A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[finnfur]

Which breed clubs are the most successful and why? I'm a member of two breed clubs that have no participation. Of course, getting members active is key, but I'm wondering how and what else can be done to create a strong, active breed club?

Thats a great question and would think its keeping members interested and active which is a challenge in todays world. Cant answer which are successful but could on one that isn't currently.

 

[MagicChicken]

Which breed clubs are the most successful and why? I'm a member of two breed clubs that have no participation. Of course, getting members active is key, but I'm wondering how and what else can be done to create a strong, active breed club?

Good question. I have not joined my breed's club because I've been turned off by the vocal minority's obsessive focus on creating new colors of the breed, when the varieties that are already in the Standard are struggling. On online breed forums I've been bashed for plugging existing varieties over new colors. So I stopped participating.

Not joining the club probably makes me part of the problem. On the other hand, life is short. I'll just quietly raise chickens and work to improve them, and when I get to the point where I like what I see I will show them. I do belong to my local poultry club. I wouldn't have standard-bred chickens and I wouldn't belong to the poultry club if it hadn't been for the "heritage" threads on BYC.

In my opinion, any breed club needs a strong leadership interested in the survival and long-term improvement of the breed. If the leadership is in rainbow-chicken land the club may be active but it won't be worth much. And it will hurt the breed in the long run. It takes strong leadership to keep the momentum focused on the breed's body type and existing standards.

 

[enola]

I read the heritage threads, but I keep my mouth shut.......

I made the mistake of calling a male chicken a rooster and stirred up an uproar sort of like WW3.

So I look at the pictures while they all sit up there on their internet pedestals and wait for me to say rooster again.......

Then they wonder why the numbers of people in the heritage world are dwindling..........

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

I read the heritage threads, but I keep my moith shut.......

I made the mistake of calling a male chicken a rooster and stirred up an uproar sort of like WW3.

So I look at the pictures while they all sit up there on their internet pedestals and wait for me to say rooster again.......

Then they wonder why the numbers of people in the heritage world are dwindling..........

Wow, how do they expect to get new members?

Anybody here breed Faverolles to the Standard of Perfection?

 

[fowlman01]

I read the heritage threads, but I keep my moith shut.......

I made the mistake of calling a male chicken a rooster and stirred up an uproar sort of like WW3.

So I look at the pictures while they all sit up there on their internet pedestals and wait for me to say rooster again.......

Then they wonder why the numbers of people in the heritage world are dwindling..........

was that rooster or roo? I have used rooster for 50 years and no one has ever said anything about it. The folks you run into online are not the same people that breed to a Standard. ..for the most part.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hmmm....APA culture has a long history, and it's fairly concrete. It has past down for many generations, and I mean that literally. Top quality stock is past down. The stock, the breeders, it's a whole culture, and it is the only culture that has kept these breeds available at this quality. There is no other place where they exist. The breeders of some of the best fowl in America have them as the legacy of a breeder passed away. I have a buddy who, if anything happens to him in the manner of our dear Bob, he wants one of his breeds to come to me and the other to go to another, specific breeder. He has them himself as a legacy from another breeder.

We watch people come and go from this hobby, come and go; it's like a revolving door. Very, very few actually stick it out for the long hall. Part of that is because it is much more than a hobby. In many ways it is a second job. These breeds were established in their elite form by professionals, and it has been the maintenance of the professional ideal that has caused them to continue to exist. Like all professions, there is an entire culture and lingo surrounding it and supporting it. At first it might not seem necessary to the newcomer, but it is part of the entire culture and an essential part. If you do not yet understand it, it is because you do not yet understand APA/ABA culture.

When we don't understand cultures, we often think that they're wrong or that what they do is superfluous, but that normally has to do with a lack of understanding by the new person. I remember clearly all of the misunderstandings I had when I first became active in the community, and I grew up homesteading and breeding birds. A new culture is always a reason for us to expand.

When I moved to France I was all pie-eyed; it was wonderful, lovely, so much fun. Then, after a while, I found myself annoyed all the time they did this wrong and that wrong; they didn't understand how to do things. Then, one day, I realized that France wasn't going to change for me; I needed to become French. That began the period of my greatest enjoyment.

The APA isn't going to change its jargon because neophytes are afraid of the word cock. It's simply not, and like all organizations, if certain people go off in a huff, it's not going to really matter in the changing courses of time. If folks don't join the APA and participate in APA culture, they'll miss all that it has to offer, and that is a lot.

Joining the APA is a choice to grow as a poultry breeder, to be changed as a poultry breeder. From the outside it might look like a glorified show and tell, but it's actually much more than that. There are no pedestals here, but there are certainly points of view we do not yet understand.

Best,
YHF

 

[fowlman01]

Good question.  I have not joined my breed's club because I've been turned off by the vocal minority's obsessive focus on creating new colors of the breed, when the varieties that are already in the Standard are struggling.  On online breed forums I've been bashed for plugging existing varieties over new colors.  So I stopped participating.

Not joining the club probably makes me part of the problem.  On the other hand, life is short.  I'll just quietly raise chickens and work to improve them, and when I get to the point where I like what I see I will show them.  I do belong to my local poultry club.  I wouldn't have standard-bred chickens and I wouldn't belong to the poultry club if it hadn't been for the "heritage" threads on BYC.

In my opinion, any breed club needs a strong leadership interested in the survival and long-term improvement of the breed.  If the leadership is in rainbow-chicken land the club may be active but it won't be worth much.  And it will hurt the breed in the long run.  It takes strong leadership to keep the momentum focused on the breed's body type and existing standards.

I'm with you and so is the APA Standard Committee and that is why we are changing the admission process.

Walt

 

[enola]

was that rooster or roo? I have used rooster for 50 years and no one has ever said anything about it. The folks you run into online are not the same people that breed to a Standard. ..for the most part.

The word I used was rooster. And I see the posts about proper culture. That's fine. I don't think there are many people more respected on the heritage threads than Fred. He doesn't care if I refer to male chickens as roosters. He also doesn't mind answering my newbie questions ........

So I am going to go back to reading the posts and ignoring the snarky comments.........

 

[troyer]

Following and interested in learning.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I've followed Joseph's posts for over a year and have found him to be a gifted teacher and talented writer. I would strongly suggest to those who find the whole "culture" and language of Standard bred poultry to be challenging to you to hang in there. Being married and working my way through it, I remember it taking 5 1/2 years to do my undergrad and many more years to complete my graduate studies. Things worth learning take time to process.

If it were all readily familiar and did not challenge you and your previous thinking, ask yourself how that would be learning something new?

Still so much to learn myself; so much to try and discover and so much to appreciate.