THE WHITE PHOENIX
I am also working with the whites here at Casa
Rocca and will publish some images by the summer of 2001 here on these pages.
I have listed the whites and blacks under a different category because they
are very rare in the world of Phoenix breeders. The whites originated from
different sources and are of completely different genotypes. Some were recessive
whites out of silver duckwing or golden duckwing breeding, others are dominant
white from Leghorn crosses. My line is of Erhardt Schubert lines and have
the dominant white factor. These are not difficult to work with but, having
white feathers, special care must be taken to keep their tails from soiling
too much. I would advise keeping them in spacious stalls during wet weather.
In their stalls a deep layer of chopped hay or woodshavings is an excellent
way to keep the feathers in top condition. Also, as with all the longtail
breeds, too many birds in a small space will always be detrimental to their
dragging feathers as they are either picked out by bored hens, anxious other
roosters or are trampled and broken.
This rooster was in my care for a while when I
lived in Switzerland. It was out of F2 and F3 crosses with white a white
Kruper of unusually beautiful form. I was told by a well-known breeder that
it would not have been worth much to continue working with this line, there
there would be other birds of higher quality soon available. That was in
the late 1980's. This bird was sold to someone in the East of Switzerland
and nothing was ever heard of them again. The line, I found out years later
when the Germans who had given it to me and Mr. Hansjoerg Haltiner, had
died out with this disappearance.
This white Phoenix is from a now extinct line
of whites that Josef Wolters, the famous German animal photographer, had
for a while.