The Stafford Bachelor would like your help in finding to whom to give his rose!! Please send your critique of each of the five contestant and the rational for your selection in before February 16, 2011.The winner will be awarded the coveted Matchmaker Extraordinaire 2011 Award Certificate!
The best complete critiques will be posted. Comments on individual birds may be posted.
13 comments:
Linda
I sure like two of those hens you have, really nice head on one and the hen with the fabulous crest !
Very nice Staffords you have. I like 2 hens out of 4 !
Okay, the male seems a little flat headed eye to eye. #1 hen has the opposite, round to being too big. May through great crests with proper mate. #2 hit me as having a pinched face. #3. has the same flat head as the male. #4 is my choice. Very well balanced. #5 Seems loose feathered with an uneven crest front to back. Ah, such a crap shoot!
Mr. Bachelor should give the rose to hen #2. She has a lovely head and she has " my babies are winners" in her eyes!
I thought that in order to produce crests that at least one of the parents needs a crest?
My goal is to produce superior crested Staffords.
To make that beautiful round crest, you need the right compliment of a crested bird paired with a non-crested bird.
When decide on which birds to pair, it is because together they have the potential to produce better offspring than either parent.
That is a fascinating challenge that continues year after year and brings a lot of joy when after a few years you have develop beautiful birds.
I take a lot of pride in my Stafford's that are becoming more beautiful each year. I purchased my first two pairs about four years ago then I purchased three more birds selected for traits I needed (shorter feathering and color) the next year and after that I have work with the birds and by selective breeding, my birds are now much better than any of the ones I purchased.
When you breed two non-crested together, it with the long range plan of improving your stock in mine. You want the right shaped non-crested so that when paired with a crested bird the offspring will have an even better crest than the crested parent. (While two non-crested may be bred together two crested must not be bred together as it would be lethal to some of the offspring.)
A similar pairing contest appears around Valentine's Day 2009 where the challenge was to select the male for a special crested hen called Bachelorette who had some good traits but need a male who was strong in the traits she lacked.
Take a look at that post and read Tom Ressel's, very educational response.
I like number 2 because of her color and her nice head and brows over her eyes.
Depends on the breeders goal; with hen#2 you could improve the heads for future years. Sometimes it takes more than one year to improve a winning line.
Hen #4 offers an immediate improvement for this year with color & crest.
If I has these beautiful birds I would run the Cock with 2 hens #2 and #4.Each bird offers different options.
#4 or #5 would be the ticket .#4 the chicks will be winner's if i had to pick one it would be the #4 babe
Definitely number 4 for me.
She has a much better crest than # 5. But watch the cinnamon, it can take over your whole line.
Rw2
Linda, how does one choose. As a lover of the Glouster Canary and their coronas and consorts both, I think I would choose a crested female, both of which are beautiful. I don't see a bad match in any of them. The male is spectacular, and I would be interested in seeing the off spring when that occurs!!!! Your birds are glorious. Thanks for sharing the beauty of the canary.
Linda, would mind telling me when your marvelous book was updated last.
I have an old one, and I love it. Was wondering if there is any new additions to the newer publications...thanks so much for your everlasting love of this wonderful fancy. You keep us interested and up to date. Love your bird pictures. I'd give each female a chance with that perfect male. They are all spectacular.
This is the male that Dian and John Clark so generously gave me at the National Show in Dallas in November. I think he is beautiful and I want to improve him a bit as a major player in my Stafford line.
He brings fantastic short feathering and is exactly 5 inches, the proper size. A bird with short feathering will help get rid of feather lumps in the line, where long feathering encourages lumps.
I will want to improve his head a bit with more all around roundness and back skull.
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