Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[cbnovick]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I am a bit envious....would love to see more photos as they grow out!! thanks for sharing !!

 

[cbnovick]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I am a bit envious....would love to see more photos as they grow out!! thanks for sharing !!

Oops, I misquoted....that post was meant for Beekissed!!!

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Quote: x2!! Congrats!

 

[Robert Blosl]

There is to reasons to keep pullets and ckls over then pick them for breeders next year. One if you are a Mottled colored breeder you can get a idea after they molt who has I guess less White than other may have developed. I read one time a Mottled Large Fowl Cochin breeder did this. This makes your expense to have chickens about twice as expensive because you have two age groups of birds to maintain over during the winter. Also, in R I Reds say you can see who molts back even in color and maintains that youthful type you want to breed from.

Many times the males you breed from as cock birds loose their type as they are short in body in the first place and you end up with a male as a cock bird that is box shaped rather than brick shaped. Also, your hens will have that youthful pullet look and not look loose feathered or boxing looking but tight feathered. Also, in say ten pullets as they molt you can watch their feather rate of molting and keep the faster molters and early layers and get rid of the slow ones who lay way later than their sisters did. If you do this over five years you will develop a fast feathering early developing high egg laying strain of H chickens. Now this can pay off if you have a breed that is in big demand by newbies as you can put these pullets and ckls to work in mating pens and hatch chicks from them to supply the beginners. They could care less if they are 9 months old your best of the year or if they are three years old. Then you hatch and keep the chicks from your old and proven birds.

If you don't have a base to share your extra chicks or eggs with then scratch this idea and just breed from the young birds as it is to cost prohibited to do with out the large expense

Now if you think I am nuts when you get the new Standard see if they say anything in it about feather quality and web of feather????

Glad you are buying standards. Make copies of your breed and read them often till its fixed in your mind. Take the pictures and cut them out and frame them or laminate them with plastic and use them look at the pictures then look at your birds. You will sometimes see a bird with a section that really matches the picture in the standard. It may be the tail section the back the extended keel like in rocks or reds or the head. Then try to put breeding pressure on that section maybe with one family. Pen one tails pen two heads and pen three fronts or underline. Then latter as you cross them in you will have a blend off a much more true to standard type bird. Just don't go over board because they don't look like these pictures.

Got my poultry Press yesterday and there is a good article on Line breeding and Variation written by I think a game bird guy. Interesting about climate and feed and how it may effect the birds development. If you get a chance to read it do so . If you don't have a copy ask the Poultry Press to send you a May issue may cost $3. or so. If you don't want to do that I will cut it out and make a copy of it and mail it to you.

If you are interested into raising H chickens and want to be a preservationist of rare breeds you should have this paper. If someone wants to give you a present for your birthday or Christmas ask for a year subscription. Its worth every penny in it. Heck you may even see a picture in the June issue of the most perfect Mallard Duck ever breed. I saw it and just cant get over how close to standard this female is.

Also, there is one heck of a White Runner Duck pictured in this issue. Kind of reminds me of the old Light Foot line I saw on the west coast about15 years ago. Most likely if you did DNA on this duck would be his old line.

 

[cbnovick]

There is to reasons to keep pullets and ckls over then pick them for breeders next year. One if you are a Mottled colored breeder you can get a idea after they molt who has I guess less White than other may have developed. I read one time a Mottled Large Fowl Cochin breeder did this. This makes your expense to have chickens about twice as expensive because you have two age groups of birds to maintain over during the winter. Also, in R I Reds say you can see who molts back even in color and maintains that youthful type you want to breed from.

Many times the males you breed from as cock birds loose their type as they are short in body in the first place and you end up with a male as a cock bird that is box shaped rather than brick shaped. Also, your hens will have that youthful pullet look and not look loose feathered or boxing looking but tight feathered. Also, in say ten pullets as they molt you can watch their feather rate of molting and keep the faster molters and early layers and get rid of the slow ones who lay way later than their sisters did. If you do this over five years you will develop a fast feathering early developing high egg laying strain of H chickens. Now this can pay off if you have a breed that is in big demand by newbies as you can put these pullets and ckls to work in mating pens and hatch chicks from them to supply the beginners. They could care less if they are 9 months old your best of the year or if they are three years old. Then you hatch and keep the chicks from your old and proven birds.

If you don't have a base to share your extra chicks or eggs with then scratch this idea and just breed from the young birds as it is to cost prohibited to do with out the large expense

Now if you think I am nuts when you get the new Standard see if they say anything in it about feather quality and web of feather????

Glad you are buying standards. Make copies of your breed and read them often till its fixed in your mind. Take the pictures and cut them out and frame them or laminate them with plastic and use them look at the pictures then look at your birds. You will sometimes see a bird with a section that really matches the picture in the standard. It may be the tail section the back the extended keel like in rocks or reds or the head. Then try to put breeding pressure on that section maybe with one family. Pen one tails pen two heads and pen three fronts or underline. Then latter as you cross them in you will have a blend off a much more true to standard type bird. Just don't go over board because they don't look like these pictures.

Got my poultry Press yesterday and there is a good article on Line breeding and Variation written by I think a game bird guy. Interesting about climate and feed and how it may effect the birds development. If you get a chance to read it do so . If you don't have a copy ask the Poultry Press to send you a May issue may cost $3. or so. If you don't want to do that I will cut it out and make a copy of it and mail it to you.

If you are interested into raising H chickens and want to be a preservationist of rare breeds you should have this paper. If someone wants to give you a present for your birthday or Christmas ask for a year subscription. Its worth every penny in it. Heck you may even see a picture in the June issue of the most perfect Mallard Duck ever breed. I saw it and just cant get over how close to standard this female is.

Also, there is one heck of a White Runner Duck pictured in this issue. Kind of reminds me of the old Light Foot line I saw on the west coast about15 years ago. Most likely if you did DNA on this duck would be his old line.

Agree that the POULTRY PRESS & APA SOP book are worth every penny!! As an enthusiastic 'junior varsity' fancier, I am devouring all the info contained in both these fine publications...Mr. Blosl I sure appreciate all the effort and time you put in to SOP & H poultry...educating along with Walt's CSU forum. Truly invaluable info.

Off topic warning---Please indulge---

How did you become interested in crafting pens?

Cindy in AZ (an Okie native and former Marin County, Calif. resident--man, do I miss that area!)

 

[fowlman01]

There is to reasons to keep pullets and ckls over then pick them for breeders next year. One if you are a Mottled colored breeder you can get a idea after they molt who has I guess less White than other may have developed. I read one time a Mottled Large Fowl Cochin breeder did this. This makes your expense to have chickens about twice as expensive because you have two age groups of birds to maintain over during the winter. Also, in R I Reds say you can see who molts back even in color and maintains that youthful type you want to breed from.

Many times the males you breed from as cock birds loose their type as they are short in body in the first place and you end up with a male as a cock bird that is box shaped rather than brick shaped. Also, your hens will have that youthful pullet look and not look loose feathered or boxing looking but tight feathered. Also, in say ten pullets as they molt you can watch their feather rate of molting and keep the faster molters and early layers and get rid of the slow ones who lay way later than their sisters did. If you do this over five years you will develop a fast feathering early developing high egg laying strain of H chickens. Now this can pay off if you have a breed that is in big demand by newbies as you can put these pullets and ckls to work in mating pens and hatch chicks from them to supply the beginners. They could care less if they are 9 months old your best of the year or if they are three years old. Then you hatch and keep the chicks from your old and proven birds.

If you don't have a base to share your extra chicks or eggs with then scratch this idea and just breed from the young birds as it is to cost prohibited to do with out the large expense

Now if you think I am nuts when you get the new Standard see if they say anything in it about feather quality and web of feather????

Glad you are buying standards. Make copies of your breed and read them often till its fixed in your mind. Take the pictures and cut them out and frame them or laminate them with plastic and use them look at the pictures then look at your birds. You will sometimes see a bird with a section that really matches the picture in the standard. It may be the tail section the back the extended keel like in rocks or reds or the head. Then try to put breeding pressure on that section maybe with one family. Pen one tails pen two heads and pen three fronts or underline. Then latter as you cross them in you will have a blend off a much more true to standard type bird. Just don't go over board because they don't look like these pictures.

Got my poultry Press yesterday and there is a good article on Line breeding and Variation written by I think a game bird guy. Interesting about climate and feed and how it may effect the birds development. If you get a chance to read it do so . If you don't have a copy ask the Poultry Press to send you a May issue may cost $3. or so. If you don't want to do that I will cut it out and make a copy of it and mail it to you.

If you are interested into raising H chickens and want to be a preservationist of rare breeds you should have this paper. If someone wants to give you a present for your birthday or Christmas ask for a year subscription. Its worth every penny in it. Heck you may even see a picture in the June issue of the most perfect Mallard Duck ever breed. I saw it and just cant get over how close to standard this female is.

Also, there is one heck of a White Runner Duck pictured in this issue. Kind of reminds me of the old Light Foot line I saw on the west coast about15 years ago. Most likely if you did DNA on this duck would be his old line.

Even my male Mallards win Bob. It really annoys the bantam chicken guys.....hahaha. Most of the winning white Runners can be traced back to the Lighfoot line. Hollderread, Oltersdorf and I have them. you can see the difference right away.





This is a female

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

Agree that the POULTRY PRESS & APA SOP book are worth every penny!! As an enthusiastic 'junior varsity' fancier, I am devouring all the info contained in both these fine publications...Mr. Blosl I sure appreciate all the effort and time you put in to SOP & H poultry...educating along with Walt's CSU forum. Truly invaluable info.

Off topic warning---Please indulge---

How did you become interested in crafting pens?

Cindy in AZ (an Okie native and former Marin County, Calif. resident--man, do I miss that area!)

I'm in Sonoma county Cindy.....right up the road from Marin.

w.

 

[MagicChicken]

<snip>

Now if you think I am nuts when you get the new Standard see if they say anything in it about feather quality and web of feather????

LOL! The Standard packs a lot of info into a couple of paragraphs.

Javas feathers should be "moderately broad and long, fitting fairly close to the body" like other birds in the American class. My birds have long feathers but they are not particularly broad. They're on the soft side and their body feathers flop every which way in the slightest breeze. I'd like to get the feathers tighter. Will watch for fast-feathering in the future. None of the chicks in this batch feathered faster than the others.

 

[cbnovick]

I'm in Sonoma county Cindy.....right up the road from Marin.

w.

I LOVE Sonoma county!!...
We originally wanted to relocate to Petaluma or even Santa Rosa instead of Novato, but the commute to San Fran. for my husband 's work (financial district) would have been too long...Novato was far better for us than Mill Valley or Ross for sure

We loved our 6 years there...had a few lush almost flat acres near Indian Valley Open Space...horses/small livestock and fowl everywhere in the country neighborhood...perfect for this Okie gal....but alas, my husband's career again necessitated another move in 2011. That area of California is IMO the most beautiful....like a little snapshot of Provence, France.

I got my first true 'taste' of standard bred fowl from attending the Stockton show back in 2010 with a 4-H poultry project gal. She told me that I would be able to purchase some fine birds to get started and just keep my current (hatchery) stock as layers. I was mesmerized at the show...bought a few nice quads. I had an ideal setup on my property...1 1/2 grazing acreage fenced for free range time and a big 4 stall horse and tack barn with outdoor runs to be converted into breeding pens etc. Long story short, my husband needed to relocate to Scottsdale, AZ and 'up in smoke' went my poultry plans soon after I returned from Stockton.
We were pressed for time on finding a residence in Scottsdale area...ended up settling for a double lot but at least zoned for some poultry...not sure if we will be here more than a few more years...if we are, we will look for a small acreage on the outskirts of town so I can get more serious with breeding etc.

We hope to visit the SF area perhaps this summer to see good friends...would love the opportunity and feel honored to meet you in person!

 

[fowlman01]

I LOVE Sonoma county!!...
We originally wanted to relocate to Petaluma or even Santa Rosa instead of Novato, but the commute to San Fran. for my husband 's work (financial district) would have been too long...Novato was far better for us than Mill Valley or Ross for sure

We loved our 6 years there...had a few lush almost flat acres near Indian Valley Open Space...horses/small livestock and fowl everywhere in the country neighborhood...perfect for this Okie gal....but alas, my husband's career again necessitated another move in 2011. That area of California is IMO the most beautiful....like a little snapshot of Provence, France.

I got my first true 'taste' of standard bred fowl from attending the Stockton show back in 2010 with a 4-H poultry project gal. She told me that I would be able to purchase some fine birds to get started and just keep my current (hatchery) stock as layers. I was mesmerized at the show...bought a few nice quads. I had an ideal setup on my property...1 1/2 grazing acreage fenced for free range time and a big 4 stall horse and tack barn with outdoor runs to be converted into breeding pens etc. Long story short, my husband needed to relocate to Scottsdale, AZ and 'up in smoke' went my poultry plans soon after I returned from Stockton.
We were pressed for time on finding a residence in Scottsdale area...ended up settling for a double lot but at least zoned for some poultry...not sure if we will be here more than a few more years...if we are, we will look for a small acreage on the outskirts of town so I can get more serious with breeding etc.

We hope to visit the SF area perhaps this summer to see good friends...would love the opportunity and feel honored to meet you in person!

Send mer a PM when the time gets closer to your visit. I'm between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. I commuted from here to Sutter and Montgomery St's in SF for 4 years. I started a business to eliminate the commute. The Pac Poultry Breeders Stockton lshow is the place to buy birds.......good birds. We had almost 4000 birds this Jan.

Walt