I think the assessments of your birds given above are pretty spot on and also the advice given by Macka to seek out your club members. However, with that in mind the birds you cull will be dependant upon:

 

1. The number you have decided you require to breed/show/fill the aviary etc., and

 

2. The standard you have set for yourself (ie where you "set the bar" for your stud in regards show quality).

 

If you were to cull to the standand of a champion breeder you might not have any birds left! This is really a subjective thing and as we improve the quality of our birds hopefully the bar is raised to allow the disposal of better birds.

 

Finally, as a general guide, keep LOTS of hens and only the VERY BEST cocks.

I have around 39 birds now and roughly 15 cocks to 24 hens I think off the top of my head. I think I might try and give everyone at least one round before I get rid of them just incase they throw better and then if they're good parents I'll probably keep them as fosters.

Very good plan Linda! And probably close to the ratio of cocks to hens that you want.

Thanks, my partner said he's going to make me a breeding room and another two aviaries so I should have plenty of room for new additions :flowers:

Green Series...

 

Opaline Dilute Hen 09 (purchased for use with greywing cock)

 

 

best I could get for a closs up, this one doesn't like the camera much

 

 

Olive Green Opaline Greywing Spangle/recessive pied 09

 

 

 

photobucket is stuffing up so I'll add the rest later....

Keep your hens, even the old retired ones. Hens die more often in breeding and are harder to replace.

Green Series...

 

Opaline Dilute Hen 09 (purchased for use with greywing cock) - If you want to breed greywings then Opaline is not a great idea. You cannot show oplaine greywings as greywings, they must be shown as Opaline AOSV where they will have little chance of competing. Try and steer clear of opalines but if you must use her, remember that all cocks bred from her will be split for opaline AND KEEP TRACK OF IT. Secondly if the greywing cock is also split opaline, then you will get greywing opalines coming out everywhere.

 

 

best I could get for a closs up, this one doesn't like the camera much

 

 

Olive Green Opaline Greywing Spangle/recessive pied 09 - My thoughts here are - okay, he's not a terrible bird, particularly for an olive, BUT where are you going to use him. The opaline makes it really hard to utilize him in a greywing breeding program as does the spangle to some degree (but at least that's a dominant trait). Personally I would really struggle to find a suitable place to use this bird that is not going to stuff up a variety you are working on. BUT I would be tempted to keep him for his double dark factor and then try and slot him into my normals somewhere.

 

 

 

photobucket is stuffing up so I'll add the rest later....

Olive Green Opaline Greywing Spangle/recessive pied 09 - This is a hen.... I'm not sure where I'm going to use her either. The breeder gave her to me to use with my recessives. I'm not sure where I'll fit her in yet.

 

 

 

 

The opaline dilute I was going to use with my greywing cock and weave out the opaline..........

Doh! I didn't even look at that......... That was a bit dumb.

 

To use with recessives???? Not that I breed recessives so don't call me any expert there. She's a nice hen though and considering she is a she then the opaline is easier to deal with. Just keep hens from her and not the cocks.

I asked a local breeder if he had any split recessive pieds and this is what he gave me......

 

I do like her though the combination of colours/mutations has combined to create an interesting affect.

 

I was planning on putting her with my greywing and not using the cocks for greywing breeding as you suggested, with the hens I figured I'd use the best of them back to Dad and use the rest with normals to get splits.

However if the cock turns out to be infertile I probably won't worry about Greywings anymore. Seems the only Greywing or Dilute hens I can find are all Opaline.

Gee sorry about that Linda! I've been having a bad couple of days obviously and I only just noticed the /recessive pied written as plain as day....... Doh - again!!!!! Still I'm not sure I would use her in rec pieds with all her lovely combination of varieties.

 

I agree with you about the bird itself though and how interesting it is to look at - it's a shame that breeding show birds doesn't promote experimentation like this.

 

Using opaline hens isn't as bad as opaline cocks but you need to be aware that all the cocks you breed from them will be split opaline. It's okay if you know where it is but it does waste some time breeding it out. I think your plan is fine and you could breed half sisters (from the greywing hen & dilute hen to the greywing cock) to pair back to dad and then put the progeny from them together. It just takes longer. The cocks will all be split for opaline so pairing them to normals will mean that a proportion of them will also be opaline so I would steer clear of that coz you will lose track of where that opaline goes.

Grey Green Opaline Hen (I was thinking about using this one with a Lutino, /Lutino because the shade of yellow on her face seems very deep)

 

 

 

Grey green/Lutino Cock

 

 

 

Lutino Cock

 

 

 

Grey Green Cinnamon Spangle Hen

 

 

Edited December 15, 200915 yr by Linda_S

2. The standard you have set for yourself (ie where you "set the bar" for your stud in regards show quality).

 

If you were to cull to the standard of a champion breeder you might not have any birds left! This is really a subjective thing and as we improve the quality of our birds hopefully the bar is raised to allow the disposal of better birds.

 

 

lol

 

this is so true i have hardly any birds left after some expert advice lucky i have high stranded

Edited December 15, 200915 yr by GenericBlue

Grey Green Opaline Hen (I was thinking about using this one with a Lutino, /Lutino because the shade of yellow on her face seems very deep) Good plan. Using these strongly yellow pigmented birds is the way to go. That's the reason people suggest dark factors as the general understanding is that the yellow pigment is usually brighter too. She is quite noticably short in the mask - as is the /lutino below. Maybe not the right choice for him - maybe better for the lutino cock as he seems a bit longer in the mask.

 

 

 

Grey green/Lutino Cock Usable but you want a hen with better feather and mask for him, for me he lacks top end qualities from front on.

 

 

 

Lutino Cock Nice colour. Reasonable bird but he looks a bit dumpy in the photo. Either your birds squat when in the show cage or you need to look for more of those upstanding birds to combat the shorter sort of stature you've got going there - remebering that all I am seeing are the photos.

 

 

 

Grey Green Cinnamon Spangle Hen Nice young hen with a nice face but again sitting a bit across the perch. A very usable hen though and definitely a keeper.

 

 

I seem to catch a lot of my birds as they're turning around giving them the squating/dumpy appearance. I was in a bit of a rush when I took the pics so just snapped what I could. After I read the comments here I usually go and check out to see how the birds are perching in the aviary to see if it was just the picture or it's just what they do.

 

I was leaning towards the Lutino for the Grey Green opaline hen, added bonus anything Lutino must be a hen and I'll get more splits to work with.

 

Older pics of the Lutino and the Grey Green (more acurate picture showing how they perch)

 

 

Grey Green Cinnamon Cock (he usually perches better another turning shot, I have this cock in a breeding cage with the Cinnamon Spangle hen above at the moment)

 

 

older picture

 

 

 

I only just noticed he's no longer flecked.........

 

Grey Green Spangle Cock (In breeder with opaline grey green above at the moment, 2nd round going to put him with the cinnamon spangle hen)

 

 

 

Dark Green Normal Cock (missing tail feathers an looking pretty scruffy in these shots)

 

 

 

Olive Green Recessive Pied Cock

 

 

 

Sky Blue Opaline Spangle hen, 50% chance of being /recessive (I bred this bird before I decided to breed show birds, I won't get rid of her but do dou think she'd be of any use other than as a foster carer?) Both old pics.

 

 

I seem to catch a lot of my birds as they're turning around giving them the squating/dumpy appearance. I was in a bit of a rush when I took the pics so just snapped what I could. After I read the comments here I usually go and check out to see how the birds are perching in the aviary to see if it was just the picture or it's just what they do.

 

I was leaning towards the Lutino for the Grey Green opaline hen, added bonus anything Lutino must be a hen and I'll get more splits to work with.

 

Older pics of the Lutino and the Grey Green (more acurate picture showing how they perch) Much better!!! And a better choice in the mask dept.

 

 

Grey Green Cinnamon Cock (he usually perches better another turning shot, I have this cock in a breeding cage with the Cinnamon Spangle hen above at the moment) Yeah, interesting about the flecking! Good choice with the hen but doubling up on fine feather (cinnamon) and the grey factor. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do as far as the visual aspects of the pair is concerned though.

 

 

older picture

 

 

 

I only just noticed he's no longer flecked.........

 

Grey Green Spangle Cock (In breeder with opaline grey green above at the moment, 2nd round going to put him with the cinnamon spangle hen) Nice bird!

 

 

 

Dark Green Normal Cock (missing tail feathers an looking pretty scruffy in these shots) Also nice!

 

 

 

Olive Green Recessive Pied Cock Nice enough for a rec pied and probably harder to get anything with better head qualities. At least he seems to have size, you need to concentrate of feather is he is going to be the foundation of your rec pied line.

 

 

 

Sky Blue Opaline Spangle hen, 50% chance of being /recessive (I bred this bird before I decided to breed show birds, I won't get rid of her but do dou think she'd be of any use other than as a foster carer?) Both old pics. Personally for me using her would be going backwards (unless what's behind her is OUTSTANDING and then I'd give her a go just to see). A foster is probably the best thing for her if she raises babies well.

 

 

Thanks again Nubbly and everyone else who replied, you've been very helpful!!!

 

The Recessive Pied Cock has got size and length (I was thinking about using him with the sky blue normal to get splits) but I also have these Recessives to use

 

Olive Green Cock (this ones the better of the two cocks but the other has better deportment this guys slouchy)

 

 

 

Cobalt hen (only 4 months old at the moment)

 

 

 

That's all my recessives at the moment.........

 

Grey Green Opaline Hen

 

 

Thanks again Nubbly and everyone else who replied, you've been very helpful!!!

 

The Recessive Pied Cock has got size and length (I was thinking about using him with the sky blue normal to get splits) but I also have these Recessives to use

 

Olive Green Cock (this ones the better of the two cocks but the other has better deportment this guys slouchy) Nice rec pied! If he gets slouchy try and correct that using a hen with good deportment. He certainly has beeter feathering than the previous one.

 

 

 

Cobalt hen (only 4 months old at the moment) Not a bad hen either. A little bit narrow in the face though. She should grow on some more too.

 

 

 

That's all my recessives at the moment.........

 

Grey Green Opaline Hen Nice big hen but does not have the feather on top (bit flat in the head feather) to balance her out and this makes her look more stout than she probably is. Not too bad though and useful to a cock with alot of blow but not as much directional feather as her.