Old and Rare Breeds

[cgmccary]

Quote: You left out an important red breed. Accepted by the APA as a breed in 1904-1905, the Buckeye is the quintessential American breed, having been created in the midwest and the only breed known to have been entirely created by a woman. It is a hardy, dual purpose fowl and grows moderately. Cockerels can be processed at 16-20 weeks old. Mine do well on pasture (I free range them.) In fact I made a video of some young cockerels following my cows catching horseflies. They are a very active fowl.

Pullets lay an average of about 150-200 eggs the first year and lay pretty good for about 3 years, but then egg production dramatically dwindles. The Buckeye is a rich mahogany bay color with black permitted in the tail and unexposed primary and secondaries. There should be a bar of slate in the undercolor of the back. Yellow legs.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote: My Appenzeller Spitzhaubens and Brabanters beg to differ about Hamburgs "owning" spangled.

Both Appenzeller Spitzhaubens and Brabanters come in a variety of colors in the EU. Some people in the USA are working on developing some of those colors here.

 

[Ivagrove]

The way I see it, Yellow House Farm has a good idea, but I see it from a slightly different angle. Maybe instead of looking at it from the point of what breeds own the variety, we should look at as what variety made the breed. In this context, any breed that has only one variety isn't really under consideration here. RIR, New Hampshire, and Buckeyes only come one color, save the breed and that variety is saved. ( My favorites seem to be the single variety breeds, I have buckeyes, dominiques, and nankins.) The breeds that have many varieties are a different matter. Which one(s) to save? From a breed preservation standpoint, perhaps the most effort would best be spent on the varieties that made the breed: buff orpinton, barred rock, silver and gold laced wyandotte, mottled java, silver and gold pencilled hamburg, etc. If these are preserved, then the breed is safe and any of the subsequent varieties could be re-created from the "foundation variety", as they were the first time. I would be inclined to not be too concerned about the white birds, because they tend to be the showbirds, and have that whole arm of the fancy working on them. Just a thought.

 

[saladin]

In general that is a very sound idea. The only problem comes with Orientals and Games. Many Orientals have no set variety (that is a Western idea) and Games have and do come in 1001 color patterns.

 

[Ivagrove]

I was mainly thinking of APA SOP breeds, and you're right, Orientals and Games don't seem to fit in quite so well there. I guess what I'm really aiming at is way for someone to choose what variety of a given breed to focus on, from the perspective of deciding where to place effort where it will do the most good for a breed that needs help.

 

[gjensen]

It is a good idea. I thought so originally. From an organizational point of view, it makes good sense. My only hang up (though the list would be different, lol), is that it doesn't take human nature in account. People are going to gravitate towards what makes them tick, like it or not. Individuals are the ones that are going to keep these birds, no matter the breed or variety.
If I was to build some hypothetical preservation farm somewhere, then I like the logic. Preserve these (hypothetically), and the breeds are preserved. If there was no other examples of this breed other than these, the color could still be taken on by someone (and use these as a resource).
Still at the end of the day, people want and are interested in what they are. There is no changing that. If the variety of the moment is more popular than at another time, what are you going to do? Change their minds? If the breed of the moment is what it is, it might not fit our "priorities".
The biggest problem with breed preservation, is a lack of interest in a given breed. The biggest challenge to preserving a variety is the difficulty in breeding it. The more difficult colors in a breed are the ones that take the biggest hit. Less people stick with it as natural attrition takes place.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'll have to post a picture on here of him. If you go over to UFF and look under the Asil heading and scroll way down until you see me 'doc' and Blue Asil.... well, you judge for yourself: no self-blue.

Ok, I guess I'm either dense or blind or both but I can't find it. I see no Asil "heading" on the home page. I tried looking through the different breed category pages and I even went to Tulip Grove Gamefowl website. I could not find a blue asil.

 

[raph]

What about Sumatra's????????

 

[saladin]

Sumatras are indeed a very old breed, but they are also a perfect example of what shouldn't happen in breed preservation.

Todays 'good' Sumatras are not much more than a bag of feathers. Since feathers has been 'the' focus of breeders for many years they have also lost the game qualities they once had.

 

[saladin]

I think Iva and Geo. both have some really sound ideas. This is sort of like what I've been saying for a long time.

I wish folks along with their favorite old breed would also keep one of the foundational breeds: those I refer to as Ancient (pre 1600) and Modern (1600-1845). These are the breeds which cannot be replaced whereas all composite breeds theoretically can be. Unfortunately, most folks it seems think more of their Rocks and Reds than they do the breeds that made them. I have nothing against these Industrial breeds and think they should be preserved. I only wish they'd think through the whole preservation idea a bit more deeply.