Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[7961]

I am really enjoying the Exhibition Poultry. It makes for nice supplemental reading to the Poultry Press. Sure hope it continues. I do have a question..what do you all use for vitamin/mineral supplement for your Heritage Breeds of chickens? Would you please share some thoughts? Is there a particular supplement out there that may help maintain good leg and red face color on birds?

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
What breed/'s are raising?
If you are raising a breed that is to have Yellow legs and they are turning a White/ Pink color it could be do to Breeding, age or even a low fat diet.
Back about 2 or 3 months ago I was talking to Tim Bowls about feeds and feeding and he mentioned that if the fat content in the feed is low or not enough for the bird that it will start to looks some of the Yellow in there shanks..

Chris

 

[jenjscott]

I understand that Purina chick starter has Marigold somethingorother in it and it is known to keep the legs yellow. A tad of corn, foraging or greens in place of foraging, also help in keeping yellow legs yellow. A few alfalfa pellets can help with this also.

 

[Robert Blosl]

alfalfa leaves or hay with more leaves than stems is great to help the yellow. Craked corn helps yellow up the legs but old fashion selection of the best yellow legs to the best yellow legs is the best way to go. For Vitimens I buy a pack of powder for about $4. has a scoop in it and you use one scoop for each gallon of water and put some water in thier water cups. I dont do this all the time just its very hot or maybe befor a show.
If you use a good all purpose feed you should get the nutirents that they need. However, some feed companys have chance thier feed formula and are not like they once was to save money. Also, they have change thier protein from anmial protein to soy protien. Last year I change feed to save two dollars a bag and my egg hatcability went into the toilet. Had to get back to my old feed and then salvaged my year. Never again.

Just got off the phone from a fellow in Arkasas who has about 18 breeds of large fowl Heritage Breeds. Said he has orders for 30 people in Black Orpingtons and 15 ordersin Rose Comb and Single Comb Rhode Island Reds. He is interested in the New Hampshire program I am going to be putting togeather and will hatch the eggs from Frank Reese and ship him most of the chicks when they are 5 weeks old. Then next year we can see if we can get this thirty year old strain in the hands of Heritage Breeders.

I am going to be putting togeather a list of breeds of Heritage Chickens and then under the list the names of people who will be willing to share them with you.

Last night i got a email and pictures of Light Brhama large fowl that took my breath away. These are the Mark Peterson line out of Minn. He and two others have gotten Marks birs they live about 50 miles from each other and will contiue this line for years to come. They want to just keep the gene pool going and increase the egg production a little.

These are the old fashion Light Brhamas that I remember when I was a boy after I got my first start of imposters from the hatchery. If you have a breed and want to have it on my list let me know.

Also, there is some ideas brewing for a all Heritage Poultry Web site to show these old breeds and who the owners are for the future breeders of tomorrow .


If you are a person who has about two to three years of rasing hatchery type chickens and have got good skills rasing and taking care of these birds and want to jump up to a pedigree, Heritage old fashion breed and want to be one of the chosen few contact me and we will help you get in touch with a breeder who is looking to just help people like you. If you have no experience in hatching eggs with a incubator we will get you a inucboarortor and teach you how to use this unit and hatch your own baby chicks.

I have learned in the last month on this board there are diffeernt degrees of experteese with you readers. We can not learn every thing in one week. You are going to have to take the time to learn slowly and in year segments befor you can jump up to a level where every thing goes perfect. Even at my level that does not happen as look what happen to me last year with changing feeds.

See you latter and enjoy your old Poultry Breeds if you have them. bob

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Some of the highest concentration of Xanthophyll is found in Marigold extract( Tagetes), but also in corn gluten and green grasses.

If you are wanting to feed the Purina feed with all this in it you need Honor Show Chow. It is a 22% starter.

Egg yolk is full of it also, that is why when a chick is hatched and sucks the yolk up into its stomach, the chicks legs are yellow for the first 5-6 weeks of its life. The Standard takes into consideration the loss of yellow in females that are in egg production because eggs use up the available Xanthophyll, hence yellow egg yolks.

The Purina (Honor) Show Chow/Broiler Complete lists "Tagetes" on the label. That is the genus name for marigolds. The feed itself is quite yellow in color. It does help with yellow legs if the bird has the genetics to do so. This feed is rather expensive. It is $18.50 in my area.

 

[cybercat]

WOW, this thread has really got some top notch infomation in it. It has been awhile since I have read it due to me being sick. I hope those that are in other sections of BYC are posting a link to this thread for those newbies that are asking breeding questions.

A note on incubators , the best one ever made was the broody hen.

Just had to say that.

Below is some eye candy of my top cockeral Alpha and one of the hens I plan on breeding him to come spring. I free range and this is right out front of my house front door. I am lucky that predators are far and few between and I have a great farm dog.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
No argument there..and for some reason those birds tend to grow into better birds....don't know why.

Walt

 

[Robert Blosl]

Cyber Cat What breed of chickens did you post on your message and what strain did you get them from. Very nice looking birds. bob

 

[cybercat]

Bob they are my partridge rocks that I got from Mt Healthy hatchery in OH. I did alot of research before I bought from them. They are one of the few hatcheries that have decent stock being small. Knowing how hard it was to find this breed outside a hatchery I knew I was going to have to go that way and breed up. Seeing what Ideal and MM produce and not wanting their problems truely helped out in choosing. I am not disappointed at all but they do have work to be done in size on the females, tails need to be widen along with more girth on bodies. But all in all I have good stock here to start with and the space to do it.

 

[ultasol]

Robert,
Wouldn't standard wyandottes be good to add to the list, since they are also far more prevalent in the hatchery form which is far from a true wyandotte in type, size, and temperment? They are a true American breed and not as common in exhibition as some of the other 'Heritage' fowl such as white rocks, etc. Also, standard cornish.

Although, heritage I think is 1/2 a marketing term anyhow...

Jen