Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Robert Blosl]

If they have a split wing and other don't pick that bird go to the next better bird to breed from. These faults can come back latter and bite you in the butt.

I had a family here today getting a few breeders and told them how I shrunk down my bantam reds from large fowl. One year about seven years ago I had a nice small female with great brick shape type and small she had a fault that we call rainy day reds or a tilt back wards like a Minorca. I said to myself I can breed this out. The next year most of the chicks where dead on small and typey not a one with a rainy day back. The next year almost all my chicks had rainy day backs or top lines. I was screwed.

I had to take the two best females and mate them to my best level backed cock bird and inbreed the daughters back to him for three years to get this fault out.

I wasted about four years from this mistake.

Today I am very careful on faults and remember what you see is not always what you get. Many times it may take five to ten years back and you got head aches hitting you.

One classic example a guy crossed White Wyandotte bantams onto his White Rock Bantams Why I have no idea. About twenty years later his chicks started to look like Orpington bantams.

They where chunky. It took another good breeder about five years to breed this out and get them right. Later I heard a story of what happened.

People are always crossing different breeds onto chickens to think they will improve something. But it comes back in the future to haunt them in my view.

Hope your girl turns out to be your future queen for your flock.

 

[Lacy Blues]

If they have a split wing and other don't pick that bird go to the next better bird to breed from. These faults can come back latter and bite you in the butt.

I had a family here today getting a few breeders and told them how I shrunk down my bantam reds from large fowl. One year about seven years ago I had a nice small female with great brick shape type and small she had a fault that we call rainy day reds or a tilt back wards like a Minorca. I said to myself I can breed this out. The next year most of the chicks where dead on small and typey not a one with a rainy day back. The next year almost all my chicks had rainy day backs or top lines. I was screwed.

I had to take the two best females and mate them to my best level backed cock bird and inbreed the daughters back to him for three years to get this fault out.

I wasted about four years from this mistake.

Today I am very careful on faults and remember what you see is not always what you get. Many times it may take five to ten years back and you got head aches hitting you.

One classic example a guy crossed White Wyandotte bantams onto his White Rock Bantams Why I have no idea. About twenty years later his chicks started to look like Orpington bantams.

They where chunky. It took another good breeder about five years to breed this out and get them right. Later I heard a story of what happened.

People are always crossing different breeds onto chickens to think they will improve something. But it comes back in the future to haunt them in my view.

Hope your girl turns out to be your future queen for your flock.

Funny how I've been getting on here today right after you post

Your other post said cross her with an uncle or something to see if it will breed out. Here you say "If they have a split wing and other don't pick that bird go to the next better bird to breed from."

Can you explain what you mean by "and other". Should I not use this girl at all?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Thought I'd post a few pix this morning...these are 3 shots of the same cockbird I kept to hold over this year (LF Columbian Rocks). I feel he is much improved from where I started.....could still use some improvement to his lower front end, needs a bit of lift in his tail and color (esp saddles) can be worked on. Any comments, suggestions? Thanks, Scott

 

[write2caroline]

I haven't seen this thread in quite some time and I just went through a dozen or so of the last pages.

WOW beautiful photos,

I think I am going to invest in some quality stock and see what I can do with the barred rocks.

I went to a chicken show and saw some beautiful birds. One of the breeders commented about how it takes the same amount of effort to raise a low quality chicken as it does the higher quality so I think it is worth the investment.

I also have since decided to work on Cream Legbars because I love history and the idea that they are pretty and auto sexing.

My son is working on finishing college in Germany and I am wondering too if he might be able to bring me fertile eggs when he comes home

I am going to keep looking through photos of my ancestors and posting when they include fowl. My ancestors were pioneers taming the wilds of the pacific north west. Anyway - thanks for all the information and comments.

Caroline

 

[Robert Blosl]

Thought I'd post a few pix this morning...these are 3 shots of the same cockbird I kept to hold over this year (LF Columbian Rocks). I feel he is much improved from where I started.....could still use some improvement to his lower front end, needs a bit of lift in his tail and color (esp saddles) can be worked on. Any comments, suggestions? Thanks, Scott

Thanks for posting these pictures. You sent them to me last night. As the guy who located these birds about four years ago in Canada and got them to the USA I am very happy to see such a nice Male. I told Scott in a email last night that's the nicest Columbian Plymouth Rock Male I have seen sine I first saw his Grand Father way back when in Canada in a picture. He has good Rock type a nice fully furnished tail and very nice coloring. If they say the male provides the color and the female the type can you see mating this male to his good typed daughters or nieces as a future mating. Maybe this has already been done this year and look out for the color for next year.

If this is a cock bird can you see the youthful look of this male after he went through his molt. Not bad from a few White Rock and Light Brahma crossed birds a few years ago. Way to go Scott and I hope some of you who have this line or got eggs or chicks will see birds like this fall on your lawns. What a sight to behold.

Lets see more of you getting this very endangered variety of Plymouth Rocks next year. This could be the next best varity of Plymouth Rocks coming up from the White Rock large fowl. Hope to see this strain of birds at the shows and maybe get on Champion Row.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Thanks for posting these pictures. You sent them to me last night. As the guy who located these birds about four years ago in Canada and got them to the USA I am very happy to see such a nice Male. I told Scott in a email last night that's the nicest Columbian Plymouth Rock Male I have seen sine I first saw his Grand Father way back when in Canada in a picture. He has good Rock type a nice fully furnished tail and very nice coloring. If they say the male provides the color and the female the type can you see mating this male to his good typed daughters or nieces as a future mating. Maybe this has already been done this year and look out for the color for next year.

If this is a cock bird can you see the youthful look of this male after he went through his molt. Not bad from a few White Rock and Light Brahma crossed birds a few years ago. Way to go Scott and I hope some of you who have this line or got eggs or chicks will see birds like this fall on your lawns. What a sight to behold.

Lets see more of you getting this very endangered variety of Plymouth Rocks next year. This could be the next best varity of Plymouth Rocks coming up from the White Rock large fowl. Hope to see this strain of birds at the shows and maybe get on Champion Row.

Thanks Bob

I mated him to 2 of his aunts this season and after a coupe cullings, I have 8 of his sons and 7 of his daughters that are keepers at least so far. His 1/2 brother headed up my other pen and so far there are 5 males and 8 females left from that pen. Will try to get some pullet pix this weekend (weather permitting). Still WAY too soon to evaluate the cockerels too much

 

[fowlman01]

Thanks Bob

I mated him to 2 of his aunts this season and after a coupe cullings, I have 8 of his sons and 7 of his daughters that are keepers at least so far. His 1/2 brother headed up my other pen and so far there are 5 males and 8 females left from that pen. Will try to get some pullet pix this weekend (weather permitting). Still WAY too soon to evaluate the cockerels too much

Good job Scott! He looks very good.

Walt

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Good job Scott! He looks very good.

Walt

Thanks Walt

This is the bird I PM'd you about back in Feb....he still continues to fill out a bit. I wish he would go through a full blown molt so I can he what his coloring will be like as a cockbird. Overall I like him if I could just get rid of the dang brassiness in the hackles/shoulders/saddles. I had one high tailed, well colored female in with him that I hope will correct the tail angle a bit

"Project" in the incubator as we speak that is supposed to help clean that up

Thanks again

 

[MagicChicken]

I am slowly culling down my Black Java cockerels. There has been some horrific fighting and I noticed today that a couple of them have broken the tips off their upper beaks. One of them was my number 1 keeper choice until he broke his beak. Now I am torn. On the one hand, an easily breakable beak is a weak point I don't want to carry through to future generations. On the other hand the broad back, really wide tail and nice comb are traits I don't want to lose from the gene pool.

They're almost 17 weeks old. For the last six weeks they've been on soy-free organic finisher feed with 17% protein. It doesn't have animal protein, which may be part of the problem. And they've been so busy fighting each other I'm not sure they're getting proper nutrition, even though I've put out multiple feeding stations. Hence the earlier-than-desired cull.

Any thoughts on whether the broken beak tip is going to be a problem in a breeding program?

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Sarah

 

[Lacy Blues]

I wouldn't worry about the broken beak. It will grow back and as long as you provide him with good nutrition and maybe some extra calcium, his beak should be strengthened. Sometimes my males will eat oyster shell put out for the girls. They need calcium too.