Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Pozees]

Sounds good. Here are my young Crele Penedesenca. I think that their pattern is correct Crele.

SOOOO making me want some yesterday

 

[catdaddyfro]

The 50's were a good time. After the depression and the middle class was thriving. What granny forgot is that we were born in the 30's, so we had the direct influence of the depression in our lives in some way. The education I received back then would be the equivalent of a second year college student today. They would keep you in the third grade till you were 18 back then if you didn't do the work.

Here are some of the things I saw at the university. Kids didn't know that postage stamps cost money. At move out time they would leave all their computers and TV's cuz they didn't want to deal with moving them. None can spell.etc, etc. If I needed to talk to a student, the only way I could contact them was to text them. They don't pick up their mail, answer emails or return phone calls. They do have awesome hand eye coordination and great knowledge of personal communication devices and applications. Personally I have no problem with any of that.......it's just another generation and we all do it differently.

Walt

LOL reminded me of a story Jerry Clower would tell of Ben D. Lauter being in the 8th grade 8 times in 'hot steel balls" I just had to share it:

Jeff

 

[Ivagrove]

I have Jeffrey's "Bantam Chickens", and I think its great. A treasure trove of information, and most of it is applicable to large fowl. This and Lamon & Slocum "Mating and Breeding of Poultry" are my two most-used poultry books. I think they belong on everybody's bookshelf, definitely on my short list of must-have chicken books. And "Mating and Breeding" is available in e-book format for you younguns that don't know how to turn paper pages!!

 

[3riverschick]

. And "Mating and Breeding" is available in e-book format for you younguns that don't know how to turn paper pages!!

The Mating and Breeding of Poultry
By Harry M. Lamon, Rob Roy Slocum
http://tinyurl.com/d4s67er
http://tinyurl.com/c44hx2s

 

[mschlumb]

Well back to chickens, more interesting than teenagers anyway.

I'm sure it's here in the over nine hundred pages of posts, but I haven't gotten it all read yet. Have we discussed feeding? I know a lot of old texts talk about feeding skim milk, buttermilk, whey, chopped clover, meat meal and many other things. A lot of which is not readily available to us today. I want the best looking birds, healthy, well muscled and plump, with shiney feathers. I think extra healthy birds equal extra healthy meat and eggs.

Really with complete feeds, all of that stuff is not necessary to feed. We have learned a lot about nutrition since those times and that information is almost completely obsolete.
The only complaint I have is that many feeds are going with all plant protein. I don't like this because you are not getting certain amino acids,and my birds at least just seem to not thrive on it.
I would recommend you find a feed with some animal protein in it. Laying hens are really the only class of birds that animal protein is not essential. I thinks it's imperitive to have it in starter, grower, and breeder rations.

That being said, If you happen to have those things on hand that's just a bonus. I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. Some of the things you mentioned night be good to give to birds that you are trying to condition for show though. Oil seeds are good for that.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Really with complete feeds, all of that stuff is not necessary to feed. We have learned a lot about nutrition since those times and that information is almost completely obsolete.
The only complaint I have is that many feeds are going with all plant protein. I don't like this because you are not getting certain amino acids,and my birds at least just seem to not thrive on it.
I would recommend you find a feed with some animal protein in it. Laying hens are really the only class of birds that animal protein is not essential. I thinks it's imperitive to have it in starter, grower, and breeder rations.
That being said, If you happen to have those things on hand that's just a bonus. I wouldn't go out of my way to find it. Some of the things you mentioned night be good to give to birds that you are trying to condition for show though. Oil seeds are good for that.

That's the whole reason NOT to feed a complete feed. Yes, it is a lot more work but I believe the health benefits in my birds makes it worth it.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi Walt, I need some help. I am sadly confused.

OK, we know one of the breeds used to create the Light Sussex was the Light Brahma. That early elite Light Sussex breeders wrote (circa 1920-30's) to breed Light Sussex the same as the Light Brahma for color.
Books written, 95 to 135 yrs. ago, about breeding Light Brahma seem to me to give breeding advice that will create Light Sussex of the proper color. see Judge Card's book on "Breeding Laws" and this 1877 I.K. Fletch book: The amateur's manual; or, Specific mating of thoroughbred fowls (1877) http://archive.org/details/amateursmanualor00felc . ( Pages 1-16 and 28 thru 32 ) This would seem to confirm that both breeds were then on the same locus, ( eWh? which does not have black stippling on the saddle)
Now it is 2012. I see pics and read books that show Light Brahma with black saddle stippling and that they are based on eb Brown, even tho they are a black and white breed (yes, I see how an eb bird could be black and white). Now it seems, using currently advocated breeding techniques for Light Brahma will result in faulty coloring for Light Sussex ( i.e. black stippling on the saddle, etc.).
What is going on here? Have I made a mistake in my history study?
Have Light Brahma changed locus over the last century?
What do you think of that 1877 Fletch book as regards using the advice Fletch gives for breeding Light Brahma ...for breeding Light Sussex?
Why do Light Brahma have black stippling on the saddle now-a-days?
Could they still be eWh locus like the Light Sussex, yet fashion now decrees they have stippling on the saddle in spite of the fact eWh locus does not usually produce that effect?
I know it's important I understand which breeding method is correct for my Light Sussex or I am going to screw up the color matings.
Thanks so much for your help!
Happy New Year,
Karen ( I will not be back online till Sat. evening.)

 

[hcammack]

Well back to chickens, more interesting than teenagers anyway.

I'm sure it's here in the over nine hundred pages of posts, but I haven't gotten it all read yet. Have we discussed feeding? I know a lot of old texts talk about feeding skim milk, buttermilk, whey, chopped clover, meat meal and many other things. A lot of which is not readily available to us today. I want the best looking birds, healthy, well muscled and plump, with shiney feathers. I think extra healthy birds equal extra healthy meat and eggs.

I am very lucky to work on a raw milk dairy and have access to skim milk, butter milk, and older whole milk. I also feed my birds any extra animal fat/ protein that I can. I also feed vegetable and green scraps to the birds. Anything to boost protein and fat and give them winter fuel.

I think that adding ingredients like that to their diet increase the health of both birds and eggs. At the place I used to work we would feed the laying flock buckets of skim milk and would place the gut piles from the animals we butchered in the pens. Best eggs I have ever eaten.

 

[Bentley]

Believe it or not (but it is a fact) scientists and nutritionists know more about the nutritional requirements of a chicken than of people. You can do research on the nutritional requierents of chickens but you can't do the same type of research on people. Having said that, the diets formulated for a laying hen, growing bird, or a chick starter will provide all the necessary nutrients for optimum growth WITH an eye towards economic feasibility. This has been done at nausium for the chicken so the diets you purchase are formulated to meet these needs. However, I do know that many top breeders have discovered additional ingredients that are specific for each breed that have been shown to be very beneficial. The only caution I would add is to NOT provide additional ingredients IN PLACE of formulated diets. The ingredients amd vitamin and mineral packs added to these diets will ensure they get the proper protein, calcium, phosphorous, amino acids, etc. necessary for performance and growth and help maintain a proper balance of all nutrients. Any added ingredients are great and will often add the final touch to already good birds, but don't short change your birds by eliminating formulated diets completely.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Even my layers did FAR less feather picking when I switched them to a feed that used animal based protein. Ironic thing is, that feed, made by the same manufacturer as the swanky new "all plant based" feed costs far less.