Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[FOGELLY]

Wow! 10,000 post.
It is good to see this thread so active.
Because of hast and a lack of research, I started my quest for Heritage Large fowl with a line of not so "Heritage RIR"
It was the people of this thread and the Heritage RIR thread that helped me get on the right road.


We moved back to the country in 2006. One of the first things we did was start a new flock. They came from order of hatchery birds. We then added a few "fad" birds (dark eggs, blue eggs ect.)
I still longed to have chickens like I remembered from my great grandma's farm, also grandpa's farm and our farm. We hatched many hundreds chickens from those flocks. I can still remember those old tin hen incubators. We hatched at least a 100 chicks a year when I was a kid. Sometimes I wonder if those chickens were as "Heritage" as I remember them, because almost all of those flocks got their start from birds to originated from hatchery birds. They provided us with a lot of food, and I learned how to care for chickens.

We are so glad we made the transition, and no longer have any hatchery birds left in our flock. The breeds we have now are much better in many ways. One of best reasons is they are not aggressive in any way. That is a plus since I waited until most folks are having grand kids to start a family. I just turned 49. Our son is 8 and our daughter will be 1 this month.

Ron







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[NanaKat]

Birds are so easy to train. Mine respond to the sound of the lid coming off the treat can in the morning and then come running to me from all over the farm in the evening with the sound of scratch shaken in a tin can. Lol

 

[gjensen]

If I can train crocs to load up in a box with a whistle, you can train anything.

 

[NotAFarm]

If I can train crocs to load up in a box with a whistle, you can train anything.

Do you have a video of this?

 

[thedragonlady]

Thought some of you might appreciate this photo from today at the PA farm show. It's a great illustration of the differences between a standard bred bird and a hatchery production bred bird. 2 buff Orpingtons, which one do you think would make the better meat bird? Feel free to use the picture, it was too perfect to pass up.

From what I can see, they are cockerels too. The difference will be much more pronounced at maturity !

 

[gjensen]

Do you have a video of this?

No. All I have is pictures of the animals themselves. I have had more than one. This is a chicken forum, so I will not go into great detail.

The training itself was not that remarkable, though I thought it was at the time. I had read of crocs being conditioned to the sound of a whistle. Ofcourse it becomes a feed response.

I had a Juvenile Nile from hatch that I did this with. Blow the whistle and offer him food. It was entertaining, at least. As he grew I moved him to an outdoor enclosure. When I opened the front of the pen, he would slide toward the front of his pond and watch me. If I blew the whistle, he was coming and their was no stopping him. He would come right out and end up in your lap if you were sitting.

One day I had the idea to place a box in front of this opening and tried the whistle. He did not hesitate. I assure you that he was not shy. You had to watch your hands.

Anyways, what I realized was that this was useful. Ofcourse handling them can be a hassle for you and them. It became easy to clean his enclosure. I modified the box to feed him in it, and to secure him. Worked every time.

I thought I had accomplished something remarkable even if it was in part by accident. After some time I discovered that others were doing similar things in other places. Get them to move from one area to another for example.

I had some adolescents that I never got very far with. They were older when I took them, and were agressive but shy. At least during the day. At night when all was quiet, you had to watch yourself. They felt more secure at night, and they were in hunting mode.

All it is is a feeding response. The same with chickens. Neither is mindless, but they are not especially "bright" either. A croc's brain is small but the density is very high.

Anyways, I better quit before Bob has a fit, LOL. Sorry Bob.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Are those Atchafalaya Swampers considered a heritage breed? Maybe you should sell some on ebay.

LOL George, I'd venture to say from some of my results and you've see a few of them too. that there's multiple heirs in this flock of swampers from A-Z I'm sure.

On the training of chickens or what have you(crocs incl) LOL yes I'd say anything is pretty much trainable with repetition. Funny story I trained a rooster(Eddie my oldest male on the place to this day/and patriarch to my swampers) to pen-up every evening. All I had to say was Eddie go get in your pen and he'd go over there and climb up the board, hop thru the gate and wait for his few little kernels of grain and was as happy as pig in a puddle. I still put him in a cat carrier every evening and he's there waiting to go in and get his obedience treat. Anyway one afternoon when I lived over in a different area of La.(that's Louisiana not L.A.) where my Atchafalaya swampers originated from. I was doling out the the evening graining and I got to Eddies turn and told him to go get in his pen, he did and I heard someone carrying-on and hollerin' out across the way "hey Fro"(my nickname to most that know me) "did I just see what I though I saw or is it this cigarette(left handed one< more than likely) I'm smoking making me see things LOL. I told him, you really saw it, he said "man I know I've seen everything now, when you can get a rooster to pen up on its own, He11 I have to chase mine down and net them to get them corralled up" LOL

And now back to our regularly scheduled program, I'm right there with you Ron I have learned a great deal from just this thread alone right here. It's so chocked full of info, I'll be re-reading and going back to it for years to come.

Jeff

 

[NanaKat]

Out of curiosity, would you post some pictures of your Atchafalaya swampers?

 

[fowlman01]

I keep thinking to natural incubation/brooding. I haven't had any luck with hens that will commit. I have and still consider getting some birds for this reason.

I had used broodies for the last 4-5 years to hatch for me. I find Phoenix females and Asil females to be very good incubators and moms. This year I used an incubator because of the amount of birds I wanted out. I don't know what experience others have had, but for some reason the birds I have that were hatched and brooded by hens are a cut above the incubated birds in almost every way. I don't now why, that is just what I have seen. I understand that they develop immunity with the hen, but why do they end up physically looking better?

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

Walt,
I know the SOP says pure white under-color to the skin for Light Sussex. Do they mark down if one shows a Light Sussex with a touch of color in the undercolor? Knowing that it is sometimes necessary for color balancing in the flock? Or does one just not show Light Sussex with a touch of color in the under-color?
Thanks,
Karen

I don't think that a lot of judges even pay attention to undercolor......that is just my thought. I don't know for sure. It should be marked down if it is incorrect, but I don't think it is marked down often.

Walt