Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Pathfinders]

Got my Poultry Press Issue today and boy its loaded with some good articles and pictures of large fowl. For $26 a year it's a must have item. There is a picture of a White Leghorn Hen that looks like she jumped out of the standard. Maybe not as much fan tail as Schilling picture but WOW. Nice large fowl Cochin Black male. So many others and I even saw a nice Peking Duck something I have not seen like the days when the Rice Family was winning big in Illinois.
Here is a first a Rose Comb White Leghorn male Champion of the show. The owner is the fellow who had the large fowl Leghorns. I have never seen this before. Saw some nice Rose Comb Light Brown Leghron large fowl at Columbus about 11 years ago but that's the last of a big time winner for me.

There was a great article in the Buckeye section for the club Educational in value as she talked about the different shades of color in different strains. Very good article and helping push the breed. You think Buckeyes they all look alike but just like Rhode Island Reds they can weaken I am sure.

Type in Poultry Press.com and check it out for $26. a year its a must have for this hobby.

Thank you so much for your kind words about my article about Buckeyes! I do appreciate it, more than you know.

 

[Pathfinders]

"The black one was trying to feed me by offering what ever he found on the ground. Dragon Lady told me to put a stop to it."

For some reason I never made the connection that my rooster was trying to feed (tidbit) me. He always did it in a very aggressive way, throwing grass around and clucking loudly. After I refused dinner then he would attack. Not a very good host! He now waits patiently in the freezer until I learn the coq au vin recipe. Looking forward to a better breed of chicken some time in the near future.

Mark

We made Coq au Vin last year with a male Buckeye that was about two years old. He was delish. We used the classic Julia Child recipe: http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Julia-Childs-Coq-au-Vin-Recipe-6971

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote: You are very Welcome and I hope others will subscribe to the Poultry Press. I just sent off a one year subscription for a friend of mine who is partners with me in Red Bantams. He did not renew his issue do to bad luck with health costs last year so I figure when he and I talk each week I can to him and when he says did you see that Jap or Leghorn or Indianan Runner duck I can go to the page and say ya its a pc of crap or great bird. Gives us something to talk about each week other than Reds.

When it comes to H chickens and a group who wants to improve a color or a breed like Javas or Barred Rocks or even Reds I always talk to the folks and say if the Buckeye people could do it you guys can do it. Look how they went about it over the last ten years and look at their results. One of the great cases of breed club unity I have ever seen. Using the Hogan method of culling and having ten people raising them in North Carolina then selecting and culling it was just a great story in my view.

I have about three to five people I am helping trying to improve their breeds and they are thinking of showing them and some have all ready done so and did great. It seems that there are right ways to go at this hobby and wrong ways.. The wrong ways seem to cause the failures in about three years and then you got to start all over again or give up. Most give up. I was researching twenty years of Plymouth Rock history of members and you would be amassed how many people get started each year and how many stick with the club and the breed for five ten or fifteen years. A handful if that. It seems once they get a handle on their line breeding methods and skim off the bad faults and work on the good traits they hit success.

Most important thing I think for a beginner is do your homework, study others who had or are having success and try to do what they recommend. Grandpa use to tell me if you want to be good at something hang around those who are doing what you want to do and be like them. Fly with Eagles he said not Turkey Busards. Keep up the good posts.

 

[colburg]

We've been doing some chicken talk trying to pick a breed and have some questions.

How do rosecombs do in heat? If single combs expel heat through their combs, how well can rose/pea combs do?
How do featherfoot/heavy feathered breeds do in the heat? My wife likes favorelles but I don't know how they'll do.

I'm trying to keep us in line with Bobs tips. Single color. Start with one breed, though we like the idea of a meat bird and an egg bird.

I realize everyone's opinion is different, but I would appreciate some advice. Would it be better to start with a meat breed or egg? Or maybe we're better off going with DP(middle of the road) and branch out later???


YHF, how many eggs/yr (roughly) do you get from your Dorkings?

Sorry for all the Q's, but I do appreciate any anwers.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

We've been doing some chicken talk trying to pick a breed and have some questions.

How do rosecombs do in heat? If single combs expel heat through their combs, how well can rose/pea combs do?
How do featherfoot/heavy feathered breeds do in the heat? My wife likes favorelles but I don't know how they'll do.

I'm trying to keep us in line with Bobs tips. Single color. Start with one breed, though we like the idea of a meat bird and an egg bird.

I realize everyone's opinion is different, but I would appreciate some advice. Would it be better to start with a meat breed or egg? Or maybe we're better off going with DP(middle of the road) and branch out later???


YHF, how many eggs/yr (roughly) do you get from your Dorkings?

Sorry for all the Q's, but I do appreciate any anwers.

Colburg

I am in NW Ga and we get "dang hot" weather here every yr.....probably not quite as severe as yours but plenty of 95+ days. My main flock is LF Columbian Plymouth Rocks and after they acclimated for a little over a yr from being Canadian birds, they have done well (first couple yrs were rough and I lost some every summer to the heat, so whatever you choose, try to find birds from a similar climate as you have if you can)

I also raise Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (not seriously, but because DW wanted something other than black-n-white chickens). They are rose combed and have done quite well. The hens are regularly broody, great mothers and have been great layers...even thru the winters without the addition of light. The heat has not affected them at all and I just had one hatch a brood Sunday after 21 days of setting in this heat.

Not sure I helped your breed choice, but I don't think rosecombed breeds would cause you any trouble. As for "feather-legs", can't help ya there other than to say I've had silkies and those feather legs are impossible to keep clean

 

[Fentress]

My first flock was last year, supposedly DP chickens, that I got from a commercial hatchery and their meat qualities were poor. I think the consensus is that chickens from the hatcheries are basically just layers, so go to a breeder, I guess. Not much info/chat on meat qualities on this thread.

Mark

 

[Robert Blosl]

We've been doing some chicken talk trying to pick a breed and have some questions.

How do rosecombs do in heat? If single combs expel heat through their combs, how well can rose/pea combs do?
How do featherfoot/heavy feathered breeds do in the heat? My wife likes favorelles but I don't know how they'll do.

I'm trying to keep us in line with Bobs tips. Single color. Start with one breed, though we like the idea of a meat bird and an egg bird.

I realize everyone's opinion is different, but I would appreciate some advice. Would it be better to start with a meat breed or egg? Or maybe we're better off going with DP(middle of the road) and branch out later???


YHF, how many eggs/yr (roughly) do you get from your Dorkings?

Sorry for all the Q's, but I do appreciate any anwers.

Salmon Favorelles are a neat old breed and God Knows they need foster parents like any other H breed. I had a old man that had hem as a kid and they where good sitters for him that's why he had them. Normally in the deep south of Alabama the heat is hard on Cochins, Feathered feet chickens ect. However, if there is a breed you want they will in time adjust to your climate.

Normally feathered legged chickens are Asiatic in Breed. Most of the people on this tread have a dual purpose chickens they get best of both worlds. One thing to consider is check out the folks in Arizona and New Mexico who have Standard Breed Chickens and get you some from them. You can go this time of the year and pick up older breeders a year or two old or some young birds that have color faults or one point to many big deal and get a good start for next year. They are ready to go for your climate and that is a bonus from getting chickens from some one like in New York or Minnesota.

What other breeds have you thought of? Let us know there are some good chickens in Arizona right now that I know of. Be patient you will find just what you want. bob

 

[Apdeb]

If i were you i would buy from a heritage breeder
Theres a great one right outside birmingham alabama
You could google heritage breeders in georgia
I drove 11 hours round trip but i have lovely healthy birds
That is what your after!!! Good dual purpose to me would be buff orphs or barred rocks or
Buckeyes

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Colburg, there are many breeds that would be fine for you.

1. Salmon Faverolles would do well for you as would our Anconas or Dorkings.
2. Our Dorkings are rather steady "DP-quality" layers.
3. Bob's idea of getting stock from someone near-ish you is a nice idea. It adds to the camaraderie.
4. If you don't have an SOP (http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/store.htm) get one, and don't get a breed that is not in it. "Heritage" is synonymous for standard-bred. If it's not in the Standard; it's not "heritage".
5. Get the breed you like, but don't get the most obscure variety of that breed. Most breeds have one, two, or three varieties which really carry the breed. Unless you run into an exception, e.g. Yard-full-of-rock's Columbian Rocks, many, if not most, obscure varieties are of poor quality--and may always have been such that trying to bring them to the fore is very hard work, quite expensive, and, for a beginner not sure yet of the how's and what's, can be very discouraging. If you're going to go for it, we'd like to encourage you to be in it for the long-haul, and that often, if not usually, begins with not choosing a breed that's too hard. If you have a particular color you like, find that color in a breed for which that color is a principal variety. It's nice to look out at quality.
6. Subscribe to the Poultry Press (http://www.poultrypress.com/).
7. Join the American Poultry Association (http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/join.htm). The APA yearbook just came out, and it is an excellent resource for you. It will have listed all of the members in your state/region, and you'll get some good contacts!

Bona fortuna! Best of luck!

 

[Lacy Blues]

We've been doing some chicken talk trying to pick a breed and have some questions.

How do rosecombs do in heat? If single combs expel heat through their combs, how well can rose/pea combs do?
How do featherfoot/heavy feathered breeds do in the heat? My wife likes favorelles but I don't know how they'll do.

I'm trying to keep us in line with Bobs tips. Single color. Start with one breed, though we like the idea of a meat bird and an egg bird.

I realize everyone's opinion is different, but I would appreciate some advice. Would it be better to start with a meat breed or egg? Or maybe we're better off going with DP(middle of the road) and branch out later???


YHF, how many eggs/yr (roughly) do you get from your Dorkings?

Sorry for all the Q's, but I do appreciate any anwers.

I'm not sure how the large fowl would be but we have some rose combed rhode island red bantams here in the deserts of Nevada and they have done very well. As long as they can get out of the sun into some shade, they fair well.