A Heritage of Perfection: Standard-bred Large Fowl

[Wisher1000]

Very nice!

 

[Wisher1000]

 

[Wisher1000]

 

[bnjrob]

Those are pretty nifty looking!

 

[Wisher1000]

Thanks! They are just starting to look like they may someday be standard.

These are all about 4 months old. The pic you included in your post shows the missing tail feathers on several of the pullets. I had to split that bunch and I'm not sure they have stopped picking. I am happy with the barring that is showing up in the tails.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I am most excited to see the numbers. In a redemption program such as this, it is the basic yeast in the recipe that makes everything rise to the top: focus, specialization, numbers, husbandry.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Mid summer is a reassuring time of year. Some of my fresh Delaware pullets are starting to look like Delawares. I kind of overhatched one breeding pen by like double. But that's okay as the pullets are shaping up well and I'll be able to start culling them soon -- just waiting on wings to finish with the oldest groups. The cockerels will need more time.

 

[Wisher1000]

Lovely

 

[gjensen]

I love them, and love to see them. A beautiful breed. They are sharp as adults.

Maybe I can share some Catalana pictures soon. I was late this year. I still have about 60 pullets running around. I have been working through the cockerels at a steady rate.

I am happy about the color that I am seeing, but I am worried about size. I am not sure where these will be yet. I have hit that stage in the project where reality starts creeping in, LOL. I have made good progress fast, but now the progress will come slow and in small increments.

It is easy to start or take over a project. For a time our heads get inflated, and we get full of ourselves. It is easy to get a strain started. It is painfully difficult perfecting the finer points.

 

[Wisher1000]

Any more good news, George?

Ha Ha Ha! Just kidding, I know you are right. My poor line didn't have anywhere to go but up.

I saw great improvements just in the first couple of productive years (that's not counting the first three years when I did good to get a handful to live to adulthood.) I am still getting noticeable improvements every season, but the differences are getting smaller. As long as I am getting a few that are even a little better, I'll be happy.

Mr. Robert Rhodes (80) of Massachusetts is one of my breeding partners. He started with some hatchery Campines a few years before I did and is breeding them up. It is interesting to me that even in as bad a shape as my foundation birds were, they showed much faster improvement than his in the same amount of time. I know that it is because they had been neglected for a long time, but not out crossed, at least not as much as the hatchery birds likely were. Also, I did out cross mine to some of Cathy Gleason's Campines (she has some really nice Golds and keeps a few Silvers as well, but neither are her main breeds.) Yes, that did shake up the genes, but it also provided a much needed boost in vitality.

Now, I have shared my line with both of them, although I don't know for sure to what extent they are using them. Bob said he thought mine were better than his, but I think he was just being nice.

I sent thirty or so birds home with Cathy about a month ago. They were mostly Golden Campines that I hatched from my Silvers, and a few others. It is really great to have that connection to other breeders and to have close friends in the hobby.