a link to the original.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Blosl
I interviewed about a year ago a very good breeder and he has a friend who is a super good bantam breeder. He told me if his friend has a female that is a killer that won Grand Champion of the show with type just out of this world he will mate the best two sons back to this hen and then pick which son produced the best total off spring in pullets as well as cockerels. He then will pick two of the best sons from that matting and mate it back to the hen again and raise say 20 to 25 chicks from this old hen. He does this for say four years. This is kind of what the Fletch chart does it mates the best son to the dam and the best pullet to her sire or the first pair birds. Then on the fourth or fifth year if you are lucky and no buddy dies you cross one bird from the right and one to the left and repeat this again. In the first chart it shows how you do this so just think of having a pen of White Plymouth Rock Large fowl you do this each year then you go up to the house where you have another pen and bring saw a top notch female down to the back pen and mate it to the very best cockerel. Then repeat this same process for four more years. I would have a total of two to three breeders depending how I figure out what to do. When you have just one parent and they get a year older each year you have to plan on a death. So if it happens you may have to redo the plan with a new bird. I also have Mr. Weaver in Tenn who has my line and a fellow in Canada who has my White Rock Line. I could always get a new bird from them and cross in and start over. That is my safety valve BUDDY plan. Can not do this alone you should have a partner like I have in Arkansas who raises my Rhode Island Red Bantams.
Now as I write this I ask my self how will I line breed these three Mottled Javas when I get them. I take the only male and mate him to each female and have each female in a five by five pen and rotate the male each day to the new pen. Each egg is hatched in a separate wooden hatch er and then toe punched and later wing banded. Then I take the best son of the hen one and mate to hen two and the best son from hen two and mate to hen one. I will take the best two other pullets and mate them to their sire and start another breeding pen. This will give me three new lines or three family's. Next thing I got to do is find me someone who lives in Texas or East Georgia and get them a start of say two pair and let them line breed them at a distance of about five hundred miles or more from me. Then say in four years we swap ten started chicks and then raise them up and start all over again with new fresh birds mated from their stock and my stock.
Hopefully, if I cull for vigor first type second and then color third I will be able to restart this old line of Mot led Javas.
Now as I painted this picture to you on how I have a plan with my 30 year old line of White Plymouth Rock large fowl and the Dr. McGraws old Mottled Javas what could you do with what you got.
Can you take a pen and a piece of paper and make a box for pen one and a box for pen two and figure out how you would go. The secret to being a good breeder that I learned is you have to have VISION. You got to ask your self every day WHAT IF I DID THIS. Some may say this Rhode Island Red pullet has very little black markings on her wing she is a cull. But old time breeders I interviewed say you are wrong. She is a $500. pullet. You keep these females around when you get a good male who is overloaded in the wing with black markings. You mate him to her then there best pullet with less black markings back to the male and then she kind of cleans the wings on the future generations. On the female side you take a male very much like Bobby in North Carolina or Matt 1616 her in my back yard in Alabama and mate these super star males with say over loaded wings back to her for two to three years. Mrs. Donaldson use to say these birds help to ABSORB the over abundance of black in the other mate.
Remember I told you That Mr. Kansas told me to Go Slow, Go Small and GO DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Well I think this is bringing you back to the middle by breeding such a female.
In regards to the person who asked what do I do to try not to screw up a old line of Heritage Birds such as this old LINE of Mottled Javas. I just painted a picture for you. I could do this with any breed of Fowl. Just Go Slow, Go Small and Think into the Future with Vision. Many people do not or can not be breeders of Live Stock because they were not born with the Vision trait. My wife goes into a store and touches everything she walks buy. I look at it with Vision and wonder what it would look like on a person. Some are what we call Auditory minded. They say when you talk to them Could you run that by me one more time and kind of TILT there head to the side to listen. I remember one time in school my teacher asked one of my friends what was the capital of Alabama and he looked up at the ceiling and after about 20 seconds said Montgomery. Then She said what is the capt ital of Oregon he did it again and he said Salem. Latter after class and we where out side playing I asked him why he looked up at the ceiling he said I could visualize the map of the United States I then could see the state and then the Capital of it. I latter asked the teacher if she saw what my friend did she said yes isn't it something. I said why does he do this and Martha looks down and touches her dress when you ask a question. She said she is a feeler or .Kinesthetic.
http://personalityjunkie.com/01/learning-styles-personality-type-visual-auditory-kinesthetic/
My friend is a Visual and other kids are Auditory. I latter studied this in sales and found if you know what the person is or his wife when you are making your presentation you can get them to say yes at the end. So in breeding chickens it helps if you have this God given gift. Matt 1616 is always dreaming up new mat tings in his head and has a eye for type like I have not seen in years. He would make a great judge some day. I am sure Walt and New York Reds have the same gift. That's why they are both master breeders.
So that's the secret of the day. One thing you can tell people when I am gone to the big chicken show in the sky is he did not take his secrets with him.
So all you people out there lets Visualize how we can save as many strains or lines of large fowl from going extinct in the next five years. Lets have a plan and get you a partner you can trust and lets do it. bob
I was reading through this thread again as a way to honor Bob and found this tidbit that I thought was timely. Wow, the more I read his posts the more I realized what a truly great man he was.
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