Old and Rare Breeds

[hcammack]

Quote:
Currently I don't have any faverolles right now as my dogs got to them and I am away at college. I am going to hatch for a 4-H project and may retain a trio or two

Well I am the vice president of the Faverolles Fanciers of America right now. We are an organization that want to preserve the Faverolles in this country they are a valuable breed and could provide some useful genetics as they are so cold hardy. There were no new Faverolles in the country for many years until someone got a cockerel from England. He produced tons of chicks for us and renewed the blood in this country producing the birds you see in Dick Boulanger and Peter Merlins flocks.

Henry

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
We are not a very old country but for us RIR, buckeyes, Plymouth rocks ect. They are OUR heritage birds I really don’t care as much about other country’s breeds I care about the USA bred birds. You are doing a very good thing by keeping them alive here but how many people on here will take RIR over asils?
Every breed NEEDS good breeders you saladin obviously know how to breed your birds but I am going to breed mine differently. You seem to want to save other country’s breeds I want to save ours.
Punky

Punky,
You know I will preserve American Fowl the same as others but, let me remind you that if it wasn't for the, "other country’s breeds" we (Americans) would not have any of our breeds.
For example if it wasn't for breeds like the Malay, Royal Cochin, Cornish, Brahma, Hamburgs, English Game, etc. there would be no R.I. Reds, Buckeyes, Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes etc.

Chris

 

[DaveK]

Quote:
I would add the White Faced Black Spanish to the list of truly Ancient breeds.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I've been away from the computer and BYC for a few days and just found this thread... I also am new to the whole breeding to the SOP thing and trying to breed to "Improve" the breed. Now I have had chickens, 100's at a time, sometimes several 100's of chickens for 40 + years. I currently have around 250 - 300 on the farm right now. I have learned sooo much from several of the old time experianced breeders on here and personaly would like to thank you all. I have never claimed to be a breeder (Although I would sure like to learn enough to consider myself as such someday in the future). I do claim to have raised chickens, and although I don't have a great education, also don't consider myself to be an uneducatable loss either.

I just hope that those of you whom we respect and admire so much, who are teaching us, guiding us and helping us (And you ARE teaching us whether you know it or not) will just keep in mind that things you might take for granted that everyone knows already comes as a revelation to us newbies. I honestly had never even HEARD of a standard until I joined BYC, but thanks to a little research, I'm ordering the new one and plan on reading it cover to cover, study and learn the standard for my personal breeds and as I get ready to cull set up my new breeder pens, picking the brains of those of you who already know how. For the breeds not in the standard like the Oroffs, I'm hopeing someone can get me a copy of the old standard it was in, or a standard from some other country where they are still recognized.

I am wanting so bad to LEARN.

In Punky's defense... I learn things sometimes from his questions... and ya'lls replies to those questions, that I would never think to ask myself. Punky is darn sure persistant and passionate.... but aren't those the traits that a good breeder needs?


Remember that for every person that post on this or any other thread there are hundreds, maybe thousands who read it.

Very respectfully,
Mississippifarmboy

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
We are not a very old country but for us RIR, buckeyes, Plymouth rocks ect. They are OUR heritage birds I really don’t care as much about other country’s breeds I care about the USA bred birds. You are doing a very good thing by keeping them alive here but how many people on here will take RIR over asils?
Every breed NEEDS good breeders you saladin obviously know how to breed your birds but I am going to breed mine differently. You seem to want to save other country’s breeds I want to save ours.
Punky

I agree Punky. Mainly because I cannot possibly save them all !
Goodness knows I want to !!
If only I could win the lottery...I would have a chicken preservation.
Sounds like Saladin already does !
My point, and I think Punky's point, is, we (he and I) are choosing to help the breeds that were CREATED here in this United States of America.
Has nothing to do with the shape of the globe, or the name of the continent ...and I also want to add that those of you that have choosen to breed and save heritage birds that originated and were created by peoples of other countries (not continents) are greatly admired as well.
I do not think third world inhabitants have any idea the value of the purebred birds they have...they just want to eat and feed their children.
I wish I could save them all, and the endangered rabbits , cattle, sheep and goats as well.
I do have Marans and Cochin here as well as my USofA heirloom heritage breeds...and there are alot more I would love to have..but find it is better to stick to just a few breeds and do them well, instead of many many breeds and not be able to give each all my attention.
Just saying...

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:

very well said !

 

[Chickielady]

And Saladin, to answer the earlier question...I have the same Java...beautiful beautiful bloodstock !
Does your son show ?

 

[punky rooster]

thanks guys

 

[pride&joy]

I have Assil , Shamo and May-lay and always looking for new quality bloodlines

 

[Chris09]

With helping a newbie that might be just starting out in the world of poultry here are some common poultry husbandry terms.

A - C

Addled: an egg where the contents are decomposing.

Air cell: the air space usually found at the large or blunt end of an egg.

Albumen: the white of an egg.

Amino acids: the simpler building units of protein.

Anticoccidial: a anticoccidial drug used to treat or prevent coccidiosis

Artificial insemenation: the introduction of semen into the female oviduct by methods other than by natural mating.

Aviary system: a system of housing based on the litter system where a number of “mezzanine” floors are installed to increase the available floor space and, in so doing, provide the space for more birds in the poultry house.

Beak trimming: The removal of part of the beak of poultry by specially designed equipment to prevent cannibalism and it’s associated vices.

Blastoderm: the fertilised nucleus of the egg from which the chicken develops.

Blastodisc: The unfertilised nucleus of an egg. No chicken can develop from a blastodisc.

Breed: a group of birds that reproduce their own likeness in their offspring. A variety is a group within a breed that are distinguished by a difference of a single characteristic eg. feather colour or comb type.

Broiler: a young bird of either sex bred and grown specifically for highly efficient meat production. Broilers are usually killed at 5 to 7 weeks of age (alternative term - meat chicken).

Brooder: the equipment used to provide supplementary warmth during the early stages of the chickens’ life. The energy used may come from electricity, gas, oil or from other sources.

Brooding: the period of the first weeks of a chicken’s life when it requires a very high standard of care including the provision of special diets and supplementary warmth.

Broody: the instinct controlled by maternal hormones that causes the female to want to set on eggs for hatching and to care for the chickens that hatch.

Caeca: the two blind gut of the digestive tract attached to the distal end of the small intestine.

Cages: a system of housing where the birds are confined to a wire floor singly or in multiples. With this system the stock do not come into contact with their own or other bird’s faeces - an important disease control measure.

Candle: to assess some internal characteristics of the egg by viewing it in a darkened room with a bright light behind the egg.

Cannibalism: the practice by some birds of attacking and eating other members of the same flock.

Chalazae: a type of albumen that surrounds the yolk of the egg and extends as creamy white, twisted, ropelike structures into each end to anchor the yolk in the centre of the egg.

Chick: the term used to describe chickens from day old to the end of brooding.

Chick-type drinker: a drinker that is more suitable for young chickens to access water.

Chick-type feeder: a feeder that is more suitable for young chickens to access food.

Clear eggs: infertile eggs (containing no embryos) usually removed from the incubator during incubation.

Cloaca: the common external opening for the digestive, urinary and reproductive tracts of the fowl.

Coccidiostat: a drug usually added to the food and used to prevent the disease coccidiosis.

Cock: a male that has finished one seasons as a breeder. Usually refers to older birds.

Cockerel: a young male from day old to the end of it’s first year of breeding. Often used to refer to young males up to 6 months of age.

Controlled environment housing: an intensive housing system where the operator can control temperature, air quality and light.

Crop: an organ, a part of the esophagus, located at the base of the neck and used as a storage place for food after eating but before digestion.

Crossbred: a bird with parents of two or more different genotypes (or breeds or varieties).

Crude protein: the nitrogen sources in food. It is not true protein as nitrogen is found in dietary compounds other than protein.

Cull: the identification and removal of non-productive birds from the flock.

Cuticle: the outer membrane or bloom on the egg’s shell.

D - F

Dead-in-shell: chicks that fail to hatch from the egg.

Deep litter: the system of housing where a suitable material called litter is provided on the poultry house floor for the birds to live on.

Disease: any condition that affects the proper functioning of the bird’s system(s), organ(s) or tissue(s).

Dry bulb thermometer: a thermometer with a dry, uncovered bulb used to measure temperature.

Egg bound: an afflicted hen is one that is unable to complete the egg formation and laying process and retains the partially or fully formed egg in the oviduct.

Embryo: the young of an animal before birth - the developing chicken in the egg.

Free range housing: a system of housing where the birds have a shelter house and access to an outside area during the hours of daylight.

Feed hopper: a semi-automatic feeding system which has the capacity to hold food in addition to that in the feeding trough associated with the feeder.

Fertile egg: those eggs in which fertilisation of the blastodisc has occurred to create the blastoderm. The joining of the female ovum and the male sperm to create the embryo.

Flighty: excitable flock inclined to fly at the slightest provocation.

Flock: a number of birds of the same origin (genotype), age and managed in the same way.

Food conversion ratio: the relationship between food production and production (eggs or growth). It is usually expressed as a ratio.

Floor eggs: eggs laid on the floor of the shed and not in designated nest sites/ boxes.

Fowl: the term used to describe all members of Gallus domesticus (domestic fowl) irrespective of age, sex or breed.

G - I

Germinal disc: the fertilisation site on the egg yolk. Alternative names include blastodisc and blastoderm.

Germocidal solution: a solution of chemicals that will kill microbes.

Gizzard: the muscular stomach of the fowl where the food is ground and mixed with the digestive compounds produced by the proventriculus (glandular stomach).

Growers: the term used to describe all stock between the end of brooding and till they reach sexual maturity.

Hatchability: the number of saleable chickens that hatch from all eggs incubated - usually expressed as a percentage.

Hatch of Fertile (HOF): the number of saleable chickens that hatch from all eggs classified as fertile.

Hen: a female after the first moult. It is often used to describe females after they have started to lay.

Hen day average: progressive egg production record calculated on a survivor basis and expressed as a percentage:

Hen housed average: progressive egg production record calculated on the basis of the number of birds placed in the laying house at point of lay:

Hock: the joint of the leg between the lower thigh and the shank. It is most commonly the region where the feathered portion of the leg ends and the scaly shank of the lower leg starts.

Hover: a canopy used on brooders to direct the heat downwards to the chickens.

Incubation: the process by which fertile eggs are subjected to conditions suitable for the initiation and sustaining of embryonic development and the hatching of strong, healthy chickens.

Incubator: the machine used to incubate fertile eggs.

Insoluble grit: hard, insoluble material such as granite, flint or bluestone chips consumed by the birds to aid in the grinding of the food in the gizzard.

Intensive system: any system of housing poultry where the birds are indoors all of the time and do not have access to the outside. It usually entails higher stocking densities.

J - L

Keel: the breastbone or sternum of the fowl. This bone has a large surface area to provide for the attachment of the large muscles of flight (the breast muscles).

Layer: a female in lay. Usually used to refer to females kept solely for egg production for human consumption.

Layer cycle: the period from the onset of lay until the natural moult causes a cessation of production. Usually used to describe the period during which an economic level of production is being maintained.

Lighting (artificial): the use of controlled artificial light to regulate the day length under which the stock are kept.

Livability: the expression used to describe the number of survivors in a flock:

Lux: a unit of illumination equal to one lumen per square metre. Used to measure the brightness or intensity of light.

M - O

Meat chicken: see broiler.

Metabolisable energy (ME): the energy in a food ingredient or diet available for metabolism (use by the animal for normal body functions and activity).

Metabolism: the sum of the chemical changes in living cells which provide energy for the vital activities and processes of the body.

Methionine: one of the essential amino acids.

Micro-ingredient: an essential ingredient in the diet that is required by the bird in very small quantities.

Moult: the process whereby the bird sheds it’s feathers and ceases egg production. It is usually initiated by hormonal influences but is often triggered by stress.

P - R

Peck(ing) order: the social organisation of a flock ranging in a ladder formation from the most dominate to the most subordinate member of the flock.

Pendulous crop: an enlarged crop usually due to impaction and which hangs downwards in an abnormal way.

Perchery system: a system of housing consisting of a litter floor plus a number of perches installed to increase the number of birds that the house will hold. Some of the perches carry feeders and drinkers.

Point of lay: females just prior to starting to lay.

Preen gland (uropygeal gland): a gland located at the base of the tail which produces a special “oil” secretion for the conditioning or preening of the feathers.

Primaries: the ten long, stiff flight feathers at the outer extremity of the trailing edge of the wing. They are separated from the inner group or secondaries by the “axial” feather.

Production efficiency: the relationship between the various major production factors which, depending on the class of stock, will include food consumption, live weight gain, egg production and mortality.

Proventriculus: the glandular stomach of birds located in front of the gizzard.

Pullet: a female in her first laying season. Often used to refer to young females post brooding to point of lay.

Purebred: a group of birds having the same origin, and able to reproduce their own likeness in their offspring. Purebred birds have the same genotype, but all birds with the same genotype are not necessarily purebreds.

Relative humidity: the percentage of moisture saturation in the air. There is a direct relationship between temperature and relative humidity - as the temperature increases, the relative humidity decreases and as temperature decreases, the relative humidity increases.

Roost: the perch on which fowls rest or sleep.

Rooster: male bird.

S - U

Sanitise: that part of the cleaning procedure aimed at killing as many microbes as possible.

Secondaries: see primaries.

Semi-intensive: a system of housing where the birds have access to a shelter house and an outside run enclosed by a fence to keep the birds in and predators out.

Sexing: the act of dividing the flock into its component males and females.

Skillion roof: a roof with a single pitch or slope.

Slatted floor system: a system of housing similar to the litter system except that wooden slats approximately 2 cm wide with a similar gap between are used instead of litter. The faeces pass through the gaps and out of reach of the birds housed therein.

Slave hopper: the short term food holding hopper integral to the food delivery system of a mechanical feeding system and additional to the main food storage silo.

Soluble grit: various sources of calcium in the diet - usually a granulated or grit form of limestone.

Spent hen: a layer that has reached the end of her economic egg laying life.

Started stock: layer replacements post brooding to point of lay.

Stubbing: removal of the short stub or pin feathers after plucking.

Thermostat: a device sensitive to temperature and usually used to control the operation of temperature modifying equipment.

V - Z

Vent: the common external opening from the cloaca for the digestive system, urinary system and reproductive system.

Vitamin/mineral premix: a concentrated source of various vitamins and/or minerals mixed together so as to make the adding of them to the diet much easier (beware of antagonistic materials).

Wet bulb thermometer: a thermometer with a wick covering the bulb. The wick keeps the bulb wet by drawing water from a reservoir. Used in conjunction with a dry bulb thermometer, a reference to appropriate tables comparing wet and dry bulb readings will indicate the relative humidity.

Poultry Plumage Terms and Definitions.

Barring--
Alternate stripes of light and dark across a feather, most distinctly seen in Barred Plymouth Rock

Bay--
A reddish-brown color.

Bleaching--
The fading of color from the beak, shanks, and vent of a yellow-skinned laying hen.

Brassiness--
Yellowish foul coloring on plumage, usually on the back and the wing.

Cuckoo barring--
Irregular barring where the two colors are somewhat indistinct, and run into each other, as in the North Holland Blue , Cuckoo Leghorn and Cuckoo Marans.

Double laced--
Two lacings of black, as seen on the Cornish female`s feather. First there is the outer black lacing around the edge of the feather, plus the inner, or second lacing.

Dusky--
Yellow pigment shaded with black.

Duckwing--
To have coloring in both the wing bow and wing bay while the wing bar is black or white like seen in Black breasted reds and pyles. Unlike a crow-wing which only possesses coloring in the wing bow.

Ground color--
Main color of body plumage on which markings are applied.

Gypsy color--
A dark purple, or black colored skin that predominantly shows up on the face, comb, and wattles, but can be the color of the whole body as well like in Silkies.

Hard feathered--
A term used in the description of the plumage of gamefowl. Hardness is based on how narrow, and short the feathers are, and the toughness of the shaft. It is also normal for the barbs to be closely knitted, and very little fluff.

Lacing--
A stripe or edging all around a feather, differing in color from that of the ground color; single in such breeds as Wyandottes, and Sebright bantams, and double in Cornish Game and other females. In the last case the inner lacing not as broad as the outer. (see also double laced)

Luster--
A description of the way light interacts with a surface.

Mealy--
Stippled with a lighter shade, as though dusted with meal, a defect in buff colored fowls.

Open barring--
Where the bars on a feather are wide apart.

Open lacing--
Narrow outer lacing, which gives the feather a larger open center of ground color.

Parti colored--
To have different colors in different areas or patches.

Pigmentations--
The color of a chicken's beak, shanks and vent

Pinfeathers--
The tips of newly emerging feathers.

Pencilling--
Small markings or stripes on a feather, straight across in Hamburgh females (and often known as bands) and concentric in form, following the outline of feather as in Brahmas (Dark) Cochins (partridge) Dorkings (silver grey} and Wyandotte (Partridge and Silver Pencilled) females and fine stippled markings of Old English Game and Brown Leghorns.

Peppering--
A plumage is said to be peppered when it is dotted with spots.

Plumage--
The feathers making up the outer covering of fowls.

Primaries--
The feathers of the wings generally called the flight feathers.

Primary coverts--
The feathers that cover the primaries on the wing.

Rust--
The reddish-brown shadings on the outside of the wings in Black breasted reds, and brown leghorns. In England it is called foxy.

Secondaries--
The quill feathers of the wings which are visible when the wing is closed.

Self color--
A uniform color, unmixed with any other color.

Sexed feathers--
Hackle, Saddle and Tail feathers whose ends are pointed in males and rounded in females. (except in breeds in which the males are "hen feathered" such as Sebrights).

Shaft--
The stem or quill part of the feather.

Shafty--
The term describing a dark-colored feather having a light shaft.

Sickles--
The long curved feathers of a males tail usually applied to the top pair only (the others often been called the lesser sickles) but sometimes used for the tail coverts.

Tail coverts--
The feathers that cover the main tail feathers of the rooster.

Ticked--
A fowl is ticked when it has a spots of a color different from the rest of the plumage .

Tipping--
End of feathers tipped with a different colored marking.

Top color--
The color of the plumage on the back.

Tri-colored--
Of three colors. The term refers chiefly to buff and red fowls, and generally applied only to males when their hackles ans tails are dark compared with the general plumage, and the wing bows are darker; a fault.

Twisted feather--
A deformed feather that has the shaft, or web twisted.

Under color--
Color seen when the feathers are lifted on a bird, the color of the fluff of the feathers.

Wing bar--
Any line of dark color across the middle of the wing, caused by the color or marking of the feathers known as the lower wing coverts.

Wing bay--
The triangular part of the folded wing between the wing bar, and the point.

Wing bow--
The upper, or shoulder part of the wing.

Wing butt--
The end of the primaries, the corners or ends of the wing. The upper ends are more properly called the shoulder butts and are thus termed by game fanciers. The lower, are often called the wing butts.

Wing coverts--
The feathers covering the roots of the secondary quills.

Wing clipping--
Procedure used to prevent flight in which the Primary Flight Feathers are cut to 25 or 50% of their length.

Chris