Hen Spurs...

I recently purchased a pair of blue Andalusians, a 1 year old rooster and 2 year old hen.
((Special thanks to Hidden River for pick up/and transport of these birds!  ))

I choose the hen because she is a mature girl with nice lacing, but seems she also came with a surprise…a wicked looking spur on one leg! I’ve filed it down, but wow, she could give some cocks a run for their money.   lol

My question/concern is will she pass this trait on to all her offspring, or only daughters? I haven’t had a chance to do much research yet, so any advice from breeders that have experienced or dealt with hen spurs is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Ask the breeder if the ancestors to this bird have female spurs.

I have never seen it going on in a line But it could I guess
are they from Jim?
wheres the Pictures LOL
Congrats on the new birds

I have a 4 year old dominique hen with spurs. Never hatched one yet. I heard there was acouple old lines of doms that were hen spurred so decided to use her in my breeding program. You will lose a point for it in a show but if she is a good hen otherwise might still be good to use.

Already done Sue, just waiting for a reply.  

Thanks Joe. I was pretty excited to get my hands on some blue Andalusians. Now the real fun begins, hehe. I haven't had chance to take any pics yet, sorry...and yes, the pair is from Jim. The rooster is gorgeous. I kept finding excuses to visit the quarantine pen and stare at him. lol

Interesting miry. I'm not too worried about loss of points as I don't show (yet), but I definitely don't want a trait like hen spurs in my lines. but the fact you've never hatched another from your hen gives me hope. lol Still need to research things when I have more online time and see what I can find...

This was taken from "Genetics of the Chicken Extremes, the Basics" by Sigrid Van Dort & Friends.  




A book well worth owning if you want to breed seriously.  Even if you just like to know stuff!

Cant read all of that coop does it say egg production decreases with spur growth or ?

.

Very interesting! Now I know exactly what I want for my birthday this year. Thanks Coop!  


Tara, I happen to agree with you. There are many more important things to fuss about in birds as you've listed, and I am working on those as well. BUT I do like certain aesthetics in my flock, and a nice, clean leg/shank is one of them. Just a personal preference of mine. So I’d rather not introduce something I don’t have and don’t want and be dealing with it generations down the road...IF that’s even the case with hen spurs. Also, I should mention I have no plans to breed Andalusians, (those huge, single combs scare/worry me too much) I’m just using the birds in a project of mine.
Thank you for the info and the leads.

Flicker in your Project Use your best AM roo  with her and believe me the Lacing will show up Then take him back to the Daughters.
Also remember using the Blue Anda. Roo will change the Egg Color on the AM daughters But you can get that back in a couple generations
I dont do by the book sorry but that is from experience of doing it

Wanted to add
we might have a couple Blacks and a couple Splashes if you want them in your project available depends on what hatches and how many.

Yes Flicker, you will have a bit of a road to travel. You are not only going to take a while to get the combs back right, you will be introducing white ear lobes which are tough to get rid of. The egg colour won't be to bad, but you will have whites show up for a while, even when you think they are gone.
Good luck with your project, it is a brave one. Those are the ones that are the funnest thou!!!!

Yeah coop I forgot about the white lobes but I did have some that were red and almost all of the AM father Bred To the AM/BA Daughters had most everything correct just not the best egg colour not as dark blue

Cool appway, thanks for the tips.  I find hands on is often the best way I learn too. And of course it’s the funnest.  

I had planned to do the outcross both ways:
Blue AN cock x black AM hens
Blue AN cock x blue AM hens
Blue/black AM cocks x blue AN hen

Will also be putting my new silver cock (and maybe his son, if he turns out nice enough) over my best black pullets with the intention of using the nicest daughters to start two separate birchen based families. According to popular theory, Pg should express better on an ER base. Of course I will need to have the right melanizers too. And breed out e+. Hopefully I will get lucky on my first few rolls of the genetic dice, because all it takes is one. But I’m prepared (and somewhat patient, lol) if it takes a few generations.

That’s great to hear you saw visible improvement to lacing on your F1’s. Do you still have the birds? I’d love to see them if so! And I would definitely be interested in any Andies you’re selling, provided they have visible lacing genes. Only thing is I’m already at maximum capacity for chickens here, and can’t say if I’ll have room for wintering any more roosters at this point. I’m up to 8 keepers so far...  I should know by late summer though.


Thanks coop! And yes, the road back will be a long and no doubt bumpy one…but I’m going into this with an open mind and long term, flexible goals. At least with blue Andalusians I won’t have to worry about yellow skin, recessive combs, or messing up egg colour too much. I'd much rather deal with white over brown eggshell genes. Single combs shouldn’t be too hard to breed out either. White earlobes will be a tough one though, and will likely take a few generations of heavy hatching and selection. Can't wait until I'm at that stage.