Choosing a poland cockerel

[pebojuno]

Hi,
Hopefully someone with experience can help me out a bit here- I have two frizzle chamois poland bantam pullets - both of whom I'm keeping and four, 13 week old plain feathered chamois poland cockerels-

Can any one give me any pointers in what features to look for in poland cockerels so I can choose which one to keep? -There are two who have a darker buff colouring and better lacing but one of their combs shows quite prominently- is this a fault? The other two are lighter in colour (though with my pullet Bobble the lacing improved massively as she matured.) more compact, with more "female" looking headgear- but are definitely boys!

I'm hoping to show them as a trio later in the year- and possibly use them as a breeding trio- Anyone know what I should look for in them- i.e. headgear shape- (their adult feathers are just coming through) lacing etc. They are all very friendly so that's no an issue!

Thanks, Nicky

 

[snifter]

I'd be inclined to go with the better marked cockerel but without the comb. At this stage its very hard to know how they will develop however. The one with the bigger comb may have a better headgear (which on the cock birds is more shawl shaped and therefore grows down the sides of the chooks head) Also the headgear tends to be far more wild on cock birds anyways. So expect the bad hair look to be showing.

Have a look at Beebe's Poland's site. They are the most well known breeders and my Poland's come from their bloodlines.

http://www.beebepolands.com/

They have lots of pics of their birds and on a few of the pic pages are some good pics of what you should be seeing and aiming for. There are no UK breed standards that I can find online but the Aussie one reads a lot like my understanding of the breed

http://www.polishchooks.com/chooks_standards.html

Any Q's ask away. I am far from an expert of Polands but keep the breed and adore them.

 

[pebojuno]

Thanks Snifter, the information was exactly what I was looking for- Will have a proper look at the links and go from there- might try to get some photos the cockerels on here tomorrow so you can have a look at them yourself if that's okay?

 

[pebojuno]

Snifter, (or anyone else- all comments welcome!)

These are the two cockerels I've narrowed it down to- there's not much between them other than that the one with the obvious comb has more uniform lacing. Which one would you go for? Stll the one without the comb?

The Beebe's site is great- my little pullet looks just like one on there!

Nicky

 

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't know,but,if lacing is harder to get correct,and,your hens have good heads,stick with the one with the better lacing.

 

[snifter]

I'd go with the better lacing. The comb on that cockerel doesn't look too big to me anyways. Besides, you really can't control the size of the comb in chicks. Much like noses on humans, they come in all shapes and sizes.

Poland cock birds do tend to have smaller combs anyways, so its fine if they have something, just not a massive great thing.

The lacing is important. Even with great lacing you don't always get the desired results from chicks.

 

[pebojuno]

Thank you both for your advice- had another look at the Beebe polands site and they suggest culling cockerels with the combs- so I'll have a look at the two I have with no combs again and choose the one with the best lacing from them. Sorry to ask for your advice and then go against it But, as my pullets have good lacing I think it'll be alright- otherwise I can look for a better cockerel!
Thanks again,
Nicky

 

[snifter]

Its fine. Quite understand. I thought a small comb was ok. Non existant it seems would be preferred. Seems a shame as tbh its not a 'big' comb by any means. Looked small to me. If no comb is the breed standard then it's good to know.

I don't breed my Polands. I only keep girls. So cock birds were a bit of a guess. I'd still go with good lacing over comb. If your birds are all related I'd be inclined to get a non related hen or cock bird anyways.

 

[pebojuno]

Bobble (one frizzle pullet) is unrelated to the cockerels who came from someone with 3 breeding pens of chamois polands along with my other little frizzle pullet so the chance of them being closely related is quite slim! . I've hopefully got some more eggs from another source coming soon so I should be able to pick and choose the best cockerel and make an unrelated group out of the best birds I can in the spring.
Can't believe I'm talking about breeding groups when 6 months ago I didn't like the look of polands at all - Mind you - I still think they're still incredibly ugly when they've just hatched! Thank you for all your help as always,
Nicky