Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

I don't get how you feel good about a placing after doing something like that.

Winnie (my grandmother used to call me that!) Dick Horstman is a BYC member, though he doesn't post often; he's been breeding fowl for many, many years and has nice stock, overall, IMHO.

Dick has good birds.

w.

 

[snowbird]

That was pretty brazen. If you are caught now, ALL of your birds are DQ'd. If someone uses a magic marker to color wing tips, I'm going to catch them. I hold the wings of Marans, Polish and other breeds I know that are prone to white wing tips up to the light...if they have colored them it is plain to see each stroke of the pen......they don't seem to know that. Judges should know where to look for faking. I don't think you can see where a sprig was taken off if you use a razor blade. Look at Moderns and OE's that have to be dubbed. If done right you can't tell they ever had wattles.

Walt

Walt, If you use your finger nail you will find the slick spot where it was shaved. Me and the man who owns the poultry press were at a show in Kentucky and a couple of fellows came in carrying a large Blue Muscovy Drake and preceded to use a magi marker on the white ticking around the head. That person has since become an APA judge.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Dick has good birds.

w.

Yes from what I've seen on his site + what I have here personally I think he has good birds too, of course I might be a tad biased myself as I have about 9 months of blood sweat and tears oh yeah a few dollars($$$) tied up in my Reds. I think they look as good as what is posted on here(if I could take a picture worth o hoot I'd post up some but my photo skills are lacking esp for chicken picture taking, its hard) of course every once in a while someone will post a picture "real humdinger of a winner" on here but that is what this is all about to get that one or two great outstanding birds to pop out and stand tall from all the rest of regular normal good birds IMO. It sure is fun learning challenge these Reds are and I got a LOOONG ways to go still yet. LOL

Jeff

 

[OSUman]

there were a handfull of Araucanas at the last crossroad show that were DQd for coloring the feathers

 

[CharlieVoda]

That male has a very nice tail for a barred rock. This line had problems in the males tail but this one so far is looking nice and furnished.

Double mating is something I have never had to do. A friend of mine who is breeding Colombian Plymouth Rocks has been talking about a fellow who is a super star Light Brahma breeder. In order for his to get good males and good females he has to double mate them. That is males for the female line may have different colors or excess colors to produce a female line then a male line. Its a shame really as you have to have two more lines of one breed to produce good birds. Also, when you buy birds from this guy if you dont know how to breed them like he does you will go backwards. If you can breed your Blues single mating system that is fantastic. I liked our female. bob

Double mating is more common than one may think among party colored birds of certain patterns.

It is very common for a color trait to be off one way or another which will result in the males or females of single line breeding to have either an excess or shortage of a certain color. This is what determines the need for double mating. Sometimes when trying to correct one color fault you will in turn create a different color fault. This becomes less likely with double mating because you are only concerned about males or females in each line.

Often with party colored birds you will here the term Hen Line or Cock Line this refers to a line that has strong show quality birds in one sex or the other. It is possible for one to breed say Dark Brahma for 4 or 5 years using the single mating system and have 95 point birds. As time goes on certain color traits will begin to subtly take hold and must then be offset in the breeding pen. Then for a few years you have to use the double mating system to clean up one of the sexes to produce 95 point birds in both males and females after which you can go back to the single method again for a few years. When you think about it you may as well just use the double method right out of the chute. You will need to know the characteristics of your hen line and male line and what begets what. You also need to know what line each of the bird came from.

This is one of the main reasons many potential breeders of party colored birds quite breeding them. It is twice as much work and record keeping as single mating. You also need more birds than for single mating. Even E.B.Thompson double mated his Ringlet Barred Rocks. Here is a link to information E B Thompson wrote on the subject.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...eb-thompson-cockerel-mating-and-pullet-mating

Here is a link to the book Harry Lamon & Rob Slocum wrote in the 1920's called The Mating and Breeding of Poultry it explains mating techniques and reasons to use them for a lot of the Heritage breeds as well as other breeds.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Wf...&q=the mating and breeding of poultry&f=false

Charlie

 

[Chloe77]

Thanks for giving us these links. I am a wannabe breeder myself, even though my Mom is a bit ticked off about it!

 

[Wynette]

Charlie, someone sent me a copy of a very old paper (was that you, Kathy?) written by a longtime breeder of the silver penciled rock - the article talked of choosing a cock bird with specific traits that would well with two different types of hen - when I say type, I mean coloring - one hen would product good males and the other good females - both using the same male. I am unsure what this is called, but the article specifically called out "look for a cock bird with XXX" type of thing. Fantastic article, very helpful, and it's what I'll use when I resolve some basic issues. I hope it works for me!

 

[Chloe77]

Well, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with breeding... Get an example book, put together two birds who exemplify the breed, mate them, get the fertile eggs, incubate, and PRESTO!!! is it more complicated then that?

 

[OSUman]

I have a friend that is doing something like that with his New Hampshire bantams. I cant remember the exacts but he has different colored hens, some a little light, some darker, with proper colored cockerels.

Charlie, someone sent me a copy of a very old paper (was that you, Kathy?) written by a longtime breeder of the silver penciled rock - the article talked of choosing a cock bird with specific traits that would well with two different types of hen - when I say type, I mean coloring - one hen would product good males and the other good females - both using the same male. I am unsure what this is called, but the article specifically called out "look for a cock bird with XXX" type of thing. Fantastic article, very helpful, and it's what I'll use when I resolve some basic issues. I hope it works for me!

 

[Lacy Blues]

I don't get how you feel good about a placing after doing something like that.

Winnie (my grandmother used to call me that!) Dick Horstman is a BYC member, though he doesn't post often; he's been breeding fowl for many, many years and has nice stock, overall, IMHO.

I don't know whether or not he placed. Don Schrider was there with his light brown leghorns and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone beating him!

Well, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with breeding... Get an example book, put together two birds who exemplify the breed, mate them, get the fertile eggs, incubate, and PRESTO!!! is it more complicated then that?

That, my dear, is because you haven't tried it yet.

It is not as easy as it seems. You could have two show winners, cross them, and get absolutely nothing worth keeping. So, yes, it is more complicated than that.

Don't tick your mom off too much. I'm sure your parents are the ones paying for the feed for these birds of yours. Do your homework... learn how to take care of them, breed them, improve them if you can. If you can get some kind of part time job around your neighborhood, I'm sure it would go a long way toward bringing your mom around if you actually were able to make enough money to feed them.