The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[Amer]

Right, I get it. Yeah it would be my luck to get all the colors I didn't want. And then you produce the one holy grail chick or poult you have been trying so hard for... and then it dies.

Like one of the two Grizzled Chocolate Painted poults at home keeps flipping over on its back. Those never thrive and always have to be culled. It is called Flipping Poult Syndrome or something like that. Why it happens in some poults isn't well understood. The same thing happened with the one and only fully penciled Tiger Bronze poult I hatched last year. It just died though without the flipping.

And funny thing happened yesterday. We gave some chicks to a friend and my husband came one ace of giving him some of my Buffs. Like literally they were in the box and he was on his way out the door. I nearly had a heart attack when I found them in there. It's a good thing I double checked after he boxed them. I had leg banded the chicks that were going to our friend yellow and pink, based on which breed they were. My husband saw the red leg bands on 3 of my Buffs and thought it was pink. That could have been bad.

Aaaaaah
My d'Anvers are always the ones to die if chicks die for some reason. I'm tryyyying to breed health and vigor into them. We get the most eggs from them (more breeding birds) but they seem to hatch the least. I did do an outcross, but the effects only last for one generation.

 

[Amer]

The reason I got rid of the blue d'Anvers (bird in my avatar) is because they were just unhealthy.

 

[KF0002]

Aaaaaah
My d'Anvers are always the ones to die if chicks die for some reason. I'm tryyyying to breed health and vigor into them. We get the most eggs from them (more breeding birds) but they seem to hatch the least. I did do an outcross, but the effects only last for one generation.

Oh no! We are noticing the same thing in a very old line of Gamefowl we have. The original line is no longer hatching at all pure. We outcrossed a similar line into them and we are working on line breeding back to pure but the closer we get them to pure the less they will hatch. We can get them down to 7/8 and hatch a few, but past 3/4 of the pure line and the hatch rate goes way down. The line has just been maintained pure for so long, and the birds have all been bred closely related because he started with a pair or trio over twenty years ago, so the gene pool is small. Plus, the pure birds we have are getting way old. I feel you on that. The line may eventually be lost, but it is what it is.

 

[NagemTX]

That down pattern doesn't look full duckwing. Duckwing chicks have the eye stripe and head triangle, and darker chipmunk markings on their back. Maybe they have a split base, like e+/eb or e+/eWh? They are extremely cute though and I wish I had some.

They could be wheaten splits. If the line has been bolstered to get back the Ameraucana look and egg color wheaten would be the best option.

 

[KF0002]

The reason I got rid of the blue d'Anvers (bird in my avatar) is because they were just unhealthy.

Breeding for vigor is definitely important. And if birds from a line fail to thrive due to lack of vigor and illness resistance, it is very frustrating. I could tell a huge difference in the vigor of the Red Leghorns I ordered from MM hatchery and the Browns and Whites. The Browns and Whites were very robust and strong, while the Reds were weak. Even if I would have mananged to end up with a pair, outcrossing was the only hope the line has at any vigor as chicks whatsoever. I had to baby the two cockerels I ended up with for a long time until they were strong enough to put outdoors.

 

[NagemTX]

Silver Ameraucana are a work in progress as there are so few breeders of them. I'm almost tempted to stop my other projects and just work on them.

I just love my Crested EEs tho. Especially when made with Spitzhauben. They are so personable.

 

[Amer]

Breeding for vigor is definitely important. And if birds from a line fail to thrive due to lack of vigor and illness resistance, it is very frustrating. I could tell a huge difference in the vigor of the Red Leghorns I ordered from MM hatchery and the Browns and Whites. The Browns and Whites were very robust and strong, while the Reds were weak. Even if I would have mananged to end up with a pair, outcrossing was the only hope the line has at any vigor as chicks whatsoever. I had to baby the two cockerels I ended up with for a long time until they were strong enough to put outdoors.

Yeah, the only vigor my birds have to claim is disease resistance. Any bird that gets sick is an instant cull and I don't breed from birds that are thin or un-vigorous.

 

[KF0002]

Yeah, the only vigor my birds have to claim is disease resistance. Any bird that gets sick is an instant cull and I don't breed from birds that are thin or un-vigorous.

Same here. If a chick doesn’t thrive or grow we cull it. You want them hitting the ground running and robust so you’re not having to doctor them all the time. We won’t breed from birds unless they are good size and condition, with bright clear eyes, and cherry red combs. Their comb is a big indicator of health in adult birds. I don’t have birds with black or mulberry colored combs but that has always proven true in chickens with normal red combs.

 

[KF0002]

Silver Ameraucana are a work in progress as there are so few breeders of them. I'm almost tempted to stop my other projects and just work on them.

I just love my Crested EEs tho. Especially when made with Spitzhauben. They are so personable.

Yeah you wouldn’t want to part with them if you enjoy them. I have talked to my husband about getting rid of the Games, but he loves them and would regret getting rid of them once they were gone. So they remain.

 

[NagemTX]

Yeah you wouldn’t want to part with them if you enjoy them. I have talked to my husband about getting rid of the Games, but he loves them and would regret getting rid of them once they were gone. So they remain.

Yeah I'm not in love with the silkies I have so I'm going to sell them. Just can't get into them.