Wry tail

C

chickenfan

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I have recently given a lemon sablepoot cockerel to a breeder but he says he has noticed now he has a 'wry tail' so he doesn't want him for breeding. I never noticed anything strange about him, but I lost his sister to crossed bill, so I guess this must be a genetic fault? He is a fantastic-looking, extremely friendly little bird, so I'm very disappointed, and don't feel I can bring him back to my birds.
 
That's a tail that is slightly off centre Chickenfan. No good for breeding as said, which is a pity for him. As you say that strain seems to be carrying some genetic issues, which will be a result of previous breeding from unsuitable birds.
 
I'm not sure what to do about this. It is such a beautiful, friendly bird, with a gorgeous gleaming tail. Breeder has suggested taking it to Cirencester market when he goes in case anyone might want it for 50p or so. It would certainly be a lovely, decorative bird. The only alternative is to let the Breeder dispatch it or I have a friend who wants it, but am concerned about their bringing in potential illness after letting it mix with some birds in a large, multiple-breed breeding place, even if a good one where the birds looked well and had lots of space.
 
I wouldn't want to think he was going to a market, not only the terrible stress of the day, but not knowing what was going to happen to him. People do buy cheap cockerels for fighting. Dispatching him would be a better option than that.
If your friend has a small separate coop and attached run she could quarantine him for a couple of weeks, maybe?
 
That's a good idea Marigold. I just worry that some illnesses like Mareks don't show up for many months - but perhaps I am over-worried about this having once had a rare illness in my flock.
 
And sometimes people get caught smuggling their fighting cocks into Northern france where it has an illegality exemption, like bull fighting has down here.

We met a bantam breeder at a show who had 20 cockerels stolen the night before. They are used as 'fighting practice' to build the confidence of the fighters apparently. The Police won't do anything. I think they are too frightened to go near the sort of people who run these illegal rings.
 
How truly awful, Chris. I am collecting my sablepoot this eve following Marigold's suggestion, as my friend with the smallholding is happy to keep him in quarantine. If all goes well, he will then live as a companion to one of my Pekin's he has grown up with, which he wants for brooding fertile eggs from large fowl birds he has. I can see, looking at the photo again that his tail tilts sideways a bit. I guess this is a spinal fault. I wonder if this will give him any trouble and whether it is more sensible to have him pts - also because there could be a mareks risk if he has spent some days in a huge breeding place with 80 other breeds?
 
Well, if you were happy for him to go there in the first place, I don't imagine there's any more chance of him bringing in an infection than any other bird you might obtain from outside your own flock. Did the other birds you saw there look as if they were healthy and kept in good conditions? What size of flock would he have been running with? Would he have been in a small pen, or out at grass? The lovely summer weather we've been having must have helped to keep the birds healthy I would hope,
I guess the test is whether you would consider going back there to buy new birds for your flock if you wanted any more.
 
Hi Marigold, you've obviously been lucky. I don't ever buy birds because however healthy they look you don't know what they are carrying.
 
I've been to a few auctions (I bought my first chicks at one and also that's where I go for point of lay hybrids if my girls are being slow) and every time there have been pens of adult cockerels of no specific breed going for good money. They were clearly big enough that they wouldn't be much good for eating and were selling for as much as a nice shop bought dressed chicken. It doesn't take much of an imagination to guess where they were going. Shame that it's possible to buy birds for cockfighting so freely.
 
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