What do you think of the quality of my new Dutch bantams? Pics

[ChickenCharmer]

Last Saturday I bought a trio of Dutch banties for $100: 1 light brown hen, 1 light brown Rooster, and 1 blue light brown hen. I think they're gorgeous! Tell me what you think of them:

The light brown hen:

THe blue light brown hen:

THe light brown rooster:

THe trio:

SO what do you think? Did I get a good deal? Are they good quality?


I plan on breeding them, but not sure if I should also include the BLB. The breeder said that breed the LB rooster with the BLB hen will yield both LB and BLB offspring. Is this true or would breeding them make a total mix-breed?

Thanks,
Madelief

 

[kswaterfowl]

I think they are nice looking birds! There is a breeder on here, Pathfinder I think, she is into Dutch and can give you a more technical answer, but they look fairly nice to me. My wife and 4-H age brother-in-laws dabble in Dutch. They have some "Gritter-stock" and a couple of other bloodlines, but they have a hard time hatching females...

so they have a lot of nice males, but only a small number of hens.

Oh and as far as LB and BLB, you will get 50-50 on the colors. It is the same as most any other blue, black splash genetics, as far as numbers go. You don't mess things up until you start adding the cream light browns and blue cream light browns in there.

 

[ChickenCharmer]

How would they do in show?

 

[Pathfinders]

I normally will not critique Dutch by other breeders in public, don't feel it's fair to them. But given your location and who you likely purchased them from, I think I can say you will probably do well with them at shows (although you can expect the breeder to beat you pretty regularly, she has some of the best birds in North America.) The price was good, I sell mine for $50 each, so you got a good deal!

Now, I'll list the (very few) minor negatives first, and then list the positives. I'm going to be very picky here, and please note that none of what I mention below will prevent you from showing these birds:

1) The LB male seems to have rather more fluff at the base of his tail than I would generally prefer. Dutch are supposed to have fluff, but not too much. This male is just slightly over the line that I would keep for myself, which is probably why the breeder sold him to you. It's not a big deal, just a comment.

2) I can't see the wing carriage on the LB male well enough to comment, in the one pic it looks a little low, but that may be because he is crowing.

3) I'd like to see the LB male's wing bows be slightly lighter in color. This is something I am dealing with myself, so I notice it. Judges may not.

4) The only other thing I will note is that the tail angle in the male is slightly more abrupt than I would prefer, but again, this is something I am working with so am more picky about it, and some judges don't even notice.

When you look at a Dutch bird, you should imagine that you can place a tennis ball along the curve of their back/tail. You want the shape those make to be a U, as opposed to a V, does that make sense?

Now, I'll tell you what I definitely like about these birds:

1) The females all have good color. Stippling in Dutch is hard to control, and these have it very nicely done (which tells me who the breeder was I'm pretty sure, and she's a friend of mine.)

2) The females have lovely curved sickle feathers, which is always important. Straight ones don't give you the beautiful curved feathers you want in their sons, so this is great to have.

3) Both of the females have 7 tail feathers, which is excellent. (Some have only six.) So you did well there for sure!

4) The females appear to have 5 points on their combs, which is also important (and not always easy to get.) This is a big plus.

5) I adore the Blue Light Brown pullet, she's just lovely. If you ever want to sell her, you let me know.

6) The earlobes on the LB male are good, nice and flat, which is sometimes hard to get.

7) The tail on the LB male is free from shafting, which is very good (I sometimes have shafting issues, so I am very aware of this too.)

8) His comb seems nice and straight, free from thumbprints which is a typical Dutch issue, so you did ok there as well.

All in all I'd say you got very good value for your money, and you should be able to take these to any show in the US and do well with them. No one can guarantee wins of course, and it's hard to critique from just a few pictures (always easier to do so by looking at the bird in person), but from what I can see you got some very nice birds here. Best of luck with them!