questions about faults & culling

[Beth C]

I\'m trying to figure out which birds to hang on to and which ones to cull. I see things I\'d like to change in all of them, but I know there are no perfect birds. But I\'m not sure which faults are deal-breakers and which ones can be worked around until you get something better - for example is a single white-tipped feather on a black bird (middle of it\'s back, not on wings or tail) a reason to cull? I\'ve heard any white is a serious fault, I\'ve heard it\'s only a serious fault if it\'s in the wing or tail, and I\'ve heard wing/tail/hackles. Also, where does egg color fall on the list? Does a stunning egg make up for minor defects? Would you cull a very correct bird if it\'s egg color was too far off? This is my first year of trying to breed, but I really want to do the best I can.

[Mike Gilbert]

You need to determine your own priorities, but I certainly would not cull for a single minor fault like a white tipped feather on the back.   There could have been follicle damage when the feather first started growing, and the feather could come in all black after the next moult.     And I would not cull a super bird if the egg color was less than desireable unless there were better birds to take its place.   I like to use a double fault system.    I will tolerate one inherited fault provided the future mate to that bird does not have the same fault.   But two or more and its out the door.    Easy to remember, it rhymes.   But it really depends on what level a breeder is at in his or her own breeding program - and what the overall goals are.  

[Anne Foley]

Hi Beth,  Culling is the art of the breeder and unfortunately there is no exact formula.  Generally, I like to go about things as follows:

1. Look for body problems (ie. knock knees, wry tail, squirrel tail, split wing, any deformities)

2. Look for items that are wrong for the breed (ie. incorrect leg color, no muff, comb that is not a pea, severely over or underweight, maybe too leggy)

3. The hard part is now to look at all the \"minor\" problems (ie. off color blue egg, white tipping, slightly large pea comb, not as full of a muff as you would like, eye color issues, somewhat off on weight, etc.) and sort them out.  Depending on their flock, different breeders will decide to keep different birds.  You have to look at what you have now, see what is not good about them and choose birds to breed with them that will improve what you don\'t like.  You can\'t tackle everything at once so you will have to prioritize.  As you get your first one or two problems under control, move onto another one or two.  Being a patient person is very helpful!

[Beth C]

Thanks! That actually helps a lot. I\'ve hatched out a few EEs, mostly to learn to use the incubator before I tried it w/shipped eggs, but this is my first try w/purebred birds, and, although I would like to show, maybe in the fall, I haven\'t yet, so I\'m pretty clueless, and didn\'t want to wait until I had a bunch of birds with something that looked minor to me, only to get DQed at a show and have to start over.

I don\'t have my own copy of the SOP, so I\'ve had to reference the one at the extension office, and I\'ve heard things from various sources about how bad one thing or another is, but can\'t seem to find it in black & white (no pun intended).

Thanks again for taking the time to answer!

[grisaboy]

All of my breeders have faults.
They all have different faults so its hard to say which is better.
So I use a sort of point system that gives more points for good traits and less points for bad traits. This gives me a somewhat objective way to determine which ones to keep.  
I try to hatch enough so I can cull for egg color and other defects and still have plenty to fill next year\'s breeding pens.
I only plan on keeping 5 or 10 percent of what I hatch.
Better to keep fewer better birds than keeping the ones with obvious faults.
Keep enough males.  The males are half of your flock no matter how many females you keep.
Start with what you have.  If you only have one hen and she lays green eggs,  then go ahead and hatch green eggs.  Hopefully, if she is mated with the right male, some of her pullets will lay beautiful blue eggs.
Nobody has perfect birds. All birds have some defect or another.  It is the quest to produce the perfect birds in our breeding projects that keeps this hobby interesting.  

[John]

All of my breeders have faults.
They all have different faults so its hard to say which is better.
So I use a sort of point system that gives more points for good traits and less points for bad traits. This gives me a somewhat objective way to determine which ones to keep.
I try to hatch enough so I can cull for egg color and other defects and still have plenty to fill next year\'s breeding pens.
I only plan on keeping 5 or 10 percent of what I hatch.
Better to keep fewer better birds than keeping the ones with obvious faults.
Keep enough males. The males are half of your flock no matter how many females you keep.
Start with what you have. If you only have one hen and she lays green eggs, then go ahead and hatch green eggs. Hopefully, if she is mated with the right male, some of her pullets will lay beautiful blue eggs.
Nobody has perfect birds. All birds have some defect or another. It is the quest to produce the perfect birds in our breeding projects that keeps this hobby interesting.

Sounds like a voice of wisdom and experience to me.