I've always wanted to know how scale reading was done so lets see if anyone here knows anything about it


Thai brothers 3 months old

Yep, they look like chicken scales to me

The pictures are a little small and hard to see clearly...

the picture on the left shows several ring scales... Two above the spur and two below it. Ring scales are an indication of power but they would be better if they were at the spur level and better still if there was three of them. The same is true of the ring scales below the spur - an indication of power but better if in threes. I can't realy tell much about the right leg. The scales are a little scattered indicating that he may not pick a single target... So in all (unless I am missing something) Nothing realy special.

The picture on the right is also small and hard to read but it seems that he may have two rows of even scales in front on the left leg. This is a better scale but a person would have to look at the entire leg to see if the rest of the leg was good or bad before making a final decision... the right leg seems a little scattered. So all in all (from what I can see) he might have more potential.

On both of the birds - more even scales or more ring scales would be better.

Or I might be entirely wrong. LOL

You could try what I do and raise them both to eleven months old and then make a decision as to what the legs show you.

Thank you so much Red Beard! I was hoping to find out more about scale reading and just grabbed the two young stags that were on hand. CUDA now has the one on the right so we'll have to get him to weigh in on what the legs show him Hard to get a really good leg picture but I feel the need to send Prariechiken out into the cold to catch a couple to examine in person

It is hard to learn much about the reading of scales... You can try what I do and learn from an experianced reader but it takes time a willing person and even then, different formations of scales show different things... remember that all scales should be looked at - front and back. The scales in the front of the leg are considered offencive and the ones on the back of the legs are the defencive scales. The easiest scales to read are the dao line that starts at the spur and runs up the inside of the leg. They should be in a strait line and even in size (bigger is better). Any major disruption is bad. Ace birds can have almost any scales - but you find that the ones with the best dao just might be the best ones... Three or four nice even sized dao scales in a strait line is usualy considered to be good. More is better.

Leg Scale reading to me like Racing Homers going by the eyes sign,, I never seen an eye sign or a scale that won the race or match.. It takes the Whole bird...

lol that's why I'll be waiting to see what the scales say but I'm still interested in the concept, history and a few details of how it's done

Here is a photo of a soup scale.

Sorry , double post. A scale like this means they are wild swingers ( if only one present ). If level with spur it means they are accurate. If they have one above , one below and one even with spur it means super chicken. It is the small scale that is between the two rows of regular spurs that you look for.