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Goldtop Rooster?
In the absence of a silkie cock; Would a goldtop be any use over a goldtop hen?
Would the female progeny carry the brooding capacity ~ or would everything that hatched just be considered an abomination before god and man?
Tuesday, September 27th, 2022
If you can find a goldtop rooster (most people dispose of them on hatching) they will certainly breed good broodies but they won't be goldtops, they will be a compleatly mixed bag of shapes colours and feathering and probably not lay as well as a proper goldtop. They also won't be sexable on hatching. If you want to hatch some new broodies and don't mind rearing the males untill you can sex them, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, but if you want to sell any surplus you may find that difficult.
Wednesday, September 28th, 2022
Thanks, Glyn. Excellent reply.
Mm. I'm gonna have to do some soul searching then.
Reason I ask is; I have One goldtop hen. I also have the makings of a nice little GT production line ~ I'll only really try to breed more GT's in order to sort of keep things ticking over, in that department. No real interest in keeping hoards of chickens, or of breeding them as a rancher.
It's just that my silkie male appears to be completely retarded. I don't know. No experience of these birds. *Are* they known for being completely dead, up top? I mean, this one's a fair contender for proving Darwin got it all wrong, somewhere. How he survives, day to day, is the eighth wonder.
When nature takes its inevitable course, I'd like to find something with a bit more genetic and synaptic 'Oomph!'
Wednesday, September 28th, 2022
Some of them can be a bit thick especially highly bred ones like the American silkies. Their domed heads are prone to taking knocks, combined with the fact they can't see in front of themselves and are prone to running into things. I have seen them literally knock themselves out. I would be tempted to breed the goldtop back to a large fowl sussex, to get more and bigger eggs, and birds that still go broody. Buff sussex should help keep the goldtop colouring.
Wednesday, September 28th, 2022