Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[al6517]

Thank's...................... Yes he is a bruiser for sure, since the inception of the true factory meat bird in the 50's these flocks were all bought up by the big meat producers so there wouldn't be any left except theirs of course. That same mentality is still held with allot of the older breeders so getting decent Heritage stock is next to impossible and extremely costly, so much so that anybody considering this breed is easily thrown to another bird.

The only problem with this particular breed is that if it is bred to APA standards the width of the chest that is desirable, also complicates breeding. This is really only a problem for the whites as the WLR & the Darks are fine because their not as big. Another thing too is caring for these guy's also takes some special attention.

AL

 

[math ace]

There were quite a few comments made of the last few days that were discouraging towards the small back yard chicken person or the NEW chicken person.
As a newbie here, I am going to put my 2 cents in and then stepback and wait for the next set of discouraging words to be spoken.

My grandparents had a farm in Wisconsin, BIG Farm country. They moved to Florida when my parents were teenagers.
My grandmother cans and preserves all sorts of things. My mom barely cooks, she opens cans and heats food.
I, third generation, COOK. I make biscuits frim scratch, I make my own salsa, tomatoe sauce, and pumpkin butter, too.
I've entered cooking contests and placed in the top 3 for my cookies.

So, surely you are thinking "That is not surprising - - - Her grandmother showed her how to do it all". Not at all, mygrandmother did not MENTOR me. My grandmother thinks "since she can still do the cooking, there is no need to teach me". Now she is too old to cook and there are a lot of recipes that are going to die with her. Having the piece of paper, the recipe is not enough. Old Timers don't write every single step down, they leave things out that are crucilal to the success of the recipe because they just know that step my heart! I am No where near as good of a cook as my grandmother because she did not share her knowledge with me. I still better than alot BUT not as great as I could of been.

Let me tie my rant into chickens. Times have changed. Not everyone has a BIG farm like they did 30 - 50 years ago. Cities have taken over. Truly, if old timers don't want to see the quality of chickens die, if they don't want every chicken at a show to be hatchery quality, then they had better stop turning their away the newbies that are showing an interest in the art of breeding. I may not be able to hatch 1000 chickens a year, but I can hatch 100 chickens. Of that hundred, mentors could help me select the best 3 or 4. This is slower, but I am ok with that. IT is still PRESERVING and IMPROVING the breed.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Math Ace,

Not all here employ breeding systems geared to competitive exhibition using exclusively the Standard of Perfection (SOP) as a guide. Some, like myself, consider production characteristics to be just as important. Also, most of the breeding systems, but not all, do not address conservation of genetic diversity within a breed. It is the smaller breeders that exhange birds frequently and sometimes without concern for taking a step back from the SOP that will be most effective in conserving the long-term genetic viability of a breed. They must take efforts to not allowing their lines die, even if they are not perfect.

Most of the breeds of concern here were developed to perform with appearances being of a secondary concern. Smaller breeders are likely to be able to breed and produce birds under conditions that are most consistent with a breeds initial development and obtain value from the breeds output. Thinking land race here.

Other breeding systems where number of broodstock is kept higher relative to the number of chicks produced and evaluated can also enable improvement / maintenance of a line. More record keeping is required but a smaller operation can do very much good relative to the high space resource requiring mass selection systems promoted by some.

 

[math ace]

REALLY? Really? You won't talk to me if I use the wrong word. You will ignore the fact that I am showing an interest and just fault me for my ignorance.
WOW!

That just doesn't seem the BYC way.

I spoke to an old time breeder the other day. He was only concerned that I do not get the poultry press or am an APA member - - REALLY?
I see the poultry press comes out once a month. Betcha I would of learned so o o o much more this last year if I read only the poultry press!
This old time breeder does not believe in the internet. The ignorance factor seems to work both ways - - - ignorance of terminology / breeding methods versus ignorance of modern communication / research methods.

So, here I am at 40 something years old taking up a NEW thing - chickens. Yes, we are ignorant. Yes, we are learning as we go. Yes, I specified on my first order that I only wanted girls ( not pullets). I did not say the Cock word. . . .I word of gotten my mouth washed out for that word growing up and SUDDENLY I am suppose to use it in everyday conversation

. This past year I have learned a lot. BYC was my first chat room, my first forum, and I just did my first upload to photobucket. I learned what LOL, IMHO, and Dh all mean. Did I mention that everyone was very GRACIOUS about teaching me my new vocabulary. I got my first chickens - - - all hatchery. They were suppose to be all pullets, but dang it if one didn't look really strange compared to the others - - yep, I got a roo in the batch

I am NOW in search of some good breeder stock. I know what I want to breed. WHY BREED? Because I like the challenge of seeing if I can make it better. It would be GREAT if I found a mentor - - but not neccessary. I will do this on my own - - - one way or another. I'll book learn it or school of hard knocks learn it BUT make no mistake I will figure out what needs to be done!

What have I done so that I don't stay IGNORANT. . . . I read PAGES and PAGES and PAGES of information on BYC. I have read all of the marans, delawares, and this thread. That my dear folks is a LOT of reading. I check out books from the library. I spend time doing internet searches. Do I still call chicken parts by their incorrect names - - you betcha. Even in my ignorance I know what scaly leg mites look like and know how to treat them. My friend who has raised chickens his whole life does not know what they are nor does he treat them when I "Share" my knowledge with him - - - - I have to wonder which one of us is more ignorant ? ??

So, what am I saying ? ? ? Don't judge me or other newbies as unworthy of your time or stock because we show up ignorant on your door step or in your "in box". We do not have to stay ignorant. Ignorance can be fixed. It is fixed a lot faster with help of a mentor. When I sell my culls to a new chicken person, I check back with them in a few days, then a couple of weeks, and then a month later. I ask how the chicks are doing and drop a hint or two as to what to do or look for. I just casually mentioned to my last customer that it would be time to start deciding what technique she wanted to use so that her 8 week old roos didn't attack her children when they grew up. When she asked for more info, I set her a couple of links. BASICALLY, I spoon feed - - - a little at a time - - the knowledge she will need to be successful just raising her chickens.

That is it folks. Thanks for listening to my rants about the attitudes that were exhibited over the last 10 pages of posts.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

Quote:

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
Bob do you get any meat from your bantams? and how do you get rid of your batam culls?
after considering what you said to me I am going to riase bantam buckeyes instead of LF I will keep my LF barred rocks and I am not sure about my SPPR bantams
thanks
punky

 

[hcammack]

I take it back I think everyone is being helpful on this thread. You can't just ask to have a mentor you have to look for one. I sent Dick 20+ emails before I got a response and now we email every single day and I have visited his flock.

 

[brian21]

Bob, can you tell me what the logan method of culling is or where I could read about it Thanks!
Quote:

 

[Illia]

al6517 - Been awaiting to see your birds for some time. VERY nice Cornish.

 

[knittychickadee]

Brian,

It's the Walter Hogan method, the book is called Call of the Hen. It's old so you can read it free on Google books-

http://books.google.com/books?id=PC...&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false