Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Robert Blosl]

One of my mentors who was a great Rhode Island Red man and a master judge and breeder of Jersey Dairy Cows told me this. The secret is in the Dam.

So it was one of the most profound statements I ever got interviewing a super star breeder. I always think of the female in my mating especially for type.

Color may have two points edge on the male. So if you got a great typed male with not as good of type as you would like mate him to one or two of the best typed HENS you have.

They may stamp the type for you and the color from the male will follow. No concrete proof just what the old timers felt in the past.

 

[MagicChicken]

One of my mentors who was a great Rhode Island Red man and a master judge and breeder of Jersey Dairy Cows told me this. The secret is in the Dam.

So it was one of the most profound statements I ever got interviewing a super star breeder. I always think of the female in my mating especially for type.

Color may have two points edge on the male. So if you got a great typed male with not as good of type as you would like mate him to one or two of the best typed HENS you have.

They may stamp the type for you and the color from the male will follow. No concrete proof just what the old timers felt in the past.

Thanks, Bob. Sorry I'm being such a pain about this. It's just that I wound up with 15+ cockerels and 5 pullets. Picking the best two pullets won't be hard. It's pretty obvious which pullets I should use, and my choices are limited.

I'm focusing on the cockerels because I'm going to have to cull a bunch of them soon - long before I really wanted to - just to keep some peace in the chicken yard. I want to keep the larger cockerels to compensate for the relatively small pullets. But the largest cockerels have other issues, like slightly curved backs or droopy wings, so I'm looking at the mid-sized cockerels as well. Hence my questions about back issues. If the back curve is something I can breed out fairly easily in the future I will go for size and cull heavily for back issues later. If slightly curved backs are very difficult to eradicate once they're in the flock, I will go for a mid-sized bird with a straight back.

Sarah

 

[3riverschick]

Maybe list the cockerels' faults and ask the veterans to relist them in the order of difficulty in breeding them out of the birds from easiest to hardest.
Best,
Karen

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

ill take a stab at this lol... obviously the genetics for the backs being that way is already in this strain of birds, but not 100% of them are that way right??? so i would think that if you kept several roosters so u had some with the back problems and some without and u hatched chicks from both then u should be able to cull really hard for it the next generation... what I'm trying to say is that even if you culled 100% of the ones with the back problems your still going to get some of that in the next generation... and if you use a male with it not all of his offspring will have it... I'm sure u will see it more if u use a male with it but you should still get good ones without it as well... so i would take a long look at the flock as a whole and see what its biggest problem is right now??? if it is size then keep the biggest... if it is back problems then don't keep any with that problem... i have found in my breeding that it is best to tackle one problem at a time... now that does not mean to completely ignore the other problems but they go to the back burner until next year... just my 2c lol...

Thanks, Bob. Sorry I'm being such a pain about this. It's just that I wound up with 15+ cockerels and 5 pullets. Picking the best two pullets won't be hard. It's pretty obvious which pullets I should use, and my choices are limited.

I'm focusing on the cockerels because I'm going to have to cull a bunch of them soon - long before I really wanted to - just to keep some peace in the chicken yard. I want to keep the larger cockerels to compensate for the relatively small pullets. But the largest cockerels have other issues, like slightly curved backs or droopy wings, so I'm looking at the mid-sized cockerels as well. Hence my questions about back issues. If the back curve is something I can breed out fairly easily in the future I will go for size and cull heavily for back issues later. If slightly curved backs are very difficult to eradicate once they're in the flock, I will go for a mid-sized bird with a straight back.

Sarah

 

[MagicChicken]

... what I'm trying to say is that even if you culled 100% of the ones with the back problems your still going to get some of that in the next generation... and if you use a male with it not all of his offspring will have it... I'm sure u will see it more if u use a male with it but you should still get good ones without it as well... so i would take a long look at the flock as a whole and see what its biggest problem is right now??? if it is size then keep the biggest... if it is back problems then don't keep any with that problem...

Thanks, that's what I was trying to figure out - if I could use a male with a back issue and still get some birds without the back problem out of him.

One of the best looking cockerels, with a beautiful broad back and tail, is dumber than a box of rocks. He tries to hump my boot every time I walk into the coop. He gets a little unexpected flight every time he tries it, but he always tries it. Makes me think a slightly round-shouldered, narrower-tailed bird that knows the difference between a pullet and a boot might be a better choice in the long run.

 

[3riverschick]

Day one and one of seven Light Sussex pipping in the Brinsea. I love this little 7 egg incubator. So easy to use. I wonder if it is a cockerel and eager to get out, smile.
Best,
Karen

 

[bnjrob]

Day one and one of seven Light Sussex pipping in the Brinsea. I love this little 7 egg incubator. So easy to use. I wonder if it is a cockerel and eager to get out, smile.
Best,
Karen

LOL. Went ahead and decided to try taking the shells out of ours to give them more room. It's working much better than when I left the shells in and there wasn't hardly any room for anyone else to hatch. Took two of the chicks out this morning and put them in the brooder. Left a couple in the incubator so their noise might inspire the rest to hatch. It's so small that the temp goes back up very quickly after opening it to grab the shells. I like our Brinsea very much. Have a Styrofoam one that was going to be a hatcher....now's it's also incubating. But it is not my favorite incubator. Had someone tell me they have had nothing but probs with Brinseas, but ours has been terrific and low maintenance. Practically just put the eggs in and forget them. I also like that it chimes when it turns them so you know that the turner is working.

 

[3riverschick]

LOL. Went ahead and decided to try taking the shells out of ours to give them more room. It's working much better than when I left the shells in and there wasn't hardly any room for anyone else to hatch. Took two of the chicks out this morning and put them in the brooder. Left a couple in the incubator so their noise might inspire the rest to hatch. It's so small that the temp goes back up very quickly after opening it to grab the shells. I like our Brinsea very much. Have a Styrofoam one that was going to be a hatcher....now's it's also incubating. But it is not my favorite incubator. Had someone tell me they have had nothing but probs with Brinseas, but ours has been terrific and low maintenance. Practically just put the eggs in and forget them. I also like that it chimes when it turns them so you know that the turner is working.

Yes, I really like the fact I can open it to remove shells or add water and it comes back to correct temp and humidity so quick. I started removing shells too. Much easier for the chicks and they don't tromp the other hatching eggs as much. Have 4 of 7 pipping now. They sure cheep a lot when they are hatching! LOL. I wonder where they even find the room to make a sound, with so little room in the egg! It is Day One and again they are hatching now. I wonder if I am a day off on my timing or something? I don't care, just interesting they aren't waiting till Day Zero to hatch. So far, out of 15 chicks this season , there are 3 cockerels. Not complaining, I need the pullets. I wonder if the early pipping means they are females? Hum. I do tend to sloop the water into both sides of the divided water well during the three weeks they are in there. According to the directions, they are supposed to only have one side full until Day Two when water is added to the other side. Doesn't seem to be making a difference tho, in hatching, if they go a day or so with water in both sides before Day Two. This little Mini Advance incubator is really forgiving of novice mistakes, smile.
I know 15 chicks(soon to be 21) isn't a drop in the bucket for those of you who hatch hundreds a year. I have the 2 pullets to start with and the 2 quan. 7 egg incubators. Actually I like that because I only have to hold the eggs for a week at most and then can start a full incubator. Am hatching them so each hatch comes from one hen. In June , will hatch 2 more settings of 7 from March and then be done for the year. Right now the incubators are hatching about 2 weeks apart. So I have several brooding tubs with 6 chicks each.
Next year will be different. We will have an extra grow-out yard and will be hatching 14 eggs at the same time as will be keeping 6 pullets from this year.
Best,
Karen
( My oldest son is getting married in May, that's why no hatching in May).

 

[bnjrob]

Yes, I really like the fact I can open it to remove shells or add water and it comes back to correct temp and humidity so quick. I started removing shells too. Much easier for the chicks and they don't tromp the other hatching eggs as much. Have 4 of 7 pipping now. They sure cheep a lot when they are hatching! LOL. I wonder where they even find the room to make a sound, with so little room in the egg! It is Day One and again they are hatching now. I wonder if I am a day off on my timing or something? I don't care, just interesting they aren't waiting till Day Zero to hatch. So far, out of 15 chicks this season , there are 3 cockerels. Not complaining, I need the pullets. I wonder if the early pipping means they are females? Hum. I do tend to sloop the water into both sides of the divided water well during the three weeks they are in there. According to the directions, they are supposed to only have one side full until Day Two when water is added to the other side. Doesn't seem to be making a difference tho, in hatching, if they go a day or so with water in both sides before Day Two. This little Mini Advance incubator is really forgiving of novice mistakes, smile.
I know 15 chicks(soon to be 21) isn't a drop in the bucket for those of you who hatch hundreds a year. I have the 2 pullets to start with and the 2 quan. 7 egg incubators. Actually I like that because I only have to hold the eggs for a week at most and then can start a full incubator. Am hatching them so each hatch comes from one hen. In June , will hatch 2 more settings of 7 from March and then be done for the year. Right now the incubators are hatching about 2 weeks apart. So I have several brooding tubs with 6 chicks each.
Next year will be different. We will have an extra grow-out yard and will be hatching 14 eggs at the same time as will be keeping 6 pullets from this year.
Best,
Karen
( My oldest son is getting married in May, that's why no hatching in May).

So far the chicks that we've hatched in the Brinsea seem to be able to tell time. They have started hatching 21 days after I put them in, almost to the hour that I put them in. It's weird.

I broke down and got the humidity pump for the Brinsea. Which is why I could only get one of them. Love the product, the price not so much. Did manage to find an after-market humidity pump and put it in the Styrofoam incubator we have. Works as well as the Brinsea pump, just has its own control panel instead of tying into the incubator control panel. It will even allow for calibration of temp and humidity. So far I've been thrilled with it, no more slopping water into the big open pan in the bottom of the incubator or accidently running out of water because I couldn't tell it was dry from just looking through the window.

Congrats on the wedding. I'm sure it will be a busy time.

 

[desertmarcy]

Have any of you noticed any correlation between age of sperm and thriftiness of hatchlings? Or any affect of heat on a cock's sperm? I have been continuing to incubate eggs from my Good Shepard Barred Rocks but took the male out of the breeding pen on 4/2. I am patiently waiting for all the eggs to be infertile since I wanted to switch males and hatch some from my other male. I have seen a decline in fertility, but it has been too soon, I think, for it to be because the sperm from previous matings is no longer viable. Wondering if it could be the heat. It just hit 95 here today, but up until today, it has "just" been in the upper 80's. Eggs laid 4/2 to 4/6, 5 out of 17 were infertile. Eggs laid 4/7 to 4/15, 5 out of 31 were infertile, so almost twice the # of eggs, but same # of infertile

Is there any problem with hatching eggs that are fertilized from "old" semen? And as far as the heat, do others who live in very hot climates notice decline in fertility? I wonder if the heat affects the sperm or if the heat is just inhibiting the males from breeding. I am thinking may be best to wait until fall to hatch from the other male? Opinions?