Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[capayvalleychick]

I'm working on my Delaware project. My F2s are nearing point of lay, and I have to choose which cockerel I am going to use first. I have a few I will use, but I have only 3 females, so it will be slow going.

Here is one of my F2s today. I know he is over the standard weight for Delawares, but I am gonna use him anyway. Building the barn......

Kathy, I didn't see these until today. OMG, he's a tank! What an accomplishment!
Can you explain what's next in this project?
How close is he (first pic) to the Standard? I have an SOP but still need to develop my eye... all I see is gorgeous.
My 17 wk old Braden strain Dels are nowhere near that hefty.

Kim

 

[Robert Blosl]

I tell you one thing this fellow sure has vigor think of the out cross from Rocks to Hamps. Sure looks like a stylish fellow and will improve the future off spring in you crosses.The Delaware National should have some very good birds to work on in years to come. Keep up the good work and hope you can share with others who love the breed. bob

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:

Quote:

He is only an F2. I didn't expect total Delaware SOP traits, really. The F3s should be 100% Delaware, as far as being white birds with barring anyway. I foresee alot of work ahead yet though. Tomorrow I am penning my 3 females, and one sport that Doug Akers gave me, with the one cockerel in that picture. I expect eggs any day now. Actually, they may already be laying, but I free range them and haven't kept close tabs. I did see one of the pullets in a nest in another pen today. I have more pictures HERE.

Thanks to you all.

 

[bnjrob]

It took me about 3 weeks, but I finally finished reading this thread!

So much good info--I saved some of it onto a word document for future reference. I would love to help perpetuate heritage breed when I have some experience. It's been great to see how helpful you all have been to each other for finding good birds! It will be a good long while before I come around asking for help, though; first I have to figure out if I can keep chickens alive, much less breed them hehe! So....my first flock is going to be a hatchery assortment. Yall keep this thread going!
Fair warning I may come back here years later looking for some White Faced Black Spanish...

...hopefully they won't be extinct by then. May be forced to "start where I am with what I have" with some hatchery stock...

I just went to the breeder's today to pick up our Javas - they are terrific. We decided to go ahead and get the ones we wanted for our first batch of chickens. So far so good. They survived the trip, even though it took forever to get home with all the road construction. The breeder that I got mine from had a variety of breeds - they were beautiful, made me want more than just the Javas.

Don't be afraid to just "go for it". I'm thinking they are like kids - you may never be fully ready for them so you just gotta do it.

 

[flowerchild59]

wow

 

[Robert Blosl]

How to Breed Colombian Plymouth Rocks for Color:

Since the introduction of this color pattern a year or so ago from Canada and Yard Full of Rocks got this trio many of you have have this color pattern. Now what do we do with the chicks as they grow up and how do you mate them to improve them rather go backwards to the production type birds we have today.So I thought I would look up the articles I have saved from being the Sectary of the Plymouth Rock Fanciers Club.

We have lost so much in our computers from our house being struck by lighting and now getting windows 7 in our box computer and then loosing all the old stuff we had in the hard drive. Luckily I had saved these articles on my Web site. So look at these articles save them in your computer or print them out. You can take Mike Michael's article to the bank as he was a master of this color pattern. I wrote a article which is highlighted on my site for large fowl Mikes was written for bantams, but its all the same. If you are a Light Brahma person this applies to you as well and if there is a Colombian Wyandotte person this will help you. Hope this helps those who have asked. bob

http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id61.html

Breeding Columbian Plymouth Rock Color Pattern
By Mike Michael​

First of all, I don’t feel myself to be an expert on breeding Columbian Color Pattern. I’m sure there are others with more years of experience raising Columbian Rocks than myself. I have raised Columbian Rocks Exclusively and will tell you what has to this point proved to give me the best color results.
With the color of the Ideal Show bird in mind, after we study and read our ABA and APA standard let’s keep this statement in our thoughts. There is a tendency to disregard indistinct contrast between Black and White sections of the plumage. “There should be no blending of the two Colors.” This statement comes directly from the ABA standard under the heading of color remarks. I keep this statement in mind while breeding for my ideal color patter.

I keep a different bird or birds in my breeding pen to help achieve the ideal color pattern we want in our show bird. I cull for color first and type or shape second. Now before getting too shocked at this statement, I will try to explain. I want color and type, both being very important to me to have on my show bird. But, with two of my birds being equal in type in a class, I have seen that 1st place spot escape me because of a color pattern fault. As it should have been in that scenario We then give our judges more to look at and take into consideration in what I call a ‘marked variety” of bird over a “self colored bird”.

Let’s get back to the breeding pen and what works for me on breeding Columbian color pattern. First and foremost I select the best colored male possible from my line at all times. I believe genetically that color is produced from our male bird. He will implant the color in your line as long as you stay within your strain. I then select the best type or shaped females because I believe the female genetically produces the type.

I match my breeding pens together by the color of my females in three areas- Wing, Back (saddle) and hackle. Now keep in mind what I said, My male bird is the best proper colored bird possible from my strain, so I rely on his abilities to properly put the color on the hatch from the breeding females I have selected in the three color areas that I have mentioned above.
A) Wing-I’ve found with a richer color of black in the primary and secondary feather, with no blending of white, contributes to the rich black tail we desire in our females and the rich greenish black color we so desire in our males. I also feel rich black color of the wing tips contribute to the under color of our birds.

The next thing to watch for is if your male bird’s wing color is to black, lacking the white lacing along the lower edge of each primary feather and domination of black in the secondary. We have a tendency to produce a slight amount of black on the shoulder and front part of the wing. According to our Bantam Standard a little black is still acceptable in this area. However, I don’t like to see it so; I try to avoid it by keeping the male birds wing bay as ideal in color as possible in most of my breeding males. I will keep at least one male that has a wing bay of black, even lacking in the white lacing of the wing because I find this to enrich body under color where it may be weak especially in the back and saddle area of the bird.
B) Under Color – is described as being delicate slatey blue in all sections. And this is what makes our beautiful Columbian color. But, in the breeding pen if you only breed the ideal color that we want on our show birds, in time you will find you under color getting very light and you don’t want this to happen.

Now in your hatch you find a variance in under color from light in color to very dark in color. You may or may not want the very dark under color. This will be determined by what you are trying to achieve in you Columbian color pattern at this time. I prefer the under color to be a little richer than the ideal. I feel it enhances and sharpens the white back body color of the Columbian Rock. It also helps to keep you under color closer to ideal throughout the whole flock.
I’ve found you can get your under color to dark, then you are going to force your under color up through back and saddle areas. The standard allows 15% of dark spots or mossiness in the back, but with two birds being Ideal in every way, the sharp white colored backed bird is going to place over the other bird.
I have found that to rich a under color, especially in the back and saddle can take away from the white lacing on the top two feathers of the tail on the female bird.

To lighten the under color when I feel it’s getting to rich I will keep a female in my breeding pen with some white smutting n the primary wing section or a female with ideal standard color to tame down the strong genetic color that our Ideal male bird is producing.
If I wanted to richen my under color, I would use my male bird in two ways-1) I would cross my ideal color male bird with a rich in color female bird (remember color already locked in to female by your male bloodline). This I have found to richen under color where it is getting to light in color.
2) The second cross I would make to richen the under color I mentioned earlier in this article is that I keep at least one male breeder that is very black in color through his primaries and secondaries with very little white edging to the feather of the wing.
I would then cross this male to a female with as close to ideal under color as possible, or with the female we have noticed having the lighter under color in our breeding pen. These crosses should richen the under color in future hatches.
C) Hackle Color- Hackle color should be lustrous greenish black with a narrow lacing of silvery white on edge of each feather. With hackle feather fluff and shaft being black, with hackle color and front of neck being same on the male and female. Front of neck being White.

If the under color in our birds gets to rich this is where I feel our hackle color can get to dominate in black, that it takes away from the silvery white lacing along each feather. I feel we then start to lose the sharp, crisp, color combination that is so eye-catching of the Columbian hackle color. Also the domination of black in the hackle makes it harder to get the pure white colored head we desire, and also enhances the black spot feathers in the breast area of our birds ( especially in our males). I fell the best way to achieve the proper hackle color is to try and maintain an acceptable under color through our your breeding pens.
In closing, I have given information as to what I do in my Breeding Program to try to maintain proper color in my flock.
As every breeders color situation will be different at the time of setting up your breeding pens, you will have to make your selections beneficial to your success in breeding the very important and very eye catching color of the Columbian Plymouth Rock.

I hope I have been helpful!

Mike

 

[7961]

I found a replacement. Sunday I brought home my new White Wyandotte male. I feel pretty lucky and honored to have been able to get such a nice bird. Now its time to try and hatch some large Wyandottes.

 

[lildinkem]

I found a replacement. Sunday I brought home my new White Wyandotte male. I feel pretty lucky and honored to have been able to get such a nice bird. Now its time to try and hatch some large Wyandottes.

Oh he is very nice! Hope you get alot of babies from him.
I am breaking in my $20 Buff cock this season. Following the plan of using only my best Buff hens with him. I was lucky enough to get the last 2 Buff hens Fred would sell from last year. And they just started to lay this week. And already have 7 babies from my top quality Buff hen from last year. The one trait that is very hard to nail down is great tails. This $20 cock has it and throws it. My first 3 chicks from him all have his tail. And I hope to have many more to pick from.

 

[colby318]

Zoinks! Who did you get him from? My Duane Urch chicks should be here tomorrow. He's sent LF whites and blacks.

I found a replacement. Sunday I brought home my new White Wyandotte male. I feel pretty lucky and honored to have been able to get such a nice bird. Now its time to try and hatch some large Wyandottes.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Nice white birds. Hope you hatch many. they are rare. bon