Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
They (we) can also find out everything they don't need to know on Google. Hard part is, knowing how to distinguish between the two.

 

[Marengoite]

Perhaps this will help. Here is the quote in it's entirity:

“Form follows function-that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union” –Frank Lloyd Wright​

Karen,

I appreciate the full quote. I learned it from my buddy who was in architect's school.

Now, for chicken architecture, is the SOP the codification of function as displayed in form or is it just a preference of how certain chickens should look? Raising Buckeyes in Ohio has taught me that the form of the bird is suited to winter weather. Since the cold settled in, they spend far more time out in the snow than the other birds, Hamburgs included. I can see how they were breed to form in order to fulfill function. But what of the other breeds? Is this true of them as well?

And are judges still judging for form that supports function? Walt? Bob?

rick

 

[Robert Blosl]

YES form or type is Paramount in breeding and judging. You cant get egg production unless you have a female with the capacity or insides to produce eggs. What I learned from interviewing the top R I Red master breeders 20 years ago be for they died was Vitality then Type, then egg production then color was the thinking in our minds. If you dont have a chick that can not hop out of the egg in a normal time and live on his own with out help or medications you dont want them as breeders. Judges who know there stuff look the birds over very carefully and they will spot a bird that has the closest type to the Standard. Then they will handle them and look at them for color and little defects then after a little while they pick the top five birds. The top bird then goes up for a chance of Champion American or Champion English Class. Then once all the class champions are picked the judges maybe two or four of them will try to pick the top bird and reserve best large fowl of the show.

I was looking at a Rhode Island Red ckl today I picked some clover on the side of the road and gave all my birds some to eat. I opened his door in his 4x4 foot pen and about feel to my knees. His type was so brick shaped and he is about four weeks away from being in full bloom or peak form of feather. He has the type I breed for in a two pound package just like my old large fowl. So I am not a judge but my eye and my brain look at my birds just as they do and that is what a student of the Standard of Perfection does to you.

Hope this helps you.

 

[melroseladi]

I am a big believer in breeding for vitality. I don't use medicated chick starter or vaccines on my birds. I want them to develop their own immunities and pass those on to their offspring.

Penny

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Did the lecturer recommend a particular kind of light to use to maximize the red wavelength? I'm not finding much info on the labels for light bulbs-- warm, cool, is about it. Perhaps a light suitable as grow lights for plants?

 

[Pozees]

Interesting conversation. I, too, have had some experience with Jungle Fowl and in particular the Red Jungle Fowl in conjunction with the Savannah River Ecology Lab. I lived and worked in Georgia for 10 years and became friends with a great old time breeder named Al Cummings, who has since passed away. One of the greats as far as breeding 'hard to breed fowl' and he told me in his life he had produced some of the 'first breeding's' in the US of several of the very rare pheasant like birds. I had the opportunity to visit his place and work with him several times while I lived there and before he passed away. Truly a great man.

Old Al, gave me a pair of Red Jungle Fowl that had been DNA tested for purity and implanted with a microchip for identification and that mine were now the fifth 'flock' of pure Red Jungle fowl in the US. Evidently they are able to detect the presence of 'western chickens' in the DNA and that even the zoos did not have pure stock and even where they originated they had largely become contaminated with other genetics. Red Jungle Fowl are very difficult to breed and will freely cross with any chicken which is why they have been crossed out so much to get more of them. One characteristic of Red Jungle Fowl is the eclipse molt. They will molt twice, once they will molt and grow in black feathers and the second molt will be the Wild Type pattern and will coincide with breeding season. I was told they imported some Red Jungle Fowl in to Georgia in the 60's with an attempt to create another game bird for hunting. One of the many areas they dropped the birds was in the Fitzgerald Georgia area (I lived in nearby Tifton for several years) and that one of the reasons the project didn't work is these birds had a tendency to migrate to farm areas and associate closely with livestock for food sources and would then stay relatively close to those food sources. Still today there are several feral populations of them on small tracts of land but when I went to see the birds there was no evidence of an eclipse molt.

On the jungle Fowl themselves. There are four recognized Jungle Fowl, all of which have recently been reclassified in the pheasant family. The four are Red, Gray, Green and Ceylon. I have raised the Reds and Grays and I can tell you, the real Grays are much more pheasant like than chickens. I witnessed mine fly up to a perch, hover in the air, turn then land on the perch. Chickens don't do this. Also, their vocalizations are very different. From what I have read, the Grays have been used in their country of origin to cross with native Fowl to create a male that has a very unique crow. Not sure why they do this, but they do and that this cross was sterile. I never tried to cross mine with chickens so I am not sure about this.

So, when people talk about having Red Jungle Fowl, it is usually some sort of cross as there are very very few pure lines left anywhere.

Do you still have Jungle Fowl? This is fascinating.

 

[mschlumb]

Did the lecturer recommend a particular kind of light to use to maximize the red wavelength? I'm not finding much info on the labels for light

bulbs-- warm, cool, is about it.        Perhaps a light suitable as grow lights for plants?

We were mostly talking about lights for growing broilers not breeders. But I know that the LEDs are getting some attention because they last long. I still have the handout from that lecture. It's in my dorm and I'm at home right now and won't be back until the 9th. I can pm you more info then if you'd like.

I think as the CFL's age they tend to emit a more red wavelength. It was a very interesting lecture I'll just have to send it to you

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Good think I know my dog is a wolf, or you would have confused me.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I have been reading the discussion on Red Jungle Fowl to DH--he says there is an article in the Smithsonian magazine " How the Chicken Conquered the World" -- will need him to bring THAT home from work !

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Love your thinking Rick-- My kids are young and I can still influence them, I have been trying to help them be thinkers. Look it up on google then apply what you know to that information-- is it a good source of information? Is the information correct as you far as you know? I think the next generation does have have the capacity to understand the meaning and how to use the information when adults help them with that process. Have you heard of Destination Imagination? SInce my son and I did this, I continue to ask open questions, soliciting several possible solutions, then guide them thru selecting the best option. I also have to teach them to figure out the answer the teacher wants, which is not always the correct answer, to get high grades because only the kids with high grades get the scholarships to go to college. Kids need adults to help them learn thinking skills.