Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[NanaKat]

Cant remember if it was this thread or another where someone asked for people to post pictures of their breed birds when butchered...
But here are some I did this morning and yesterday.
The three 7 month old cockerels on the 13 x 18 cookie sheet are left to right: Brahma (4 lb 2 0z) . Birchen Wyandotte (4 lb 4 oz) and Columbian Wyandotte (4 lb). before giblets tucked inside and bagging.


Here are their giblets...healthy and pink


Comparison: 4 lb Wyandotte cockerel next to a 6 lb Wyandotte rooster put up yesterday


I like to age the birds 24 hours in the refrigerator before I vacuum seal them for the freezer.

I also butchered an African gander yesterday that dressed out at 11 pounds.
The gander is going into a salt brine today and will brine for two days and then be roasted....

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Nice job! I love eating goose......

 

[Pathfinders]

Nice job! I love eating goose......

Me too! Christmas dinner at my grandparent's was almost always roast goose. I miss those days. Pics of the ducks and geese on the family farm in the 1940s.

 

[BGMatt]

How is rare breed breeding different?

They key differences with breeding rare birds is you have a lot further to go than more popular breeds most of the time, and cannot get discouraged with slow improvement. Just due to numbers it's far easier to find really good specimens of common fowl vs a rare breed. Because there's a more limited gene pool it can be tougher to find birds to bring in to improve what you have. It takes patience, it may take 5-10 years to get the birds where you want them quality wise depending on what you're trying to fix and the number you can raise. Compare that to a more popular breed you can go out and buy a really good start from the get go and fine tune it.

 

[Canieldonrad]

I have a question regarding your slow improvement comment Matt. As I feel this one is something that can take a while. It is regarding Duck Foot. If your selection of stock is small, and you face the possibility of breeding with a bird that has Duck Foot. How long would proper breeding take to get the Duck Foot out?

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Me too! Christmas dinner at my grandparent's was almost always roast goose. I miss those days. Pics of the ducks and geese on the family farm in the 1940s.

Sweet and nostalgic. I love goose husbandry. The one aspect I don't enjoy is the handling during selection times, and I guess I'm not a huge fan of sexing.

I love your photo, though.

PS: Totally chuffed about your Lakenvelder decision!

 

[AletaG]

They key differences with breeding rare birds is you have a lot further to go than more popular breeds most of the time, and cannot get discouraged with slow improvement. Just due to numbers it's far easier to find really good specimens of common fowl vs a rare breed. Because there's a more limited gene pool it can be tougher to find birds to bring in to improve what you have. It takes patience, it may take 5-10 years to get the birds where you want them quality wise depending on what you're trying to fix and the number you can raise. Compare that to a more popular breed you can go out and buy a really good start from the get go and fine tune it.

Wow, did I ever just get hit over the head with this. I've been told over and over that Kathy's Delaware line is the way to go... but I can't keep 15 cockerels around for almost a year to sort through the keepers and the culls... I'd have to skip the HRIR completely, and get rid of all of my other birds, and forget about doing any crosses with Cornish just to have the space and MENTAL space to work with this line. Whereas, with the HRIR, I was able with diligent digging, to find a local breeding partner, and a source for half grown solid breeders that won't need fixed, just tweaking, maintaining and following good advice! If you want a project and have tons of space, then Zanna's lovelies from Kathy, or from Kathy might be the way to go, but this is what Zanna suggested for me:
"I got 21 chicks from Kathy, 2 had to be culled early on. Out of the 19 left, I ended up with 11 cockerals and 7 pullets of which I am thinking only 2-3 of the pullets I will breed at this point. One has greenish legs, one has whitish legs (should be bright yellow) and several have columbian type markings, not what the breed calls for. One of the cockerals grew a lower beak that was 1/4 " longer than the upper beak so he went to the auction Monday with 15 marans cockerals. Some of the other cockerals look too narrow, but they will get at least 7-8 mos. before I make any decisions and cull more. They are slow to mature and sometimes the underdog ends up being your best bird. Ahhhh the waiting game....................
All that being said, I would go for 2 doz chicks and if you go the egg route, even more. I will be doing test hatchings before I release any eggs to make sure of hatchability but rarely do you get a 100% hatch even under the most ideal conditions.

Hope this helps!"
Now you know why I'm thinking I was truly crazy to think I could help with this project. HANG IT!

 

[Zanna]

Wow, did I ever just get hit over the head with this. I've been told over and over that Kathy's Delaware line is the way to go... but I can't keep 15 cockerels around for almost a year to sort through the keepers and the culls... I'd have to skip the HRIR completely, and get rid of all of my other birds, and forget about doing any crosses with Cornish just to have the space and MENTAL space to work with this line. Whereas, with the HRIR, I was able with diligent digging, to find a local breeding partner, and a source for half grown solid breeders that won't need fixed, just tweaking, maintaining and following good advice! If you want a project and have tons of space, then Zanna's lovelies from Kathy, or from Kathy might be the way to go, but this is what Zanna suggested for me:
"I got 21 chicks from Kathy, 2 had to be culled early on. Out of the 19 left, I ended up with 11 cockerals and 7 pullets of which I am thinking only 2-3 of the pullets I will breed at this point. One has greenish legs, one has whitish legs (should be bright yellow) and several have columbian type markings, not what the breed calls for. One of the cockerals grew a lower beak that was 1/4 " longer than the upper beak so he went to the auction Monday with 15 marans cockerals. Some of the other cockerals look too narrow, but they will get at least 7-8 mos. before I make any decisions and cull more. They are slow to mature and sometimes the underdog ends up being your best bird. Ahhhh the waiting game....................
All that being said, I would go for 2 doz chicks and if you go the egg route, even more. I will be doing test hatchings before I release any eggs to make sure of hatchability but rarely do you get a 100% hatch even under the most ideal conditions.

Hope this helps!"
Now you know why I'm thinking I was truly crazy to think I could help with this project. HANG IT!

Sent you a PM......... You can help!!! Just wait till we have some trio's ready, might be a year or so. Your question to me was how many chicks or eggs did I think you would need. There is another way and ultimately you will probably save time and a lot of $. Work with your HRIR in the meantime.

 

[finnfur]

Wow, did I ever just get hit over the head with this. I've been told over and over that Kathy's Delaware line is the way to go... but I can't keep 15 cockerels around for almost a year to sort through the keepers and the culls... I'd have to skip the HRIR completely, and get rid of all of my other birds, and forget about doing any crosses with Cornish just to have the space and MENTAL space to work with this line. Whereas, with the HRIR, I was able with diligent digging, to find a local breeding partner, and a source for half grown solid breeders that won't need fixed, just tweaking, maintaining and following good advice! If you want a project and have tons of space, then Zanna's lovelies from Kathy, or from Kathy might be the way to go, but this is what Zanna suggested for me:
"I got 21 chicks from Kathy, 2 had to be culled early on. Out of the 19 left, I ended up with 11 cockerals and 7 pullets of which I am thinking only 2-3 of the pullets I will breed at this point. One has greenish legs, one has whitish legs (should be bright yellow) and several have columbian type markings, not what the breed calls for. One of the cockerals grew a lower beak that was 1/4 " longer than the upper beak so he went to the auction Monday with 15 marans cockerals. Some of the other cockerals look too narrow, but they will get at least 7-8 mos. before I make any decisions and cull more. They are slow to mature and sometimes the underdog ends up being your best bird. Ahhhh the waiting game....................
All that being said, I would go for 2 doz chicks and if you go the egg route, even more. I will be doing test hatchings before I release any eggs to make sure of hatchability but rarely do you get a 100% hatch even under the most ideal conditions.

Hope this helps!"
Now you know why I'm thinking I was truly crazy to think I could help with this project. HANG IT!

Yes - I agree with Zanna completely on this - I only have 14 to start with and my view changes from day to day . I have decided only two are a positive cull .
Some of the slow starters are maturing and passing the early good lookers. And to complicate it more we only have five pullets and one has green legs. One of the pullets that came by mistake and is supposed to be a White Rock but all have Delaware marking ? So I am buckling down for the long haul.

 

[AletaG]

Sent you a PM......... You can help!!! Just wait till we have some trio's ready, might be a year or so. Your question to me was how many chicks or eggs did I think you would need. There is another way and ultimately you will probably save time and a lot of $. Work with your HRIR in the meantime.

Yes - I agree with Zanna completely on this - I only have 14 to start with and my view changes from day to day . I have decided only two are a positive cull .
Some of the slow starters are maturing and passing the early good lookers. And to complicate it more we only have five pullets and one has green legs. One of the pullets that came by mistake and is supposed to be a White Rock but all have Delaware marking ? So I am buckling down for the long haul.

Thanks finnfur...