My brain isnt working with my fingers today so excuse how this is typed!!

 

Does anyone notice a difference in quality of siblings? I find the oldest and youngest in a nest are nice birds but the middle one is usually a cull, of course this isnt all the time but looking at a few clutches Ive had and ones I have now there is starting to be a trend.

I have 3 now feathering up oldest has good directional feather coming through with a nice mask, middle has feathers on the brow running straight back and a narrow head (compared to the others) and youngest is starting to look as good if not better than the oldest, strong brow and feathering.

 

Something I'll be keeping my eye on in the next few months

I can tell pretty early in the nest if it's above average.

Although some birds surprise me when they look like nothing and something triggers a change and it ends up the pick.

I have found the same as you, the start and end young are almost always better than the middle.

 

I have never had trouble breeding birds in the past or present with directional feather, because I think it's the first thing I look for in a stock bird. I do take feather into consideration and pluck a body feather from the same place off each bird to compare. I also take into account down density.

 

The area I always fall down in is depth of mask. Something I need to keep in mind this time around. It's easy to lose and hard to retrieve.

This cock is the sort of short mask bird I was getting.

 

This is the last hen I bred in 1996 before I chucked it in.

I had fixed my short mask issue by this stage after bringing in some out-crosses with extremely long masks.

 

 

Haven't bred any dom pieds yet, They were my speciality last time. I'm not as keen on them this time. Don't know why?? I have seen some crackers around. This young one from my many photo collection of past birds. No spot as the pied markings come up from the band and whipped them out. Still only a bar head in this shot.

 

 

Now to the present!

 

First nest spangle

The best out of the nest so far, more coming that look even better.

 

 

The middle two birds like this, this cock and a hen not as good, average ( Show wise )

 

 

The last good quality again

( Sorry for the blurry picture )

Edited June 24, 200817 yr by throwback