The Wyandotte Thread

[PeakyBeaky]

A few pictures from the Birchen project: The hens are now laying and were hatched January to March ....seems I had pullets in the early hatches and more cockerels in the later ones. Saved back three hens fom this hear and have to make a decision on the cockerels in the next few months. The hens all have yellow under black legs, but the cockerels have yellow legs.







You can see these guys are several months younger than the hens but the yellow legs stand out. There is a Blue Birchen in that first picture.



Then here are the two saved from the Blue Columbian pen this year.

 

[NanaKat]

Thank you. These three hens will be bred to the best Birchen male kept from this year's cockerels. They are offspring from different sires. Unfortunately both sires died during our drought heat wave this summer. Normally I would breed the hens to their sire. but he died when the pullets were three months old. All the cockerels from their sire have yellow legs. I can still breed to sons to the mother. This has been a nice project even with the setbacks.

You can see also that the Blue Columbian cockerel has a comb that is not ideal, but he has good type, a nice broad back and rear, nice color too.

 

[delisha]

NanaKat,

What a wonderful educational picture collage of types of good and bad combs on Dotties. Thank you for the time and effort putting this together. I have learned some important information.

(Love the Columbian)

 

[delisha]

The Wisconsin Internationals were this weekend. The Champion LF was a White Wyandotte pullet. With 2300 entries she was a top notch bird. A SLW was Reserve Champion and I was fortunate enough to purchase a few siblings.
I had a bird also on Champion Row and a few BV and BB in my other birds. It was very exciting and tons of fun.



My AM



My Orp







Even with a small cut on her leg she placed well..

 

[NanaKat]

Vicki, Congratulations on your placings!! Beautiful birds.
Love that White Wyandotte too. Thanks for posting the pictures.

 

[delisha]

Vicki, Congratulations on your placings!! Beautiful birds.
Love that White Wyandotte too. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Thank you very much..
I loved the Winners..those dotties made mine look like small baby's. Beautiful birds..I was fortunate to purchase a few of the SLW siblings..no go on the white Dotte though..he was not selling anything. (I would not either)

 

[dracoe19]

Dracoe has posted some sketches of the ideal Comb... really nice sketches too.

I have nice type and color in the Columbian pens. And have made progress in the Blue Columbian and the Birchen pens.

Here are some photos for comparison from my flock both good and bad combs. I'm culling the bad combs by the way.

The first is a Birchen Wyandotte project bird. Several views of his comb which has nice size, and texture. His wattles also have the fine grained texture. The tip of the comb could lay closer to the contour of his head, but otherwise it is a nice comb. Even though he has three white feathers in his tail, he will cover a test pen of three nicely marked Birchen hens in the Spring.

He is standing with his rear against the fence so it has thrown off his stance.


A Columbian Wyandotte 8 month old cockerel in the keeper pen has a nice small finely textured comb and wattles. He is on the watch list to see if he develops the wide chest I want for a breeder. The point fits the curve of his head and has a nice tip.







These three are young cockerels about 6 months of age. The one the left front has a small comb while the cockerel behind has a fleshy comb that is smooth textured. I suspect it will get too large by 8 months. The one on the right has a fork in the tip with three spikes.
Wattles are too small on the two in front at this point. The two on the left will be watched for the next two months to see if the type fills out and if the color improves. The one on the right goes in the freezer soon.


Now for some really BAD substandard combs:
This Columbian Wyandotte has really nice type and color but his comb is lacking due to the sprigs on the side of the tip. The texture in the front of the comb is nice, but as the comb follows the contour of his head, it becomes more bumpy. The wattles have nice texture, but have too many folds for my taste.






And this Birchen cockerel has way too many dimples and flesh. He also has nice type and color. The tip of the comb has notches on the tip that are not acceptable.






Chicks at 8 weeks will begin to show the contour in their combs..especially in the tips of the combs. I will take some photos of some 12 - 16 week olds that exhibit good and bad combs tomorrow.

Thank you very much! These are great reference for comb quality's

 

[Cluckerbocker]

I am looking for Bantam Wyandotte hatching eggs. The only ones I saw on buy/sell/trade were partridge and that isn't really our first choice. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where I might find someone who is willing to part with a few?

 

[NanaKat]

I am looking for Bantam Wyandotte hatching eggs. The only ones I saw on buy/sell/trade were partridge and that isn't really our first choice. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where I might find someone who is willing to part with a few?

Try looking on this thread. Large fowl are listed first just scroll down to the Bantam breeders.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/722437/2013-wyandotte-breeders-list-directory

 

[Chickenhill]

A few pictures from the Birchen project: The hens are now laying and were hatched January to March ....seems I had pullets in the early hatches and more cockerels in the later ones. Saved back three hens fom this hear and have to make a decision on the cockerels in the next few months. The hens all have yellow under black legs, but the cockerels have yellow legs.

You can see these guys are several months younger than the hens but the yellow legs stand out. There is a Blue Birchen in that first picture.

Then here are the two saved from the Blue Columbian pen this year.

Your project birds are looking great. You have come a long way. She is just gorgeous! Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to share!