So if I am understanding this male line / female line:
Using the example from way back: A female line would be when you create a breeding pair that produces exceptional hens, and the male line is when you would produce the exceptional roo. I think the example was with a really nice laced hen, and a roo that had great laceing, and a roo that had not so great lacing.
Based on what Rudy was explaining on page 361 See below:
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So, with parti-colored birds, like SL, GL, Partridge and Silver Pencilled, etc., the male and female have distinct but related patterns. When the SOP was developed, many of the varieties were just being established. The goal was to breed the most beautiful birds possible and so, the writers came up with a standard that they thought was perfect.
If we look at Partridge/SP as an example (since that what I have), the breast color of the male should be black with no or very little red/white(SP). In a hen, the breast should be well laced with full lacing and closed lacing: No solid colors! Actually, if you mate a male with no red in the breast, it is more difficult to get excellent lacing, even if you use well-laced females. Sure, if you hatch 200, you'll find a handful that you like, but if you used a male like the one in the picture, you might find 30-50 instead of 5-10 that you like.
Lets use hackle color as a further example. The hackle of the male should be solid black with a mahogany edge. The female should be laced. If you have solid hackles in the females, they will throw solid hackled males. Unfortunately, they will not throw as nicely laced of females as you would like. If you have a male with some off color in the hackles, that could translate to better hackles in the females, but he is not as show quality as you would like.
From this comes the idea of "double mating." That is where you use a male that is excellent with females that compliment his color but themselves do not have excellent female color. You use females with excellent color with a male that compliments them but actually looks like the male in the pic.
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So in time , a goal, would you then hope that you could cross the roo from the good male line results, with a Hen from the good hen line results and get a more consistent quality of the good in both Pullets and Cockerals, out of a single mating? This would be the ultimate goal for producing consistent quality birds of both sexes.
Then I would guess if you were down the road needing to improve some thing that is being lost, you may go back into which ever line produces what you are lacking. Maybe it is the laceing in the hens.
I know this post must be complicated to follow, but hopefully, I am getting a good understanding of some of the ways chickens are bred.
Kris
Using the example from way back: A female line would be when you create a breeding pair that produces exceptional hens, and the male line is when you would produce the exceptional roo. I think the example was with a really nice laced hen, and a roo that had great laceing, and a roo that had not so great lacing.
Based on what Rudy was explaining on page 361 See below:
______________________________________
So, with parti-colored birds, like SL, GL, Partridge and Silver Pencilled, etc., the male and female have distinct but related patterns. When the SOP was developed, many of the varieties were just being established. The goal was to breed the most beautiful birds possible and so, the writers came up with a standard that they thought was perfect.
If we look at Partridge/SP as an example (since that what I have), the breast color of the male should be black with no or very little red/white(SP). In a hen, the breast should be well laced with full lacing and closed lacing: No solid colors! Actually, if you mate a male with no red in the breast, it is more difficult to get excellent lacing, even if you use well-laced females. Sure, if you hatch 200, you'll find a handful that you like, but if you used a male like the one in the picture, you might find 30-50 instead of 5-10 that you like.
Lets use hackle color as a further example. The hackle of the male should be solid black with a mahogany edge. The female should be laced. If you have solid hackles in the females, they will throw solid hackled males. Unfortunately, they will not throw as nicely laced of females as you would like. If you have a male with some off color in the hackles, that could translate to better hackles in the females, but he is not as show quality as you would like.
From this comes the idea of "double mating." That is where you use a male that is excellent with females that compliment his color but themselves do not have excellent female color. You use females with excellent color with a male that compliments them but actually looks like the male in the pic.
_______________________
So in time , a goal, would you then hope that you could cross the roo from the good male line results, with a Hen from the good hen line results and get a more consistent quality of the good in both Pullets and Cockerals, out of a single mating? This would be the ultimate goal for producing consistent quality birds of both sexes.
Then I would guess if you were down the road needing to improve some thing that is being lost, you may go back into which ever line produces what you are lacking. Maybe it is the laceing in the hens.
I know this post must be complicated to follow, but hopefully, I am getting a good understanding of some of the ways chickens are bred.
Kris
