The Wyandotte Thread

[delisha]

Quote: Pork trimmings

 

[delisha]

Quote: I agree 100%. The Judges are putting up bigger looking birds. If you want the points you breed to the points. Bigger looking birds win. If you breed weight to the SOP and you travel and pay for entries and hotel and food and come home with your SOP bird and no points and the bird who looks bigger wins..it is challenging and frustrating and a ton of fun even if you don't win. I bred my birds to how I interpret the SOP. A Judge chooses his win on his interpretation. My birds look bigger. I do not push it over the 20%, but I sure hope and pray I get darn close.

 

[delisha]

Quote: wow...beautiful..how much does this fella weigh?
...His comb looks perfect. How old is he?

 

[gootziecat]

Delisha, the mouse is a nice touch. LOL. And your roaster is beautiful. If that's typical for dressed English Orps, I can see why they have become popular.

 

[delisha]

Delisha, the mouse is a nice touch. LOL. And your roaster is beautiful. If that's typical for dressed English Orps, I can see why they have become popular.

They have some seriously nice legs at dress out. Huge breasts. It is a really nice roasting bird. That one was a bit older than I butcher out normally, but, young enough to still roast. He was 8 months old and did not seem like he was going to stop growing..a bit of a freak. I like the taste of Orpington and Basque for eating. I also like HRIR, but not enough meat for me at a younger age. Dotties are a nice 5 lbs dress out at 14-18 weeks. I still have not decided if the flavor profiles of dotties are remarkable or not. I need a few more years eating them.

 

[WyandotteTX]

personally, if I were to show an APA recognized variety of Wyandotte, and my birds are at or close to the required weights (and meeting the standard as closely as possible otherwise), any birds that are significantly larger should be disqualified. if the judge is not doing this, I would file a protest...

for a standard weight of 8.5 pounds (Wyandotte cocks), 20% is only 1.7 pounds (1 pound 11 ounces) so any roosters over 10.2 pounds (10 pounds 3 ounces) SHOULD be disqualified...

Large birds will never be disqualified, they will just not be put into the higher positions when the judge places the birds. If you file a protest, they will disregard it and look at you cross ways honestly. Not trying to call you out or anything, just giving you a heads up is all. Judges really do not like being called out for any "mistakes" in someone else's eyes and they will be the first to tell you that.
The big Wyandottes look big not because of their weight. Sure they have a significant amount of weight but it is the fluff and feather quality that makes exhibition birds look so big. That is part of the reason it takes them so long to mature as they put a lot of effort into growing quality large feathers that make them appear as they should.
Sixpugs is right, that is the true difference in hatchery and exhibition quality birds, it is the quality of feather. Most hatchery birds may have a decent comb, some have some decent type but their feather quality is always going to be smaller and harder.
None of those birds weigh anywhere close to 15 Lbs and are not on steroids in any way. You just saw the true difference between quality exhibition birds and birds that are bred for utility, not for a breed standard.

 

[jockeyeba]

about the breeders you mentioned I only know of Foley and Paul. that being said I've heard enough about the Paul Birds to steer clear. most of the best birds came from a well-known deceased breeder named David Lefeber.Foley sourced from him

I have 4 Ruth Caron birds that we bought as 4 week old chicks-love them x

wow...beautiful..how much does this fella weigh? ...His comb looks perfect. How old is he?

Thanks Delisha he's 16 months old. He looks huge but I've never tried to weigh him, I don't have a scale, I'll have to try using my vegetable scale

 

[sixpugs]

I feed all of my birds... oyster shell, layer, all flock, scratch grain, cracked corn, veggies from the garden and they free range... we have geese and peacocks so I try to keep everyone higher proteins.  I am seeing that I must need to include calf manna in their diet?

Okay one of the problems I see is you don't have enough fat in their diet. Your protein levels are lower due to using both corn & scratch(which has a lot of corn).
adding vegetables is a nice thing, the greener the better. Calf Manna is a superior product but some birds won't eat it. try adding seeds with a higher fat content like black oil sunflower seeds.you can also top dress with a little bit of corn oil or vegetable oil. adding things like a little bit of cat food or dog food to their diet a couple times a week can boost your protein. but again free ranging is going to prevent them from putting much weight on & it's also not going to do anything to help the quality of feather on your birds.
ultimately it comes down to good breeding and of course making the most out of what you already have.

 

[K Epp]

Sorry to butt in, nut what your saying is that birds that gree range are yhiner than those kept in a coop? Well that's a relief. I've been trying to figure out what to feed them because I thought they are thiner than normal. I feed mine a mix of 16% layer and Knock Out scratch. They free range all day and eat a little bit of everything kitchen scraps, cat, dog, and goat food. Right now the prize good is June Bugs. I have wormed them and they look healthy. I have been asking atound and was told to feed them game bird conditioner to really fatten them up.

 

[ki4got]

Sorry to butt in, nut what your saying is that birds that gree range are yhiner than those kept in a coop? Well that's a relief. I've been trying to figure out what to feed them because I thought they are thiner than normal. I feed mine a mix of 16% layer and Knock Out scratch. They free range all day and eat a little bit of everything kitchen scraps, cat, dog, and goat food. Right now the prize good is June Bugs. I have wormed them and they look healthy. I have been asking atound and was told to feed them game bird conditioner to really fatten them up.

IMO free ranged birds will be healthier in the long run because they're getting a varied diet and lots of exercise... yes they might be a bit thinner than caged birds, but unless you're conditioning for the table or maybe show, they'll be healthier over all.

as for feather condition, when they're not broody or moulting I see no difference between feather contition between caged or free ranged birds. if anything the caged birds wings and tail aren't quite what they should be because they're hitting the wire when they flap, or backing into it periodically. hens' feathers do suffer more, because of the roos, so they would get penned just for that reason.