there seems to be very few of these birds available in my area lancashire england . is there a problem in breeding as they are a lovely bird.ps i just have a unrelated pair.
Rose comb birds have a fertility problem, but you usually do not notice it if you mate in trios or pairs. Male sperm viability is cut in half by some side effect of rose comb, but as long as the male can frequently mate with the hens you don't see a problem.
thanks for your reply rokimoto could you please explain the term double mating.
He did. "Double mating (breeding a male line and
thanks anonymous as you can probably tell im new to this job but iam learning fast.
We all started at the beginning ;-)
By Rokimoto on Sunday, December 9, 2001 - 12:24 pm:
Wyandottes also have the added problem of being heavily feathered. Males do not have a penis and the sperm must be transferred by contact. If there are too many feathers in the way you may not get many fertile eggs. Most breeders pluck the feathers from around the vents of the hens and roosters when they are trying to breed them. Some people clip these feathers instead of plucking them, but if you don't do it right mating frequency may go down because the rooster doesn't want to be stabbed by the feather stubs during the act.
The laced pattern is harder to breed than you think. Most of your males will be nonstandard if you breed nice looking pullets.
Double mating (breeding a male line and a female line) may be the best way to go with the laced pattern.
By Procky on Sunday, December 9, 2001 - 02:02 pm:
By Anonymous on Sunday, December 9, 2001 - 02:33 pm:
a female line) ...... "
In "double mating" one maintains a line just for
males and another line just for females. The
advantage is that, for example, the male line
produces high-quality males (or males with
desired traits) regardless of the females...., the
female line produces high-quality females (or
females with desired traits) regardless of what the
males in the line are like.
In such a breeding system, you don't have a single
breeding population that produces the desired
qualities in both males and females...
For example, we have a 'female' line of White
Rocks in which the males and females (both) have
hen tails. The males in this line have tails that look
like pullet tails... and very good pullet tails. The
cockerels do NOT have saddle feathers or sickle
feathers but they do have male-type hackle
feathers. The pullets that come from this line of
'androgenous' or unisex tails have superior (widely
spread) tails. Considerations like this are the
reasons that breeders maintain double mating
programs.
By Procky on Sunday, December 9, 2001 - 02:53 pm:
By Anonymous on Monday, December 10, 2001 - 12:59 am: