Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[Arielle]

Quote: Nice to have choices , isn't it?? About kids that is. lol

As I realized I could influence my health short-term and long-term, I improved the food that went down the hatch. ANd I teach my kids this way of eating--think foods before 1875 (mostly)

and then I have transefered this to my livestock. Lord, the general horse population has serious issues with Cushings from eating pounds of molasses laced feed daily for 20 years!! Not my horses-- Lots of hay and some grain, pellets and without extra molasses. My vet tried to tell me my old 26 yr old had Cushings-- I didn't laugh, I gently expressed my doubt. Not sure she wanted to hear that either. He's old--give him a little time and he sheds out beautifully. No Cushings in that old man. He's 1/2 arab and is FURRY.

Many of our human skin diseases are a manifestion of the poor foods we eat-- and Karen I don't mean to poke at you , the standard american diet is BAD. Just to share what I have learned because the docs don't : Many of our foods cause inflammtory reactions.

I like that most of my girds can graze on the lawn like a normal chicken: turkeys, ducks and chickens side by side plucking grass.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Karen, sorry you lost the best of the two-- glad you have a chance to find a replacement.

I think this all speaks to the differences between breedsd and that there should be differences. Each area had different rearing practices is nmy bet and the bird was developed ti fit the bill.

 

[ki4got]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone could help me with picking out a breed of chicken for my first bunch of show quality birds? Me and my best friend are going to be buying hatching eggs, but can't seem to find any breeds we like that would be good for beginners.

We are looking for anything big (rooster 8-10 pounds, hens 6-8 or something similar), easy to breed, somewhat easy to handle, pretty (by this we mainly mean not plain black or white birds) and in a colour in the SOP... please help us, we need to find a breed soon!

Thanks,
David.

well, i'm partial to the Dorkings, but finding birds that meet SOP for size is a challenge IMO. the breed's been neglected and many varieties are somewhat undersized... I'm working on that with my flock (silver grey), but it's slow going. the reds I have are larger, but not considerably so. they are somewhat slow growing, but not nearly so slow as the Wyandottes IMO. though that is another breed I might suggest. lots of nice color varieties, some more readily available than others. I have blue laced red wyandottes myself but the variety isn't SOP yet.

then again, if i'd wanted a breed that was already show quality straight off the starting line, I wouldn't have chosen the ones I did... I wanted breeds that were NOT as common, and presented their own challenges in developing the lines myself.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: Karen, sorry you lost the best of the two-- glad you have a chance to find a replacement.

I think this all speaks to the differences between breedsd and that there should be differences. Each area had different rearing practices is nmy bet and the bird was developed ti fit the bill.
thanks. it was Thing2 I lost... I had such high hopes for him. LOL an then he had to go save his girls from the coons. lost several of my roos that month, for the same reasons. only lost 1 pullet and 1 hen, both were taken off the broodie's nest in the horse trailer (coop).

Thing2... not the best pics of him, but my 2 favorite pics. 8)

 

[BGMatt]

I can see culling and keeping the most vigorous, but with slow growing breeds, (Dorkings and 'dottes) I don't WANT the fastest growing, I want the BIGGEST... those two things are quite often totally different. the fastest growing cockerel I had last year was nearly 1 pound lighter than his slower growing hatchmate... type was still there, and vigor, but that size difference determined (at 12 months old) which one went to the freezer.

and unfortunately, that line has been lost briefly, as that rooster took it upon himself to protect his girls, just as I was ready to pen them for breeding. so his only offspring were possible mixes from free ranging who got sold, and ended up being purebred anyways. I am getting 2 of his brothers next month tho, so hopefully we'll have a good one to pick from to go back to the breeding pen. (red dorking).

As someone who has spent most their poultry lifetime breeding Asiatic birds (Langshans, Cochins, Brahmas) I know slow maturing breeds very well. You can select for both growth and size. I don't understand why someone would allow slow maturing birds to propagate in their flock, it just means you have to feed culls for longer. If it's not 90% mature by 6 months? That's a huge issue. But to each their own, just know it is possible to do both, you just have to select for it.

 

[ronott1]

As someone who has spent most their poultry lifetime breeding Asiatic birds (Langshans, Cochins, Brahmas) I know slow maturing breeds very well. You can select for both growth and size. I don't understand why someone would allow slow maturing birds to propagate in their flock, it just means you have to feed culls for longer. If it's not 90% mature by 6 months? That's a huge issue. But to each their own, just know it is possible to do both, you just have to select for it.

With Dorkings, they need to get the weight up to standard and then they can work on speed of growth.

There are almost no Dorkings that are the correct weight, except for @Yellow House Farm maybe with his white ones. He had to work very hard to get them where they are.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I can and will only speak to our birds. We're pushing them and selecting for earlier maturity. Waiting a year for the adults to gain their size and waiting 9-10 weeks for feathering of chicks and waiting 38 weeks for the pullets to begin to lay……. all this, (and this is just my take), is far too long. I don't expect these heirloom Reds and Rocks to compete with the modern, fast, fast, fast hatchery stock, don't need or want them to, but really, my concern is that breeds face possible extinction with rates this slow. Other than fanciers, who can tolerate such slow growth? I believe these venerable American breeds and can do better, if we focus on selecting for faster development. If we could see a 10-15% improvement, it would stimulate much more interest in them.

Matt, I like your 90% at 6 month target. That has meaning to me.

 

[NYREDS]

I can and will only speak to our birds. We're pushing them and selecting for earlier maturity. Waiting a year for the adults to gain their size and waiting 9-10 weeks for feathering of chicks and waiting 38 weeks for the pullets to begin to lay……. all this, (and this is just my take), is far too long. I don't expect these heirloom Reds and Rocks to compete with the modern, fast, fast, fast hatchery stock, don't need or want them to, but really, my concern is that breeds face possible extinction with rates this slow. Other than fanciers, who can tolerate such slow growth? I believe these venerable American breeds and can do better, if we focus on selecting for faster development. If we could see a 10-15% improvement, it would stimulate much more interest in them.

Matt, I like your 90% at 6 month target. That has meaning to me.

Good for you! There was a time when these breeds did well in the showroom & were productive. With proper selection of breeders there's no reason they can't fit both needs again. A standard bred RI Red will probably never lat 325 eggs a year but there's no reason they shouldn't be able to lay 250-275. The American breeds were all intended to be dual purpose, not ornamental. I'm not sure just when or why show breeders decided productivity didn't matter but they did.
Some other breeds are even worse. I have OEGB breeder friends who have show winning females that lay 10 or less eggs a year. In my opinion a fundimental responsibility of a chicken is to lay eggs & if they don't do that they're not very good chickens. Hard to reproduce chickens if they won't lay eggs.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I can and will only speak to our birds. We're pushing them and selecting for earlier maturity. Waiting a year for the adults to gain their size and waiting 9-10 weeks for feathering of chicks and waiting 38 weeks for the pullets to begin to lay……. all this, (and this is just my take), is far too long. I don't expect these heirloom Reds and Rocks to compete with the modern, fast, fast, fast hatchery stock, don't need or want them to, but really, my concern is that breeds face possible extinction with rates this slow. Other than fanciers, who can tolerate such slow growth? I believe these venerable American breeds and can do better, if we focus on selecting for faster development. If we could see a 10-15% improvement, it would stimulate much more interest in them.

Matt, I like your 90% at 6 month target. That has meaning to me.

I agree 100% that these breeds should be as productive as they were first intended to be. I share your concern that the slow growth affects their appeal. But I think the rate of maturity is different for each breed. I especially think Dorkings are an exception. They are such an old breed, they were never meant to be fast maturing. You may lose something in the end if you try to select for faster growth in Dorkings.
On the other hand, as much as I love these Delawares, they need to be MUCH faster maturing than they are now. Hoping I'll see improvement next year.
5 month old culls need to have enough meat to be worth eating, in order to justify the cost of feed these days.

 

[Fallchick]

Oops ! I was just following the arrows on the photos. I like that pullet, who ever owns her. Nice to see so many nice ColuNo

No problem. You might as well say these are Scott's Grand Chickens. They are from his stock. And I am very pleased to have them.