PChant pictures and opinions wanted (lots of pictures)

I am getting some dark heads this year.  One pullet in particular is darker than I am used to so I thought I would post some pictures of her and see what you a think about it.  To dark?  To much black?  She is different than I am used to.  I like many things about her and would like to use her.  I have quite a few younger pullets that are going to be dark in the head to, so thought I would get some opinions about it.







Here is what some of the darker PChant cockerels are looking like.  Darker than I am used to as well.  The heads are not black, but the necks are very black.  You can see the new redder hackle feathers starting to come in on this fellow.




The fellow in the background here is what I am used to seeing.



I know the dark heads are coming from my new rooster in the breeding pen this year.  Funny as he is not dark headed! (ugly comb but not black headed!   )



Here are what most of my hens look like, also not really dark in the head.




I know I don't want black heads at all.  Am I walking a fine line using these dark headed birds?  You can see the cockerels have a dark neck, but not a black head.  I am interested in any feed back about this.  Would love to have a discussion and all thoughts gladly accepted.

Just went back and had a look at the rooster when he was younger and he was very dark necked too. I find this interesting and look forward to comments.

I have nothing helpful to contribute because I do not yet know my arse from my elbow when it comes to chicken breeding, but I really admire the lacing on your pullets. Gorgeous!!

I thought PChant roos were supposed to be quite dark?

.

I notice that with the 2 roos I got from you one is really dark.

Tara, I am familiar with Hackle Black from the Barnevelders.  It stops the red 'bleeding' they can show behind their ears.  I had quite a good discussion about it with David (I think that was who it was) at one time.  I am not convinced that this is what I am seeing because if how it presents in the males at maturity.  
I know how you feel about double mating and you know how I feel.  The males I have do not have solid black chests and I will not be breeding for them, so I guess you can say I will be a pullet breeder if you like.  I would not breed from anything with a red chest at all any more.  Those red breasted males at the beginning gave me the worst pencilled females I ever had!  Won't have it.  In the last 2 years using the almost black breasted males have given me the best pencilled females.  Only going by my own experiences here.  I think I will have males and females very close to the Standard when I am done and they will come from the same pen.  Many said it couldn't be done with the Barnevelders, but I did it.

You can see how black my fellows chest is, but it is not totally black.  


There is some dark, red lacing in there on a few feathers.  Rule of thumb with the Barnevelders was not more than 20% red in the breast of the males would help give you good double laced females.  The Dutch do the completely black chest and still get good double lacing, but that never happened in Australia.   Going to use a similar philosophy here and you can say 'I told you so' if it doesn't work.  I know you will enjoy that!   
Why are the pullets so well pencilled this year if I have introduced a 'cockerel' breeder to the line?  I have a higher percentage of good pullets this year than I ever have.

She doesn't have the black head like your girl, but I will be interested to see what some of the pullets do that are still young.  
Wish I had that nice, dark ground colour you do.  Mine are still to light on a whole, but getting better.  My big, old typey hen is a bit light so I am afraid it is in there on my foundation.  She is a Sandhill girl.  I think some of the cockerels this year are going to have a better ground colour even than their dad.

Bckev, you will have to send me pictures when they are grown.  Hope the pullets are looking good for you.

I will send pics. They are looking great, very pleased.

I can't speak to the partridge color, but I very much enjoy learning about it. I do love the partridge pattern with that delicate pencilling on the hens and a beautiful dark breast on the male. They are lovely chickens! But I've been too timid to take on all those challenges associated with color and penciling, let alone keeping good type and size. I still have lots of work to do with my whites!  

Having said that, if a nice pair of Partridge Cochins landed in my lap I would not turn them away...  Bring on the fluff!!

One thing I like about your hens, Cooper is the pretty heads. In the photo where they are turned and looking towards the camera both look to have quite a broad skull, and still very "Chantecler like" with that quintessential slope of head. That's one thing I'm really paying attention to in my whites as I have some hens with rather long, narrow crow-ish heads. Not pretty, and I won't be using them.

I wasn't happy with this years batch of Chant chicks and I'm doing some major re-working in my flock. I have some new stock to integrate with my best tried and true hens, but will be very picky about what I use for breeding next spring.

KathyS wrote:

One thing I like about your hens, Cooper is the pretty heads.

Me too. They really are lovely.

And I'm totally with ya Kathy, long, narrow, crow heads look extremely unattractive. Gives the birds a 'pitched' look I do not like. Head hunting seems to be my newest chicken obsession.

Funny how we can get fixated on one thing or another!
When I had the couple of whites a few years ago, I got fixated on heads too. They had such nice ones and my partridge didn't. They must be getting better if you noticed it. I like the strong brow, even on the females. Makes them a bit masculine looking, but I like it.
I know what you mean about the crow heads. Yuck, hate them. A lot of Ams have that, one of the reasons I am going my own direction with them, well a different version of them anyways.

 And I thought my prior comb snobbery was bad. HAH!

Yeah, I already have a few Ams showing definite crow head. I'm going to grow them until fall and see where I'm at, but fairly certain some heads are gonna roll. Har har.  

Can't wait to SEE what ya got cookin' Coop, you tease...

I know nothing of the breed but admire their beauty. Why have you chosen PCs, Coopster?

Sue, I liked the idea of them being a Canadian breed, having just come back to Canada. Remember I also was breeding Barnevelders previously, so the pencilling appealed to me. I was a fan of Brahma and Cornish so the strong brow appealed to me and the smooth comb and winter hardiness also appealed to me. I thought of going to whites at one stage as the pencilling is a HUGE frustration and challenge, but I am just not a big fan of white birds. So Partridge Chanteclers it ended up being.
Of course you know the dark egg and new to be announced next year, green egg layers I play with too. Just happen to like having one REAL breed to concentrate on and a couple of others to amuse me.

Here are my coopers and pchants from coopslave.[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

You can see the red is really starting to come out in the cooper rooster. Nice birds. I really like the colouring of the hen. Very calm bird. None of them liked having their picture taken though.