Which rooster to keep? (GLW)

[HappyClucker7]

It is a very windy day, their feathers do calm down better than this. I haven't noticed much difference in disposition yet; the rose approaches me faster about 80% of the time. The single's tail feathers seem pretty mussed up just now, so maybe they did have their first fight this morning?

When should I dispatch the one I choose to dispatch, speaking of? I assume I have another ~2 weeks to make this decision, but I'd appreciate feedback.

Single comb: View attachment 3132362
Single form: (am I taking "form" photos correctly? Happy to get insight)
View attachment 3132363

Rose comb: View attachment 3132368
Rose form:
View attachment 3132377
And here they are standing center of the reclining flock together, as they were evaluating (again) whether I was friend or foe:
View attachment 3132376

I would keep the rose combed boy. His shape and coloring is nicer than the single combed boy.

 

[punnett]

Thank you for all the genetics info & motility reassurance. If showing will require buying extra birds just for that purpose, I expect we'll wait and do that when the time comes, and just focus on meat & eggs for the table here and now.

I guess I will still aspire to move in the direction of SOP over the course of time just in case it works out, but I'll keep realistic expectations

 

[NatJ]

So: the birds are consistent in form (to my novice eye). One has a single comb, and one has a rose comb. I live in a cold climate, so I do want to lean in to the rose comb. But I've read about sperm motility issues in rose combs (ie) , and don't want to fry the single only to find the rose won't produce.

My understanding is that rose comb roosters do fine when they have a relatively small flock of hens, and mate with them all frequently. The problems tend to show up in large flocks, with hundreds of hens and the bare minimum of roosters (trying to get fertile eggs without feeding any extra roosters.) The fertility issues also do not happen when a rooster with a rose comb has one copy of the not-rose gene.

Unless you want to raise single comb not-quite-Wyandottes, or unless you find some other reason to prefer the one with the single comb, I would suggest keeping the one with the rose comb.

 

[punnett]

My understanding is that rose comb roosters do fine when they have a relatively small flock of hens, and mate with them all frequently. The problems tend to show up in large flocks, with hundreds of hens and the bare minimum of roosters (trying to get fertile eggs without feeding any extra roosters.) The fertility issues also do not happen when a rooster with a rose comb has one copy of the not-rose gene.

Unless you want to raise single comb not-quite-Wyandottes, or unless you find some other reason to prefer the one with the single comb, I would suggest keeping the one with the rose comb.

That makes plenty of sense!