The Wyandotte Thread

[CatKai]

Saw these birds in person today! Beautiful!

Sorry for the picture heavy post, but I haven't taken any pics of the girls and boys lately. All these beautiful bird pics being posted it made me get off my duff and snap a few since we have a beautiful day out. These are not all the birds, just the ones that would cooperate.

 

[slick4591]

Thank you! Really enjoyed meeting you and your DH!

 

[jockeyeba]

I know now why you can't find many SLW eggs.....

 

Exactly!! I know now why my SLW are so hard to get chicks out of. Sigh... So frustrating! I'm on the look out for eggs too. Even if I have to sacrifice a little on conformation for fertility I will. (no I won't be getting a hatchery bird) What good is a HUGE beautiful bird that can't reproduce? So far that's what I have. Gorgeous birds from great lines... that have had at the best 30% fertility. I haven't trimmed fluff or will I do AI. For me if a bird can't reproduce naturally I guess they won't be on my farm. I do LOVE my SLWs though and everyone that sees them says they are the most beautiful birds they've ever seen. I lost my Foley roo about a month ago and have just my Rick Hare rooster left. I sold my hens down to just 6 in hopes that less hens for him to cover will up my fertility. Well see come spring I'm hoping to get more chicks on the ground! I did keep one hen that I hatched out of my own birds and she is just beautiful! So I know that when the do make chicks they make lovely ones! 
Heres Ricky and the Girls... 

 

[jockeyeba]

I just wanted to share with other wyandotte lovers some of the pics I took of my birds today. Love seeing everyones flocks. Dragon above Senior Rooster Harley youngest cockerel. My beloved Henrietta. She just started laying last week. Can't WAIT to start hatching her eggs. Part of the gang lol. Left to right. Dragon, Lila,Harley and originally named "Splash" Lucky, the only survivor of my youngsters that were attacked and killed by my own dog (who no longer lives here) The one thing my guardian dog could not protect against. Lesson learned! So devastated though on both counts. Harley, he is only about 7-8 months old now. He is HUGE! Louise in mid itch. Lila One last pic of Harley because he is a ham.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Here is some of mine.

beautiful

 

[Miss Molly]

One more pic These guys remind me of christmas all year long

Oh My.. Simply amazing. I have never seen this color before. Is it the picture or is he really got green feathers?

 

[Chickenhill]

Oh My.. Simply amazing. I have never seen this color before. Is it the picture or is he really got green feathers?

Thanks HIs feather's shine that lovely green like that if there is even an ounce of light to reflect it.

 

[DaphneNL]

I'm so in love with those green feathers. So beautiful!

 

[jockeyeba]

Oh My.. Simply amazing. I have never seen this color before. Is it the picture or is he really got green feathers?

Thanks HIs feather's shine that lovely green like that if there is even an ounce of light to reflect it. 

Yes he's a beauty, reminds me of my big guy

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Oh wow, I guess I can come back to this thread! I suggested a year ago on this thread that the super low fertility in SLWs was because of the rose comb and I got super-duper yelled at and told that there was no fertility issue in the breed. I made googly eyes and stopped posting, but I didn't stop reading. Glad the attitude has changed.

I don't think there's any reason you'd have to lose the good type of the SLW to get fertility back. It's not the feathers or the fluff that's the issue, it's the comb. RR males have sperm that don't work very well, and they don't have much of it. The rose comb gene also makes them less willing to mount and breed, and RR hens are seen by the roosters to be scarier and require more courting than Rr hens. So don't abandon the type - just go find single combs. If you breed enough back into the SLW that they start producing single combs semi-regularly, your fertility should be pretty close to normal again.