Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and Stubs

About a month ago now I was looking at what I had to enter in the North Thompson Fall Fair. I had a nice trio of BLRW made up of a beantiful blue rooster, a blue pullet and a splash pullet. The three were hatched at the beginning of April so they would be about 4 and a half months old. In looking at them I realized they all had stubs which is a DQ and so they were not entered. In looking at them today only the splash pullet has stubs. I had observed the previous fall that a black pullet had stubs as well and it actually was recorded on a coop card although the judge at that show didn't DQ her. Like the ones this year the stubs disappeared. I'm wondering if any other Wyandotte breeders have had stubs appear and than disappear.

Almost all the wyanadotte's I hatched from the BC lady had stubs. I kept the best rooster and by this year his stubs were gone, so I bred him. Well most of the cockerels have stubs, but not the pullets. My concern is though that they will be carriers, we will have to wait and see.

Are we talking about feather stubs on their legs? Wasn't sure if that was what you were referring to, or did you mean some kind of comb stub?

XOX Monika

I believe the birds will be carriers so it would probably be best to try to use a rooster with no history of feather stubs on their legs.

I have had feather stubs on legs show up on two different breeds of I am breeding. One breed was from purchased eggs so not sure on parents, but on my own birds it was from using a rooster with tiny feather feather stubs that I didn't notice bred to hens from the same line, all with no visable feather stubs.

Must be a genetic thing. I wouldnt breed with any that even showed signs of stubs. Chochin influence maybe?

None of mine have any or show any as chicks. not yet, and I hope it stays that way

I'm not sure how excited to get about this issue as the stubs appear to be a developmental thing much like a teenager with a case of pimples. The rooster I used and all but one hen did not have stubs at any time. The trios I have may have all come from the one hen as she was the only one that was not a splash.

I haven't had any with stubs at all. I have had a couple sussex with stubs, also in the roosters, but none in my wyandottes. Interesting!

Now that I have figured out that we are talking about feather stubs Nope I haven't had any BLRWs with stubs! Inverted combs.. yes... and too many roosters.. yes! I wouldn't use any bird that I know has a genetic defect for breeding but that opens up a whole new can of worms doesn't it There is a lot I don`t know about breeding so to me its just easier (for now) than trying to correct it later! Just my 2 cents worth!

XOX Monika

We all have too many roosters, but not too long ago someone recommended 10 roosters to 10 hens and you rotate them every few weeks. That probably is good but who has facilities to keep the 9 that are unemployed? Genetic defects can appear seemingly out of nowhere and we deal with them with what we can.

Stubs: Certain breeds are more likely to have stubs then other breeds and Wyandottes' are in that category. Some of the Wyandotte's varieties are even likely to have stubs then other because of the genetic background. Whites and S/L have been around for a long time and are the original Wyandotte and probably would have less stub problems. The other colors are made normal made from Cochin breeding which will have stubs from time to time. Once you have stubs it is very hard to get rid of them in breeding if you use the same mating over and over again. Best to cull birds that throw stubs otherwise you will be fighting it for ever. As far as stubs being there one day and gone the next. They probably get rubbed off but will show up again. Stubs on the legs are easy to see and be caught easily. The stubs on the web part of the feet are the ones that many miss.

On a side note about keeping 10 roosters and 10 hens and rotating the males through for breeding. My advise, you will never improve your breeding if you do this. With 10 hens keep 2 roosters and cull the rest. If you working to improve your stock quality you must know what produces what.