- Oct 21, 2014
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Hello all,
I am the original creator of the Seney breed that was mentioned on this board some time ago. I ran a website for the breed for several years. A thread surfaced in 2012 that was a bit controversial. Many did not believe that they were a breed or I didn’t spend a good part of my life (and income) creating them. There were a few believers that stood up to the non-believers. I want to extend a warm “thank you” to those valiant people that took the heat for me.
Final answer: They were real and they did exist.
Yes, they “did” exist. Maybe they still do. I haven’t heard from one of the breeders that took them over in about a year. I have no idea what state they are in. I ended up giving them away to a few poultry hobbyists so some 4-H kids could have some fun with them. They had some pretty big smiles on their faces! It’s all good. I needed to pass the torch to a new generation. We must remember to share what we have with future generations.
So now, I will answer a few questions you might have:
Thank you for your time and I wish you all the very best with your poultry projects. Don’t give up on understanding your birds. Like Jeffreys said in his poultry genetics book, it is identifying the finer points that are the keys to the genome. Someday the knowledge you glean will be useful beyond what you may realize presently. And keep your children involved in raising animals and gardening. I can’t stress enough how important that is. And I know many of you understand why.
Best regards,
RJ Seney
edited by staff
I am the original creator of the Seney breed that was mentioned on this board some time ago. I ran a website for the breed for several years. A thread surfaced in 2012 that was a bit controversial. Many did not believe that they were a breed or I didn’t spend a good part of my life (and income) creating them. There were a few believers that stood up to the non-believers. I want to extend a warm “thank you” to those valiant people that took the heat for me.
Final answer: They were real and they did exist.
Yes, they “did” exist. Maybe they still do. I haven’t heard from one of the breeders that took them over in about a year. I have no idea what state they are in. I ended up giving them away to a few poultry hobbyists so some 4-H kids could have some fun with them. They had some pretty big smiles on their faces! It’s all good. I needed to pass the torch to a new generation. We must remember to share what we have with future generations.
So now, I will answer a few questions you might have:
- Did Seney chickens really breed true? You bet they did! They bred true to type. And there was a strict type. Some colors were stable while others were in-progress. I was always unlocking color genotypes created by our ancestors and playing around with genes to see how they worked. The last discovery was never documented and unlocked a mystery to at least three incredibly difficult standard color varieties. Segregating that gene was the most difficult thing I have ever done. But man, did that gene make some cool colors! My biggest problem was having enough room to make so many color varieties. I had all of the keys and not enough money or room to make them all.
- Why did I discontinue the breed? Nobody cared about them. (or didn’t believed that they really existed) That’s the simple truth. And yes, I did spend thousands of dollars and many years to make them. Look at my avatar and run some statistical numbers on the gene combinations that it took to create those birds. Every Seney made was created from scratch. My last color variety was porcelain. My favorite was the Comets and Meteors. Truly stunning! (They used that magical gene) I’ll save you the trouble with the numbers. The statistics to get all genes homozygous for all of the features in a Seney is in the realm of millions-to-one. Really. I did find some shortcuts, obviously, after I learned a few genetic tricks. But still, it was one heck of a project. Just to get long outer toes on an extreme feather footed bird was nearly impossible. I had to hope for just the right split of a tight linkage. It was excruciatingly difficult. I ate a lot of chicken back then. I have six gardens now and I eat deer instead.
- Heck, even the owners of the poultry magazines blew me off when I offered to write a story about creating a new breed. For free! I was one of the very few people at the time that understood the entire chicken genome enough to “use” that knowledge to create something truly unique in this world. Some of the genes I discovered are now discussed world-wide over the internet and I bet nobody knows that I identified them and told people how they worked. I know some of them are discussed on this board and I have seen some of the genes listed in tables around the world. Cool! For a bit of trivia, I was one of the charter posters of poultry on the very first poultry website. I answered questions for thousands of people for many years. I quit when I no longer had time to participate and I found myself repeating myself every day. I handed the torch over to others that I had helped for years. I bet some of those people made it here.
Thank you for your time and I wish you all the very best with your poultry projects. Don’t give up on understanding your birds. Like Jeffreys said in his poultry genetics book, it is identifying the finer points that are the keys to the genome. Someday the knowledge you glean will be useful beyond what you may realize presently. And keep your children involved in raising animals and gardening. I can’t stress enough how important that is. And I know many of you understand why.
Best regards,
RJ Seney
edited by staff
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