Tolbunt Polish

[Illia]

Yes, and I love him! So curly.

I would say Tolbunt roo x GL hen. That way your hen won't suffer the possibilities of a low egg production or low fertility, and it looks like your GL cockerel in the photo has just the same tail and body issues as the hen in the front.

How's the crest, beard, and muffs on the one in the background though? She seems to have a tiny beard. . .

I'd really just say replace the GL cockerel or get rid of him, and put the Tolbunt in with the GL females.

Just my two cents though. I like my breeding Polish to look good, otherwise I find it the hatchery's job to breed the rest

 

[sutillman]

I'll have to get a pic of my new GL roo. Got rid of Satan. And believe me he earned that name! That was the meanest chicken I have ever come across.

 

[Sportsterjeep]

Quote:
What you want to do is put your Tolbunt roo over a GL hen. Her color doesn't have to be perfect, but make sure her type is the best you can get. If you can, put him over two or three GL and your Tolbunt hen. Breed this combination and grow out everything. Tolbunts normally don't start laying until about a year old. So you can essentially breed this initial set for quite awhile. Take the pullets and put them back under the roo and get rid of the gold laced hens. The initial chicks from the gold laced breeding will be closer to a gold laced in color. After about two generations of going back to the roo, they will be back to the normal tolbunt color. I had a conversation at the beginning of the month with Phil Clauer, Penn States top poultry guru. According to him, to get the best genetic stability out of anything with poor starting genetics, you should do your initial outcross and then not do it again for 5 generations. This will give the best health and genetic stability in the line. Sutillman, you already have a wonderful looking GL line from the pics and auctions I've seen on here, so you have a good start on alot of others in breeding Tolbunts.

Illia, don't get excited about the color, once your roos go through their initial molt, their colors will change.

As far as hatching eggs, $150 and up per doz is usually the norm. And with buying hatching eggs, your taking a risk because of shipping and fertility issues. Find someone who has a good line and wait for grown out birds. Most breeders that are in it to better the line won't even sell eggs. These breeders are the ones that are hatching everything and growing out every chick. Then turning the very best back into their own program. Birds themselves are pricey to buy, but for the most part with a good breeder you know what you are getting. We have a disclaimer right on our website that says we will not sell any Tolbunt eggs and we still get tons of requests for eggs. We do have a waiting list on this coming years birds that will be grown out. Probably around October we will start parting with what we are not keeping. We are also working together with Bad Azz Silkies (Ultra1Classic on byc) on this line, so anyone who is looking for pairs and trios that are not brother and sister, feel free to PM.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Oh I'm aware of that. . . I just want to start out with and continue with the least white in them. If there's one thing that is a common fault in Tolbunts out there, it's a LOT of white.

ETA - My goal is to have birds, especially at a young age like these, to have coloring this good:

 

[sutillman]

Anybody else see this ad on featherauction.com? Great chance for somebody wanting tolbunts. Couldn't breed them to each other of course, but could sit and look at them!
http://www.featherauction.com/detail.asp?id=567&n=frizzled-tolbunt-polish-flock

 

[Illia]

Whoa, umm, that's Lucinda's (Green Acres Poultry) breeding flock. Is she starting over, giving up, or getting brand new birds?

 

[sutillman]

Maybe she's just overrun with frizzles?

 

[jeremy]

Has any one considered ordering a bunch of LF Gold Laced Polish from a hatchery (Gasp! Did I just say hatchery??? Yes.

) in order to do outcrossings with a Tolbunt roo?

I mean, if you ordered like 100 pullets you would have to get something to work with, right?

It's an idea I would seriously consider, I just have to get a Tolbunt roo...

I understand it would probably take an unheard if amount of time breeding the hatchery stock to the proposed SOP, but honestly what Tolbunt project doesn't take along time?

 

[Illia]

Quote:
I'll be honest with you, for someone like, err, myself, who isn't a fan at all of hatcheries - I use hatchery based Silver and Gold Laced Polish hens for my Tolbunt boys.

Since good quality, non-hatchery laced LF Polish are SOOOO hard to find, I don't see what is wrong with it. The key is simply to go for the good stuff, cull hard. I honestly have yet to even see other Tolbunt owners with good looking laced hens.

And btw, yay! The Tolbunt thread is back up top.

 

[jeremy]

If it's all you got, you've gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm getting a dozen LF WCB hatching eggs from Dick Horstman in March, they aren't Tolbunts but they might just satisfy my Polish craving for now.