As I build my show bird stud I'm becoming a little confused with the term flecking.

I have a couple of birds with some flecking through there head and after reading some info on this, it seems that flecking is becoming a no no in a show bird?

I have a Spangle Opaline Grey with some and a Spangle with a little, should I still breed with these birds or try and get rid of any birds with flecking?

 

Cheers

Yes you can breed with them just dont double up on the fault,breed them with clean capped birds.

Yes you can breed with them just dont double up on the fault,breed them with clean capped birds.

if their hens breed with the cleanest cap cock not split to opaline and then all the cocks should come out with none flecked gen then breed these cocks to clean headed opaline to get none flecked opaline hens

so i have been told

Edited May 27, 201014 yr by GenericBlue

what is flecking?

 

are they those ugly dots on the birds head?

The dark marks seen in this hens cap, called flecks is what is known as flecking

 

Yes you can breed with them just dont double up on the fault,breed them with clean capped birds.

if their hens breed with the cleanest cap cock not split to opaline and then all the cocks should come out with none flecked gen then breed these cocks to clean headed opaline to get none flecked opaline hens so i have been told

Thank you, are any birds expectable with flecking at shows?

The dark marks seen in this hens cap, called flecks is what is known as flecking

So would this bird be no good for showing or breeding?

The idea as said is to pair to clean headed birds and like anything else you will get percentages of flecked and not. Its an opaline trait and crosses over to any birds bred with flecked birds. In saying that its very hit and miss and your expectations in a nest, of flecked and non flecked may well surprise you. I have had flecked babies from clear headed birds and had clear headed babies from both flecked birds.

They are frowned upon for showing as many breeders will feel very strongly that they shouldnt be shown and others that will show them know that it will only mark them down a few points of the bird is flecked..........points off for markings but if the bird itself looks fantastic in all other areas it can still beat a clean headed bird.

The idea as said is to pair to clean headed birds and like anything else you will get percentages of flecked and not. Its an opaline trait and crosses over to any birds bred with flecked birds. In saying that its very hit and miss and your expectations in a nest, of flecked and non flecked may well surprise you. I have had flecked babies from clear headed birds and had clear headed babies from both flecked birds.

They are frowned upon for showing as many breeders will feel very strongly that they shouldnt be shown and others that will show them know that it will only mark them down a few points of the bird is flecked..........points off for markings but if the bird itself looks fantastic in all other areas it can still beat a clean headed bird.

kaz is right about everything she said

and many a bird on the show bentches are flecked

i myself wouldnt show one but i defenently wouldnt cull a very good bird for flecked head

' it is something however that if you dont watch can over ride your flock very quickly

but flecked birds tend to have good feather

The idea as said is to pair to clean headed birds and like anything else you will get percentages of flecked and not. Its an opaline trait and crosses over to any birds bred with flecked birds. In saying that its very hit and miss and your expectations in a nest, of flecked and non flecked may well surprise you. I have had flecked babies from clear headed birds and had clear headed babies from both flecked birds.

They are frowned upon for showing as many breeders will feel very strongly that they shouldnt be shown and others that will show them know that it will only mark them down a few points of the bird is flecked..........points off for markings but if the bird itself looks fantastic in all other areas it can still beat a clean headed bird.

kaz is right about everything she said

and many a bird on the show bentches are flecked

i myself wouldnt show one but i defenently wouldnt cull a very good bird for flecked head

' it is something however that if you dont watch can over ride your flock very quickly

but flecked birds tend to have good feather

 

does this mean that if you cross breed a well feathered flecked with an opaline the clear headed baby will have better feathers?

I would suggest that you treat it like any other fault - if a bird has some exceptional features that your stud needs, then you'd probably use it, keeping in mind that you always try to prevent doubling up on faults. A lot of people contend that many UK fanciers stopped breeding with flecked birds, and studs went backwards. That's not to say that flecked birds brought them forward, but more so to be careful about blindly discriminating against them.

 

Flecking can be bred from birds that show no visual signs of flecking also, so you need to be mindful of this. Some line's of birds also breed absolutely flecked headed birds, and others in the nest that are completely clean, which is astounding, but never-the-less true.

 

The best advice I can recommend is to treat it like a bird with small spots, or long flights, or a shallow mask, and pair it appropriately.

I personally think that flecking is a dominant gene as it seems to behave in the same way as the dominant varieties such as Spangle, dominant pied and Yellow face.

Edited May 27, 201014 yr by **Liv**

I would suggest that you treat it like any other fault - if a bird has some exceptional features that your stud needs, then you'd probably use it, keeping in mind that you always try to prevent doubling up on faults. A lot of people contend that many UK fanciers stopped breeding with flecked birds, and studs went backwards. That's not to say that flecked birds brought them forward, but more so to be careful about blindly discriminating against them.

 

Flecking can be bred from birds that show no visual signs of flecking also, so you need to be mindful of this. Some line's of birds also breed absolutely flecked headed birds, and others in the nest that are completely clean, which is astounding, but never-the-less true.

 

The best advice I can recommend is to treat it like a bird with small spots, or long flights, or a shallow mask, and pair it appropriately.

 

Thank you this makes a lot of sense