|
Post by littlechicklet on Jul 11, 2013 21:49:30 GMT -5
Thanks. That is my little Tonka; he is the only cockerel I am keeping out of that cross. The others are either dark blue, not as wide and/or have light eyes. I really like that little pullet too but she doesn't have a name yet. Actually, Tonka and one of the buffs, Pasty, are the only ones with names so far.
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Jul 12, 2013 11:52:50 GMT -5
I only name mostly boys too. This is my soon to be 5 year old Black cock that I've used for 3 years. He is nice size. Not big by any stratch of the imagination. But a solid 10.5 lbs plus cock. Last year 2 of my mentors, Harry and Alan both encouraged me to use my sons of my Brown/Red. Both like the cock I called Yosemitee. I did use him and his brother. I like to have someone down the road who can take over the better pen. Heck I have 2 5 year old Black hens who still are laying.
Hoping some of these young boys work out.
|
|
|
Post by littlechicklet on Jul 12, 2013 13:57:19 GMT -5
The rooster reminds me of my cockerel I am using. My cockerel, Uno, is still growing out but will be a year old in September. I have not looked at him closely lately but yours appears to have a higher tail angle, maybe a shorter back and much better comb. I will try to get a pic of him today and post it. I have always liked him even with his faults. Here he is a while back, not sure exactly when. And if my blues do not work out I think I will concentrate on blacks......maybe.
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Jul 12, 2013 14:17:05 GMT -5
He does look nice and wide. Here is the one of Feran's sons I can see worth keeping around for a while. It seems to me the chicks who seem to grow faster then they can cover themselves with feathers wind up being good size birds. This boy on the right is one of them types. These are my oldest of the season. I have a couple more younger boys who qualify to being like this fella. One other trait that seems not to matter much nowadays is a clean face. Feran has the clean face look I hope to keep. A blurry pic of him. I like most everything. The only trait I have to wait on is tail angle.
|
|
|
Post by littlechicklet on Jul 12, 2013 15:20:33 GMT -5
Glad you mentioned about the clean face. My black does not have a completely clean face. I wasn't going to use him because of that and use his blue brother (which Don said was the better cockerel and I agree) but he was lost in a predator attack. So I fell back on the only one I had left: Uno the black one.
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Jul 12, 2013 19:09:36 GMT -5
I have 8 hens in with Feran. 3 are from Korfus, one is from Russ Milkey. Yeah the clean face he has is what I like too. One trait I want to keep is a longer back. So, when I get a pullet like this I will use them back to Feran and hope for good rounded front and a broad back in the offspring. So, many Orps nowadays have very short backs. Doug told me to keep the birds with extreme features. Like higher tail angle and in this case a very long back.
|
|
|
Post by littlechicklet on Jul 12, 2013 21:21:35 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Jul 13, 2013 18:13:46 GMT -5
First off Littlechicklet I do not candy coat when you say what do you think. I look at the whole bird and say it how I see him. I love the thick leg bones and nice clean face. I think both those traits seem to not be on many folk's radar when it comes to building a bird. Nice lower profile comb and dark eyes. Nice wide back, another trait I see many birds in need of. I like the nice wide feathers too. He looks like a taller boy. The only trait I would seek to improve is a more fuller rounded breast. I know that is not any easy one when it comes to our Orps males. My Black boy too could use some more upfront. The tail seems to be like a lot of my Black's tails. Again not an easy fix. you will have to hatch the cr@p outta him and pic the best females from his daughters to take back to him. I was willing to go outside the Black Orp world for a fix to both of the traits I mentioned and used an older Buff Orp hen from Doug Akers to get some help with the tails and fuller rounder breast. I have 2 boys from Harold who I think may help me down the road. This is what I did. One of the 2 boys from last season. This is Yosemitee, his has a cleaner face. Nice bones, frost damaged comb. He is a bit aggressive breeder as Doug would say. He just came out of solitary confinement yesterday for fighting me. To assure he did not die, I caged him up for 2 plus months. I have his brother in with this boys girls. He is the one that Alan said I should not hesitate in using. This I his brother. I have him in with my 2nd best Black pen girls. He has more the tail that your boy has Chicklet. One trait I hope to not pass down. Not quite as full a front as I would like. The hens however have the nice rounder front.
|
|
|
Post by littlechicklet on Jul 13, 2013 19:50:22 GMT -5
Thank you. I think your thoughts on him and mine are about the same. I am hoping his breast will fill out some as he gets older (maybe wishful thinking on my part). I can't hatch crap loads but I will use him and pick the best girls. I have some full Korfus, a hen and a pullet, that I am going to cross him over. They have the full breast and nice tails. I am hoping to add some height to the offspring along with the other desirable traits. Its just a personal preference on my part but I like a taller bird. My Korfus rooster is nice but too short for my liking. Here's a pic of him with the better pullet. I swear I don't know how she walks up hill without scotching herself with her chest. She also has a nice comb and very dark eyes. I think I read somewhere that as long as an Orp is balanced it can't be too short. I took it to mean you can't have a huge body on little stumpy legs just as you can't have a small body on tall thick legs. If I am remembering and understanding correctly then if you add height you must balance the rest of the bird to it. Its all just a hobby and fun for me so I will just see what happens. I mean the Korfus line speaks for itself and I am not in anyway trying to improve on it but just wanting to tweak my birds to what I want to see. On your cockerels I like the body on the first one better but I like the head on the second one better. I see what you mean by the chest and tail. On both of them I like that you can see a good portion of their hock (another thing I like).
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Jul 13, 2013 19:58:20 GMT -5
Wow Chicklet I do like that pullet. She looks like a winner to me. I am not a good authority of Blue color. The only thing I could see needing some improvement is a more even color of Blue on her. But, geesh, what else? Not too much, great bird!!!
|
|
|
Post by littlechicklet on Jul 13, 2013 20:28:53 GMT -5
Thank you. I can't take any credit for her; she is all Korfus. I love her look too and I am just learning about the blue color. I don't think she has the best color and is not laced well either. She was laced very nice when she was a chick but lost it. She has not gone through her first molt yet and I don't know how that will affect her color. She really looks bad right now: the sun has faded her and the rooster has wore down her back feathers.
The only things I would want to change on those two birds are: height, better blue coloring and the comb on the cockerel. So I am hoping by crossing her with my black cockerel to add some of that big chest and nice tail to the offspring. We will see.
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Jul 14, 2013 8:53:49 GMT -5
You have some nice birds to work with. It takes time and you should be rewarded with some nice ones. Good luck and have fun!
|
|
|
Post by lildinkem on Aug 2, 2013 17:04:59 GMT -5
A pic of one of my better male offspring from this season.
|
|
|
Post by littlechicklet on Aug 2, 2013 19:39:01 GMT -5
I really like him. My black that I kept, Tonka, is either going through a growth spurt and is all gangly or he is not going to be anywhere near as nice as I thought. He must have come from BB because he has light eyes. They are not as light as BB's are but lighter than I want.
|
|
|
Post by korfuskluckers on Aug 2, 2013 20:03:02 GMT -5
How old is the male in the pictures with the EE. I would say he is young and has more filling out to do. I would like to see him a little longer in the back (big problem with some orps) more width and a little deeper in the chest, but he might get this with age. Hope this helps. I would keep him and watch him until he is finished.
|
|