March 24, 2025

Practical Poultry Genetics Part 1

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of the Poultry Keepers podcast, your hosts—Mandelyn, John, and Rip discuss the essentials of poultry genetics. They explore key concepts such as genotype vs. phenotype, dominant vs. recessive traits, and test mating. The conversation emphasizes the importance of practical genetic knowledge for improving flocks, selecting quality birds, and making informed decisions, whether for breeding, showing, or backyard sustainability. Throughout the episode, the hosts share personal insights and experiences on topics including disqualifications, faults, and polygenetic traits, and how environmental factors affect genetic expression.

#PoultryGenetics #BackyardChickens #ChickenBreeding #HeritageChickens #RaisingPoultry #GenotypeVsPhenotype #DominantAndRecessive #TestMating #SelectiveBreeding #ChickenTraits

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WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.899
Hey folks, and welcome to another episode of the Poultry Keepers podcast.

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Got a question for you.

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How much do backyard poul poultry keepers, how much do backyard poultry keepers really need to know about genetics?

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In this episode, Mandelyn and John and I are gonna break down the basics.

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Like what is genotype versus phenotype dominant versus recessive?

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What is test mating?

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How to identify faults and disqualifications.

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You're gonna learn how to apply practical genetics to improve your flock and select quality birds coming up in just a few seconds.

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Okay guys, I got a question for you.

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How much do folks really need to know about poultry genetics?

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What's your thoughts Manly?

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It depends on the one hand, if you're not breeding, you don't need to know that much about it.

00:01:06.025 --> 00:01:19.596
But on the other hand, if you have questions about the birds you have and why they may look a certain way, why they may behave a certain way, the breeding behind them can answer those questions and the genetics that you're working with.

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It'll answer a lot of that.

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I agree.

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Yeah, knowing where your birds came from and what their potential was designed to be is super important.

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And whether or not they're appropriate for your local environment is always a consideration.

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I learned early on that if you're showing poultry, they are judged by phenotype.

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In other words.

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What the birds look like, not what their genetic makeup is.

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Yeah.

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And you can have two birds that look really close, but they can have entirely different genetics because really there's no way to judge genetics unless you have a little D out by DNA read out.

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But I just wanna throw that out there, but it's why.

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Why breeders of po.

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Exhibition.

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Poultry don't really focus on genetics that much.

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Is

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that that's interesting.

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Does that mean that people can show, say something that is not a Rhode Island red as a Rhode Island red, if it meets all the qualifications of one?

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Absolutely.

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Huh?

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If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck,

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its not I guess you don't have to show any sort of pedigree at a poultry shoot.

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No, you don't.

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You don't.

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And that's why you're talking about Rhode Island Reds.

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We have Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island whites, Uhhuh.

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Now you know why they're treated at shows as two separate breeds and not a variety

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Curious.

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But they leave.

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It's because they had different ancestry.

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Exactly.

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They were developed from entirely different kinds of birds,

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but in the same area.

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Thus the name, yes.

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Crossover.

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But anyway, I digress yet.

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And there's

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the cushion comb white I've heard about, which if you're not careful, could look strikingly similar to a CH Claire if that.

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If she has small waddles.

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Oh, that's true.

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Absolutely.

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They even had cushion comb rocks at one point.

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That's right.

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You told me about that.

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Okay.

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So that, that can happen.

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But is that bad?

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Is that faking?

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Is it a no-No.

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Is it accidental on purpose?

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It depends on what circle you're in because there are purists out there and then there are people who think it, it looks correct.

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So to me, it doesn't really matter unless there are certain genetic traits within a breed that are supposed to be there.

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Like for my flock with the American breast, we're supposed to have intramuscular fat.

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And so if you got a white chicken with blue feet.

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Is it still a breast if it doesn't have the fat?

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Because the genotype is different than the phenotype and it's this whole can of worms.

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Yeah.

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And there show a lot of factors that can affect expression of the phenotype.

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Absolutely.

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And I've often said you could take the same dozen eggs and have hatch'em and raise them a mile apart under different care and have very distinctly different chickens.

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Yes.

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Result, right?

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That genetic expression can be influenced by not only their feed, but their environment.

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Husbandry methods.

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The same genetics in different locations can do dramatically different things.

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Okay, let's cut to the chase here.

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How much does the average poultry keeper need to know about genetics?

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Do you need a degree in genetics?

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No.

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No, I don't think so.

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But I also think, I think you need to

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know that you've got a good foundation and have a working

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knowledge.

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Yes, absolutely.

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Know that you're starting with good genetics.

00:05:03.031 --> 00:05:03.211
Yeah.

00:05:03.211 --> 00:05:13.690
You need to know enough about genetics to ask the right questions of your breeder and know you've got a good starting point, and then, oh, just the basic knowledge of, how to keep it alive.

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It's not hard.

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We've been doing this for 3000 years as farmers.

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Yeah, just the rudimentary of the basics within the breeds you wanna work with, because it's not gonna be knowledge that you can attain quickly.

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And if you do have a degree in it, how specific is it to poultry?

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Or was it just the college overview and then it doesn't, that's enough.

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Doesn't go into breed By breed either.

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So knowledge of the breed you're working with.

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Really helps.

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If you're starting with a pure line that's all you need to know is the basic college stuff.

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What is a punt square?

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What is Mandel's hierarchy of inheritance and you're good to go.

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It doesn't need to be, that's actually in my day, we learned that in ninth grade science, but I understand it's taught at a college level now.

00:06:03.411 --> 00:06:06.860
I think what confuses a lot of people and they.

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Going down the wrong path is they think that poultry genetics works the same as mammalian genetics and not even close poultry genetics are very different.

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So yeah, a good working knowledge will take you a long way, and it depends on what you're breeding for too.

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A mandolin breeding for productivity.

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Some folks breed for exhibition, right?

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And some folks, and she's

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also breeding for line development.

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Yeah.

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And some folks are breeding just for backyard sustained abilities, what we call Barnard.

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So each one has a, each has a slightly different perspective about how they approach genetics and breeding.

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So you know, one's not right more than the others, and one's not wrong more than the others.

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So just whatever you're working on.

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I believe it goes back to what are your goals?

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Yeah, for sure.

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And if you put 10 breeders into a room with the same group of birds, they're all gonna make different breeding decisions.

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And some of them are gonna wanna know the genetics going back generations and others are gonna say, I don't care about the genetics.

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Show me the bird in front of me.

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It just depends.

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And I'm glad you brought up breeding goals because like I said, some folks are focused on different things, egg production, meat quality, temperament, our show standards.

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Madeline, I know you've been down this road before, but I.

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How do you feel?

00:07:38.511 --> 00:07:39.440
No, not How do you feel?

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How would you explain that some traits pop up unexpectedly in hatching projects?

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Oh, that's a fun question.

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So the more diverse your flock is, the more variables you're gonna see them express.

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The more individual birds you hatch from.

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Each individual bird is gonna bring its own genetic profile into that incubator or the booty hen, however you're hatching'em.

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So let's say for example, you've got one male and four females.

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Each of those four females are gonna produce different results, and if you put all of them together and hatched them as a group.

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And you start seeing maybe foot color's a little weird on this one.

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Maybe there's some feather colors.

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Sneak it out on these other ones.

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Maybe the comb did something.

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Maybe the structure was different.

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The growth rate was different.

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And this is just a small group of five birds total, but you're seeing a range of expression and that's gonna tell you two different things.

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If the birds themselves were pretty similar.

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You're getting results all over the board.

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That means they were not consistent when you started and they were still holding a lot of variables within there.

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The other thing is gonna tell you is you should have been pair hatching so that you can pin those results down to the pair and know which female was producing the better results and which females were giving you less than desired results.

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The more birds you're using, the more variables you're probably gonna see.

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And that's gonna tie directly into the level of breeding work that was done with them before you got'em.

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When I was first getting into poultry, I was taught that is, they used the term refining the flock.

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And it's just getting rid of the junk and keeping the good stuff.

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Yeah.

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And you have to hatch and seed to figure out who's throwing the junky ones.

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Yes.

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Because the parem birds may look pretty decent themselves.

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Oh, absolutely.

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But they may not

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produce what you were hoping to see from'em.

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And a lot of folks think to eliminate a problem from a flock, if you got a cross going there and you don't like, suddenly you have a wild card pop up.

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And they think that the way to get up get rid of it is just keep removing those wild cars, birds from the flock.

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Really, the way to get rid of it is to remove the wildcard from the flock, but also the parents that produced the wildcard because they're carrying some recessive genes.

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And it's those recessives that'll sneak out.

00:10:13.311 --> 00:10:13.431
Ooh.

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Becauses recessive gene.

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We should explain what a recessive gene is.

00:10:18.135 --> 00:10:18.466
Oh yeah.

00:10:19.466 --> 00:10:25.556
We got, we, I got one more thing I want to get into and then we're gonna talk about dominance recessive and polygenetic traits.

00:10:26.035 --> 00:10:26.456
Yeah.

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But, and we banded around genotype and phenotype, but we really haven't explained very much what that is.

00:10:34.645 --> 00:10:34.655
No,

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we haven't.

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We jumped right into it

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is genetic makeup, it's what's in the DNA, including hidden traits.

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What's the bird

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capable

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of?

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Yes.

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Genetically phenotype is a physical traits that you can see.

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It's what you actually see in a burden is what it looks like.

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You can have two birds with the same phenotype, but they may have very different genotypes.

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That's why you can mate together two really good looking birds and get a bunch of junk in the offsprings.

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Okay.

00:11:13.910 --> 00:11:16.701
Dominant recessive and polygenic traits.

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Share your thoughts with us on that.

00:11:19.025 --> 00:11:19.225
Man.

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Dominant.

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So dominant means, hold on.

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Lemme go back to the beginning.

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In my brain

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it's, let's say

00:11:27.451 --> 00:11:33.270
you've got a pair of birds and one of'em has a lot of dominant traits.

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For example, a rose comb is a dominant sort of comb.

00:11:36.660 --> 00:11:37.020
Yes.

00:11:37.860 --> 00:11:46.890
The other comb types are more recessive, and that recessive part means they have to have two copies to get the expression of that into their phenotype.

00:11:47.280 --> 00:11:52.980
But if they're with a bird that carries dominant traits, those dominant traits are gonna win out over everything.

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That's a recessive trait.

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In other words, a single copy of a gene is enough to cause it to express in the offspring.

00:12:03.745 --> 00:12:03.775
Okay.

00:12:04.775 --> 00:12:20.005
A recessive trait means that it takes two copies of the gene, one from mom, one from dad, for the trait to express in the offspring thank recessive traits are things like white skin chocolate coloration.

00:12:21.005 --> 00:12:23.010
Those are two that come to mind down

00:12:23.010 --> 00:12:23.971
on chicks.

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Something I'm looking for

00:12:26.110 --> 00:12:28.811
now, polygenic or polygenetic traits.

00:12:29.441 --> 00:12:54.171
They are things that are controlled by multiple genes, and this is where it's really easy to get into the weeds on this, but things like body size, egg production, the amount of leg feathering, if they're feathered legged breed Or the intensity of the eggshell color are all multi-gene genetic traits, polygenetic traits.

00:12:55.171 --> 00:13:05.081
And best example I can give you is that if you look at coachings, bras and lang sands, which bird has the most profuse leg?

00:13:05.081 --> 00:13:05.530
Feathering?

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I'd say the cochin.

00:13:07.551 --> 00:13:08.150
The cochin?

00:13:08.150 --> 00:13:08.451
Yeah.

00:13:08.841 --> 00:13:16.461
And if I remember correctly, and I'm, I may be wrong, but there's three genes that ex that control expression of the degree of leg feathering.

00:13:16.490 --> 00:13:17.686
They have all three of'em.

00:13:18.686 --> 00:13:21.926
The one that's sorta of in the middle of the road is the bras.

00:13:22.926 --> 00:13:24.456
They have two copies of that gene.

00:13:25.505 --> 00:13:32.635
And the ones that have the least amount of leg feathering or lang hands, they have one copy of the genes.

00:13:33.635 --> 00:13:40.416
I wonder if that's true for the Marins too then, because they're just supposed to have just a light little trail of feathers down the leg.

00:13:40.466 --> 00:13:42.280
They're sparsely feathered by mine.

00:13:42.280 --> 00:13:42.850
I wouldn't say.

00:13:43.850 --> 00:13:47.421
The standard defines Morans as feather legged.

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It defines lang hands as lightly feathered.

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Which means that the Morans have much less feathers.

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When I think of.

00:14:00.561 --> 00:14:02.030
Polygenetic traits.

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The classic example to me is the Cornish Cross, as repulsive as it is as a poultry keeper, and it is literally designed through, how many layers of generation to get the final Cornish cross.

00:14:18.451 --> 00:14:25.350
And it requires a very specific combination of polygenetic traits to produce that bird in the end.

00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:31.490
And if any one of those is not present, the cross can't exist.

00:14:32.331 --> 00:14:32.510
Correct.

00:14:32.510 --> 00:14:32.931
In a spinal

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form.

00:14:34.010 --> 00:14:34.880
It's fascinating.

00:14:35.880 --> 00:14:36.451
It is.

00:14:36.571 --> 00:14:42.510
And it's designed inherently to be non-self reproducing as part of Yes.

00:14:43.110 --> 00:14:48.821
Because yeah it's a fascinating but scary world of genetics sometimes.

00:14:49.821 --> 00:15:00.860
Because we have an entire industry, or pretty much a world now dependent on this very specific genetic combination, and if any single part of it fails,

00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:01.951
things happen.

00:15:01.951 --> 00:15:08.951
And there's basically two breeding farms that control all the genetics, which is even scarier than me.

00:15:08.956 --> 00:15:12.057
But mandolin, talking about polygenic traits.

00:15:12.961 --> 00:15:16.091
Have you discovered any of those in breast?

00:15:17.091 --> 00:15:17.662
Oh yeah.

00:15:17.662 --> 00:15:31.251
There's a lot of differences in growth rates that can be observed within the breed, and I'm still going through the process of learning what kind of birds produce, which result with the other types of birds.

00:15:31.761 --> 00:15:38.032
'cause the first thing my little squirrel brain did was push'em to the genetic variables.

00:15:38.062 --> 00:15:40.552
'cause I wanted to know what all is in here.

00:15:41.331 --> 00:15:44.062
Oh, there's a lot in there actually, as it turns out.

00:15:44.751 --> 00:15:51.111
So now I'm going through finding how the genetics play off of each other and how to do the selection.

00:15:51.111 --> 00:15:59.272
And I've been working on a double mating situation between different sizes and that's giving me some neat results.

00:15:59.451 --> 00:16:06.861
And then I have to do it again to confirm what I think I know, but I don't have that genetic DNA.

00:16:07.861 --> 00:16:08.767
Paperwork on'em.

00:16:08.772 --> 00:16:14.471
It's not like I sent blood tests to the lab asking what all is in here.

00:16:14.692 --> 00:16:21.741
I'm doing it by phenotype, and then makes an imagine to see what I get from the genetics within the flock.

00:16:22.101 --> 00:16:25.251
Do you know of anybody that's done genetic testing on breast

00:16:26.251 --> 00:16:28.861
only for color so far.

00:16:29.371 --> 00:16:29.432
Okay.

00:16:29.437 --> 00:16:29.596
Okay.

00:16:30.596 --> 00:16:31.856
And that's another can of worms.

00:16:31.881 --> 00:16:33.302
But yeah,

00:16:34.302 --> 00:16:52.017
there has been interest in getting'em tested for the fat marbling because it is a recessive trait and having that testing if there's labs performing the certain tests for the certain genes first, they have to be mapped though to even have that data available.

00:16:53.017 --> 00:16:53.772
Has that been done?

00:16:53.772 --> 00:16:54.537
And that can get pricey.

00:16:54.537 --> 00:16:54.657
I don't

00:16:54.657 --> 00:16:55.346
think so.

00:16:55.527 --> 00:16:58.527
Not that I've heard of, but it'll be pretty neat if they do.

00:16:58.586 --> 00:17:02.317
'cause then everyone can go what's your test results say about your flock?

00:17:03.047 --> 00:17:05.866
Somebody's got the money to pony up for some CRISPR time.

00:17:06.227 --> 00:17:07.247
Yeah.

00:17:08.247 --> 00:17:09.176
Test results.

00:17:09.267 --> 00:17:11.997
That brings up another topic test.

00:17:12.997 --> 00:17:13.356
Manly.

00:17:13.356 --> 00:17:16.207
I know you've done a lot of that, John, you've done some of it.

00:17:16.717 --> 00:17:17.047
Sure.

00:17:17.106 --> 00:17:18.967
John, what's been your experiences with it?

00:17:19.517 --> 00:17:22.106
What are you trying to do with testate and how are you working that

00:17:22.136 --> 00:17:33.537
I, pedigree mate very specifically, so I put a rooster and a he together, or at least up until this year, it's been a single rooster with.

00:17:33.926 --> 00:17:37.106
Two hens in a single pen, but I can tell their eggs apart.

00:17:37.287 --> 00:17:39.936
So I knew, what genetic combination was.

00:17:39.936 --> 00:17:46.926
What, and if it was working and throwing great chicks and they looked good a generation down the line, then I know that was good.

00:17:46.987 --> 00:17:50.626
And if not hopefully you have a way to backtrack out.

00:17:51.626 --> 00:17:53.396
But it's all about test meeting is Yeah.

00:17:53.396 --> 00:17:54.866
Seeing what they throw.

00:17:54.866 --> 00:17:58.217
I'm looking for silver down chicks specifically.

00:17:58.217 --> 00:18:05.237
So I'm looking for the magic combination where I put this rooster with this hand and I'm getting a hundred percent silver down chicks.

00:18:05.446 --> 00:18:07.547
That's who I want to hatch from this year.

00:18:08.547 --> 00:18:12.332
Test meeting to me is telling me who's carrying what, that I can't see.

00:18:12.656 --> 00:18:18.957
See, and it does take keeping a bird that shows the trait you're wanting to test for.

00:18:19.376 --> 00:18:27.297
Like early on in my breast flock, there was a big issue with slip wing to where it was almost half of the hatch results.

00:18:27.297 --> 00:18:29.936
And I'm like, what is this sloppy wing thing?

00:18:30.477 --> 00:18:32.336
So I did research on the trait.

00:18:32.336 --> 00:18:41.336
I found out it was a problematic recessive trait and I needed to keep birds that showed it so I could test the birds that didn't show it.

00:18:42.132 --> 00:18:46.362
And now years after that, I hardly see it at all anywhere.

00:18:46.362 --> 00:18:51.521
As I systematically worked through the birds and not seeing it, man, that's a relief.

00:18:52.521 --> 00:18:55.791
And it was mating that showed me who my closet carriers were.

00:18:55.942 --> 00:18:58.761
'cause while that bird itself didn't show it, it still passed it.

00:18:59.761 --> 00:19:02.672
Those recessive traits and those recessive genes.

00:19:03.672 --> 00:19:06.521
They can be the dickens to breed out of the line.

00:19:07.211 --> 00:19:09.731
It takes generations sometimes they won't show that they're there for

00:19:09.731 --> 00:19:10.961
at least three generations.

00:19:11.442 --> 00:19:12.011
Exactly.

00:19:12.251 --> 00:19:12.882
Exactly.

00:19:13.882 --> 00:19:17.301
Have you done any test m for silver and gold?

00:19:18.301 --> 00:19:19.352
No, but I need to,

00:19:19.652 --> 00:19:19.771
yeah.

00:19:20.771 --> 00:19:20.922
Yep.

00:19:21.491 --> 00:19:23.951
And base color underneath the dominant white.

00:19:24.011 --> 00:19:25.511
I need to start checking for that too.

00:19:26.021 --> 00:19:29.892
I tell you, white can hide so many other colors.

00:19:30.251 --> 00:19:32.142
White can hide everything.

00:19:32.146 --> 00:19:32.336
Yes.

00:19:33.336 --> 00:19:37.727
I inadvertently created some barred leggins one time.

00:19:38.727 --> 00:19:39.686
That sounds fun

00:19:39.896 --> 00:19:40.436
because I.

00:19:41.436 --> 00:19:43.912
Commercial white lis or hiding.

00:19:44.781 --> 00:19:45.172
Barring.

00:19:46.172 --> 00:19:46.382
Huh.

00:19:47.382 --> 00:19:50.741
Now, sometimes the recessive traits aren't a bad thing.

00:19:50.771 --> 00:19:57.132
They can bring a whole new variety out because you found something neat and then bred those together.

00:19:57.136 --> 00:20:01.481
Like sometimes there's a silver lining to finding weird stuff.

00:20:01.481 --> 00:20:02.231
It can spin off.

00:20:02.352 --> 00:20:02.652
Oh, absolutely.

00:20:02.652 --> 00:20:03.642
Something else entirely.

00:20:04.196 --> 00:20:09.277
It's how you now whether this is right or not, this is the way I explain it a lot.

00:20:10.116 --> 00:20:18.886
It's when you take some recessive and breed it over and over again till it actually works like a dominant genetic trait.

00:20:19.281 --> 00:20:19.501
Yes.

00:20:19.832 --> 00:20:20.602
Like frizzles.

00:20:21.602 --> 00:20:21.821
Yes.

00:20:22.821 --> 00:20:23.801
Allele stacking.

00:20:24.801 --> 00:20:25.882
Or single combs.

00:20:26.882 --> 00:20:28.142
Fun stuff.

00:20:29.142 --> 00:20:32.271
So what about lethal gene carriers?

00:20:32.991 --> 00:20:37.192
I was thinking about asking that because I'm not familiar with what those are in poultry.

00:20:38.241 --> 00:20:44.307
Probably the best known one that I'm aware of is Japanese bantams, and it's another one of those polygenetic traits.

00:20:45.307 --> 00:20:49.458
And when you know, they're fairly short legged birds.

00:20:50.458 --> 00:20:53.667
If they don't have that gene, they've got long shanks.

00:20:54.387 --> 00:20:54.807
Okay?

00:20:55.807 --> 00:21:08.178
If they do have one copy of it, they have short shanks, but for some reason, when the chick is carrying two copies of the short-legged gene, it dies in the shell.

00:21:09.178 --> 00:21:09.298
Whoa.

00:21:10.182 --> 00:21:18.173
So that's some serious breeding strategy to get your desired result without doubling down on it.

00:21:18.173 --> 00:21:18.232
Yeah.

00:21:18.502 --> 00:21:18.982
Yeah.

00:21:19.897 --> 00:21:26.857
A lot of these, mutations,'cause basically that's what people have done is they've selected genetic mutations.

00:21:26.857 --> 00:21:32.887
But if they're put together in certain combinations, it can definitely produce some lethal results.

00:21:32.988 --> 00:21:40.107
High mortality rates in the shell, a failure to develop, failure to hatch severely deformed chicks.

00:21:41.107 --> 00:21:48.188
You don't run across a lot of instances of that, but it does happen when let, when the lethal gene are at play.

00:21:48.778 --> 00:21:53.518
It's a recessive characteristic and two copies of it is, like I said, is lethal.

00:21:54.518 --> 00:21:54.728
Yep.

00:21:55.728 --> 00:22:01.137
And as we mentioned before, the Cornish Cross is, that's part of its design.

00:22:02.137 --> 00:22:05.468
One of the recessives within the Cornish cross is the dwarf gene.

00:22:06.442 --> 00:22:07.163
Shorten those, I guess.

00:22:07.663 --> 00:22:13.002
They have the dwarf gene I believe twice, which is, makes it inherently lethal.

00:22:13.002 --> 00:22:19.192
And there's another gene combination that also makes it inherently lethal and I can't think of that right now.

00:22:20.192 --> 00:22:20.732
And because

00:22:21.423 --> 00:22:22.292
I think it was a double

00:22:22.292 --> 00:22:23.583
breast gene as well.

00:22:24.583 --> 00:22:25.452
Double muscle gene.

00:22:25.452 --> 00:22:25.782
Yeah.

00:22:26.083 --> 00:22:26.532
Yeah.

00:22:26.653 --> 00:22:29.232
I, sorry, I didn't do my homework fully.

00:22:29.952 --> 00:22:43.532
I know that when they're, one of the things when you breed corn is crossed together, you get about 25%, 20 to 25% or dwarfs, all of'em are dwarf that dwarfs.

00:22:44.532 --> 00:22:45.133
And there goes the grocery rate.

00:22:45.492 --> 00:22:51.252
I just can't, I can't fathom keeping a Cornish cross pair alive long enough to mate.

00:22:52.093 --> 00:22:55.252
Some people have done it but they don't keep'em confined either.

00:22:55.262 --> 00:22:56.942
They're allowed to get out and roam around.

00:22:57.932 --> 00:23:03.768
Oh, see, every Cornish cross I've ever seen has been incapable of movement after about.

00:23:04.458 --> 00:23:05.238
Week 16.

00:23:05.478 --> 00:23:07.488
They should have been harvested a long time ago.

00:23:07.758 --> 00:23:07.938
Yeah.

00:23:07.938 --> 00:23:11.417
And it's almost becomes an animal cruelty issue for me to see a bird that old.

00:23:11.917 --> 00:23:13.748
And definitely don't keep'em on a hillside.

00:23:14.748 --> 00:23:14.837
I'll

00:23:14.837 --> 00:23:16.367
just roll on down to the bottom.

00:23:16.722 --> 00:23:19.053
They get down to the bottom eventually and they can't get back up.

00:23:19.173 --> 00:23:19.502
Yeah.

00:23:19.557 --> 00:23:19.978
It's,

00:23:20.067 --> 00:23:23.048
gosh, that sounds like me with my back sometimes.

00:23:23.357 --> 00:23:24.857
I hear you my friend.

00:23:24.857 --> 00:23:25.397
L four.

00:23:26.397 --> 00:23:27.778
Let's talk about.

00:23:28.778 --> 00:23:32.948
Identifying faults, flaws and disqualifications.

00:23:33.188 --> 00:23:33.458
Yes.

00:23:33.458 --> 00:23:35.137
Especially from a judge's perspective.

00:23:35.137 --> 00:23:35.678
I need that.

00:23:35.678 --> 00:23:35.887
That's

00:23:36.107 --> 00:23:37.458
that's a big problem for folks.

00:23:37.798 --> 00:23:43.288
And if you look up in the standard of perfection, it lists disqualifications and it false.

00:23:44.288 --> 00:23:49.498
And I'm constantly asked is the disqualification a recessive trait?

00:23:50.488 --> 00:23:53.667
Or is it a polygenetic trait or is it dominant?

00:23:54.667 --> 00:24:09.173
Most of the disqualifications, all of the disqualifications are dominant genetic traits, and they're considered disqualifications because they're things like skeletal deformities, like right tail.

00:24:09.917 --> 00:24:10.278
Okay.

00:24:10.788 --> 00:24:12.077
Once you get that established.

00:24:13.077 --> 00:24:13.827
There's no getting

00:24:13.827 --> 00:24:14.488
away from it.

00:24:14.728 --> 00:24:25.917
And once you get it, and the reason it's a disqualification is because back when the standard was written, there was a lot of emphasis on production qualities of what the carcass looked like.

00:24:25.917 --> 00:24:27.387
Man, you'd be familiar with that.

00:24:28.057 --> 00:24:32.678
And what if you start getting all those crooked tails and crooked spines?

00:24:33.678 --> 00:24:34.788
The public doesn't want it.

00:24:35.478 --> 00:24:35.778
Nope.

00:24:35.837 --> 00:24:38.778
That's why they make it a disqualification.

00:24:39.768 --> 00:24:45.198
Which is good too, because even with the bird walking around the yard, it's not pretty to look at.

00:24:45.407 --> 00:24:45.798
No.

00:24:46.798 --> 00:24:48.553
We talked about flaws.

00:24:49.018 --> 00:24:58.157
Flaws are I tend to think of flaws as more cosmetic issues,

00:24:58.728 --> 00:25:01.458
like a lot of the comb stuff like single combs.

00:25:01.772 --> 00:25:11.883
Can have a lot of different little things from side sprigs to conjoined spikes to the blade hugging on the back of the skull instead of coming off in a nice straight line.

00:25:11.952 --> 00:25:12.133
See.

00:25:12.133 --> 00:25:14.053
The side sprig is a dq.

00:25:14.712 --> 00:25:15.133
That's

00:25:15.133 --> 00:25:15.292
how

00:25:16.063 --> 00:25:17.538
That's the dominant It's coming

00:25:17.538 --> 00:25:18.438