A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[Fred's Hens]

I'll add that there is also a spiral bound version available for the first time and it is less (although I don't know how much.)

Wisher, if Pat told you the spiral would be coming along later, you can be sure it is. I just hadn't heard that yet, that's all.

Spiral versions were offered in the past and some folks like them. Usually, they are abridged versions, but contain what's essential. They lay flat, which is good, but there's something about the quality of the hard bound that makes it encylopedia in nature. Love 'em. But I would also like the spiral for taking to "show and tells", shows, etc.

 

[sideWing]

Yes, the 2016 Standard of Perfection is the APA's newest, due to ship mid March. The ABA publishes their own Standard, focusing on bantams, of course. Remember, the only reason "new" books are published is to include the newly accepted varieties and/or breeds. Since I breed old timey American Class birds, there's no "new" anything, by way of any changes. As a dues paying APA member, supporting the association is important to me.

Thank you Fred that's very helpful. Someone told me they only come out every 10 years so I wasn't sure. I have Silverlace Wyandots that I'm trying to breed towards the standard and I don't have a book at all so I wanted to wait until the newest one was out. I'm also hoping BCM are in there as I have been breeding those as well.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You're welcome.

Yes, the Marans variety that are accepted (many still await further work) are now bound into the new edition. Your Wyandottes haven't seen a change in their standard for forever and a day.

Which brings up a touchy subject, but may as well put it out there so folks understand. Here's what happens in far too many cases. Let's say a group works their butts off leveling out a group of 50 birds to exhibit a "new" breed or variety of a breed so that it finally gets voted in as an accepted variety or breed. I hate to say this but often? Too often? That's the last anyone works with it. Right away folks are so stinkin' ADHD that they're off to something "new" and exciting. And why is this, you ask? Money. Selling sub standard eggs is money taken from the uninformed. Too bad.

We already have way too breeds and varieties. Way too many for the relatively few quality breeders who actually work to maintian and improve the birds. Yet more and more "new" varieties issue the siren call of distraction. Sigh.

The reality is that there are more varieties and breeds that are in horrid, horrid shape than there are varieties that are decent enough to be exhibited as good representations of the birds. Sad. Human nature I guess, but it is still sad.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

You're welcome.

Yes, the Marans variety that are accepted (many still await further work) are now bound into the new edition. Your Wyandottes haven't seen a change in their standard for forever and a day.

Which brings up a touchy subject, but may as well put it out there so folks understand. Here's what happens in far too many cases. Let's say a group works their butts off leveling out a group of 50 birds to exhibit a "new" breed or variety of a breed so that it finally gets voted in as an accepted variety or breed. I hate to say this but often? Too often? That's the last anyone works with it. Right away folks are so stinkin' ADHD that they're off to something "new" and exciting. And why is this, you ask? Money. Selling sub standard eggs is money taken from the uninformed. Too bad.

We already have way too breeds and varieties. Way too many for the relatively few quality breeders who actually work to maintian and improve the birds. Yet more and more "new" varieties issue the siren call of distraction. Sigh.

The reality is that there are more varieties and breeds that are in horrid, horrid shape than there are varieties that are decent enough to be exhibited as good representations of the birds. Sad. Human nature I guess, but it is still sad.

I believe the committee for getting birds into the Standard has put the kibosh on that by making it more difficult to get a bird into the SOP, which I feel is a good thing. The mentality needs to shift from getting a bird into the SOP to stewarding the breeds in the standard. The first is much easier than the second.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I believe the committee for getting birds into the Standard has put the kibosh on that by making it more difficult to get a bird into the SOP, which I feel is a good thing. The mentality needs to shift from getting a bird into the SOP to stewarding the breeds in the standard. The first is much easier than the second.

The APA committee has indeed. However, the reality remains that in LF particularly, way too many varieties, far too few dedicated breeders. Sigh. I know much of this is cultural shifting and inevitable to a large degree, but it seems to me that most beginners seem to want to start with the latest fad bird while the old varieties are sorely neglected. I don't have many answers other than to do what I can and promote them through discussion and exhibition.

 

[bnjrob]

The APA committee has indeed. However, the reality remains that in LF particularly, way too many varieties, far too few dedicated breeders. Sigh. I know much of this is cultural shifting and inevitable to a large degree, but it seems to me that most beginners seem to want to start with the latest fad bird while the old varieties are sorely neglected. I don't have many answers other than to do what I can and promote them through discussion and exhibition.

Yes, it's sad. But I am glad that Walt and the committee has held firm despite the flack they have gotten for making it harder for people to get new birds admitted. The fad for *Auburn* Javas seems to be slowing now, although a particular historical farm continues to fuel the fires to gain notoriety and cash for themselves. Someone not too long ago wanted to know when everybody was going to put in the paperwork to get the birds admitted to the SOP - I was glad to see he didn't get much in the way of responses. Seems most of the people that have them are just fiddling around and are still more of the pretty feather duster type of people, not serious breeders to actually be working on the birds. And because they have managed to get some of them to become *Silver* Javas, now they are getting side tracked with this new color.

 

[sideWing]

The APA committee has indeed. However, the reality remains that in LF particularly, way too many varieties, far too few dedicated breeders. Sigh. I know much of this is cultural shifting and inevitable to a large degree, but it seems to me that most beginners seem to want to start with the latest fad bird while the old varieties are sorely neglected. I don't have many answers other than to do what I can and promote them through discussion and exhibition.

Posting your birds on social media can help too. I'm new to heritage birds and I just fell in love with SLWs from seeing one on facebook. I culled 3 batches of 24 birds total learning how important it is to start with good stock and a reputable breeder. I had the best I could find shipped to my state in the west and now I'm trying to breed to SOP while spreading these nice SLW genes through my state. So getting these beautiful birds out there in front of people can really make a difference.

People just post more pictures of "new" breeds and it gets people interested. I think we can do the sale with heritage breeds.

Happy with what I have now and hope to convince SLW lovers around here to skip the hatchery for SLW.

 

[bnjrob]

Posting your birds on social media can help too. I'm new to heritage birds and I just fell in love with SLWs from seeing one on facebook. I culled 3 batches of 24 birds total learning how important it is to start with good stock and a reputable breeder. I had the best I could find shipped to my state in the west and now I'm trying to breed to SOP while spreading these nice SLW genes through my state. So getting these beautiful birds out there in front of people can really make a difference.

People just post more pictures of "new" breeds and it gets people interested. I think we can do the sale with heritage breeds.

Happy with what I have now and hope to convince SLW lovers around here to skip the hatchery for SLW.

I think that's a good idea and you're right, it will get the birds out there in the public eye, even more than if you were exhibiting them at a show. You can reach a lot more people via social media than you can at a poultry show. The APA is getting better about having an internet presence but some of the older breeders still are not on the bandwagon about getting online. If my grandmother who is nearly 90 years old can get on Facebook, there is no reason why some of these very experienced breeders can't get online too.

 

[sideWing]

I think that's a good idea and you're right, it will get the birds out there in the public eye, even more than if you were exhibiting them at a show. You can reach a lot more people via social media than you can at a poultry show. The APA is getting better about having an internet presence but some of the older breeders still are not on the bandwagon about getting online. If my grandmother who is nearly 90 years old can get on Facebook, there is no reason why some of these very experienced breeders can't get online too.

Absolutely! I also attended my first poultry show last year with my kids thanks to those of you that put these things together. Bring them in with beautiful heritage breeds and they start to get involved. I'm hoping to show this year, but I need a primer on how to keep a chicken for showing and how to prepare and handle it.

Are there any good videos or articles about it?

One more thing. There is a big trend right now of people wanting to know where there food comes from and a lot of folks are starting to keep chickens for clean meat and eggs. My hope is that LF will make a big splash in this set of hipster homesteaders since these folks don't want just any chicken in their backyard. The show I went to had mostly banties and I was pretty disappointed. I think banties are cool, but I really wanted to see more LF birds.

Just a few thoughts from a newbie.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
You're on the right track for improving interest in large fowl. Get them out there for people to see - at shows and in social media. Thanks for your interest. Keep it up!

Can't help you much on prepping birds for showing. Still learning how to do that myself. I wash mine 3-4 days before I show them, but I don't have a good setup for keeping them clean after washing. They need a few days after washing to dry out and redistribute the oils on their feathers before you show them. There are some videos but I can't find any links. You could check YouTube. Also there are some threads on BYC that deal with show prep. I got a lot of my information from the original Heritage Large Fowl thread started by Bob Blosl. It's a long thread but it has a lot of great info in it. Good luck!