The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding

Shafting in silvers

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Guest:
Ok, we have done well this year with our silver Lf. We are very please with the pullets we have kept and the improvements we have succeeded in. One thing I was wanting so info on is the shafting. This I know is an up hill battle. Has anyone had success in eliminating the shafting in the pullet/hen. If so how did you do it? What are you looking for in the cock bird to help on this? Thanks for any help on this.

Chari

Blue Egg Acres:
Chari, I haven\'t eliminated the shafting but do have a few pullets that look very nice this year, with VERY LITTLE shafting. To be honest though, I don\'t know the reason(genetically) for the good results. The best looking pullets are from the pen with a cockerel I saved last year that has a large, funky comb but has excellent color - no brown/red on the back/wings AND no white in the breast area.  
Barbara

Mike Gilbert:
It\'s a very difficult task.   Try to always use males that are out of females with the least amount of shafting, and improvement will take place, but it may take years.   This may require overlooking certain other faults, e.g., crooked toes or oversized combs.  Not necessarily, but possibly.

Mike  G.

John:
I\'ve made some progress over the years reducing the amount of shafting on the silver females...bantams and large fowl.  I think out crosses to black have helped the most and that has been discussed on other topics here.  The out-cross to black was basically made to improve the type and size of silvers.  With it came some eumelanin enhancers (melanism) causing extra dark and black areas on some silver birds even though they had been bred back to e+/e+.  Maybe a melaniser helped darken the feather shafts which would reduce \"shafting\", but others need to be bred out.  I\'m a big fan of culling day-old chicks and if you know what to look for you can save a lot of feed and brooder space by doing so.  The chicks can be sold to those that just want backyard chickens.  With silver chicks cull those with black or extra dark breasts like those in the 2nd and 3rd photos below.  The top photo shows proper phenotype.  From the back side the chicks don\'t look much different.
Culling doesn\'t stop with day-old chicks and I continue to cull as the birds mature and lastly just before setting up breeding pens.  I\'ve posted head & back shots of two pullets...one is too dark on top of her head, has too much shafting and has solid black feathers on her back.  She evidently carries a melaniser that is causing black to appear in areas that it shouldn\'t.  The other pullet has much better color and will be used to breed from.  Note the nicely stippled feathers.    

Schroeder:
Thanks John.  This is great info.  I never really understood the shafting issue, but these photos have made it much clearer for me.

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