait the best combed pullet with a long body back to the poor co mb male and take the best pullet from the poor comb male and mate to the short bodied male.
From this cross which I call the neutral female mating you can get a perfect bird. It may take three to five years. But it can be done.
Well that is my tip of the day. Remember me some day when you are sitting on the feed bucket and you see such a bird or two. These are the fun matings to put together. This is what separates a breeder from a chicken collector. I often wonder how many of you that come to this thread have R I Reds these days. We must be getting a good number. Keep plugging away and maybe next year this time we will have double the numbers of Red fanciers. Pray for the production reds. I wonder how to breed them for color.
Mr. Ralph Brazelton a Orpington breeder once told me you have some good ideas on your R I Red plan and you have done your home work but let me give you some advice.
Go Slow, Go Small and go down the middle of the road.
I think when he is talking about going down the middle of the road you are constantly moving in and out with color some years you may get a pullet with hardly any black in wings or no ticking.
Many will get rid of such a female but Mr. Reese called these $500. females. When you have a male that has it all and he is loaded with to much black or even has black in his hackle feathers he can be mated to such a female. Mrs. Donaldson use to say these females will help absorb the excess black in the male. You may want to mate the best typed male from her with less color faults than his sire and then inbreed back to her for one to two years. Or you may take the best typed pullet with some black in the wings and ticking in the hackle and mate back to her sire. Then mate the best typed pullet back to the sire the next year. Then you get the great traits of type which is so important than color and you have maybe a bird that is got it all. This is called compensating type matings.
Mr. Reese use to have young folks with lots of money come in each year and clean out all his young birds and leave him with nothing but color cull birds or birds with type defects. The next year they would be back with the money and he had twenty or so super birds to sell. One lady who I got my birds from said I dont know how he does it we cleaned him out and he just puts them together the next year and BAM super birds.
Thing about this would you. If a male has a seven or eight point comb but a killer body. Then you have a male that has a perfect head five point comb but a short body get a female that has good length of body , good head and mait her to the poor headed male. Then take him out after four weeks wait one week put the short bodied male with the perfect head in with her. Toe punch the chicks and the next year mait the best combed pullet with a long body back to the poor co mb male and take the best pullet from the poor comb male and mate to the short bodied male.
From this cross which I call the neutral female mating you can get a perfect bird. It may take three to five years. But it can be done.
Well that is my tip of the day. Remember me some day when you are sitting on the feed bucket and you see such a bird or two. These are the fun matings to put together. This is what separates a breeder from a chicken collector. I often wonder how many of you that come to this thread have R I Reds these days. We must be getting a good number. Keep plugging away and maybe next year this time we will have double the numbers of Red fanciers. Pray for the production reds. I wonder how to breed them for color.
I'm in Iowa actually. I guess I should update some profile information lol
