Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[CharlieVoda]

Chris those are some great charts and historic and easy to read. Do you all know who the inventor of the first chart is.??? What was his name, what did he breed, did write any books and what state did he live in. He is famous and would be fun to see who he is.

That would be Isaac Kimbal Felch aka I K Felch

he raised Light Brahma and was recognized as the greatest breeder of Light Brahma in the world by the American Poultry Advocate magazine in March 1918


here is a list of books he wrote
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.ed...d judge thoroughbred fowls / by i k felch&c=x

he lived in Natick MA

He also raised Black and Sable Collies

Thanks for making me think again Bob

Good luck with the birds
Charlie

 

[ashandvine]

I love books and reading this thread has given me lots of scents to track. I have been to APA but didn't know quite what I really needed. Thank you for the direction. I've done my best to get good stock for each breed I have... although the Breda is tough to really examine right now and it won't matter much as she has a twisted beak. Good for a pet and to expose people to the breed. The Lak isn't even recognized because she is Golden not Silver so... for now I have to worry about Ams, which everyone seems to have, and the Orloffs and Polish, none of which create a great deal of interest. The Cream Legbars can't even be given away up here which is saddening. Still trying to get hens. The Houdans are the one breed I have which might get a little interest as not many people have them here. Maybe its a doorway to greater interest. As an aside, I hope to have nice Magpie ducks soon.

 

[fowlman01]

I love books and reading this thread has given me lots of scents to track. I have been to APA but didn't know quite what I really needed. Thank you for the direction. I've done my best to get good stock for each breed I have... although the Breda is tough to really examine right now and it won't matter much as she has a twisted beak. Good for a pet and to expose people to the breed. The Lak isn't even recognized because she is Golden not Silver so... for now I have to worry about Ams, which everyone seems to have, and the Orloffs and Polish, none of which create a great deal of interest. The Cream Legbars can't even be given away up here which is saddening. Still trying to get hens. The Houdans are the one breed I have which might get a little interest as not many people have them here. Maybe its a doorway to greater interest. As an aside, I hope to have nice Magpie ducks soon.

Many of the old standby breeds (Rocks, RIR, Wyandottes, Orps etc) are very popular...maybe even more so than the unusual or rare breeds because of the heritage poultry movement. Get APA SOP quality though or you will have the same trouble unloading them.

Walt

 

[NYREDS]

Did something interesting this weekend. The Farmers Museum is a living history museum where they have created a 1840s village complete with a working farm. A few years ago I started doing poultry keeping workshops for the museum consulting witht eh farm staff on poultry related matters & I provided the farm with a flock of my Dominiques.
This weekend I put together a display of 16 breeds of poultry that were included in the first APA Standard of Excellence. Along with it I set up a poultry history display which included 5 copies of Standards of Exccellence from the 1800s & a number of old magazines from the late 1800s-early 1900s. Did you know that at one time there were 82 different poultry related publications in this country? Annual subscriptions were 25-50 cents.
I set the poultry display up like a mini-show & hung signs with information about the origins of the various breeds. I dressed in 19th century farmer garb & spent 2 days answering questions about the various breeds. There was an almost constant stream of people through the barn where I was set up & the majority of the stopped to ask questions. I even out drew the sheep shearing demonstrations.
Another element of the display was an APA information table including history of the organization & membership info. Severel people who stopped stated they had gotten chickens within the last few years but they'd never heard of the APA. Eight people took membership applications & indicated they would bejoining.
Two of the most popular breeds displayed were the Silkies & the Large Fowl Games. I did cheat a little & included Rhode Island Reds. They weren't included in the Standard until 1904 but hey, it was my show & they're my breed.

ETA: the CEO of the museum came through on saturday & loved the display. Like many people he had no idea there were so many diverse colours & types of poultry. He asked if I'd do this display twice a year on 2 of their big event weekends.

 

[fowlman01]

Did something interesting this weekend. The Farmers Museum is a living history museum where they have created a 1840s village complete with a working farm. A few years ago I started doing poultry keeping workshops for the museum consulting witht eh farm staff on poultry related matters & I provided the farm with a flock of my Dominiques.
This weekend I put together a display of 16 breeds of poultry that were included in the first APA Standard of Excellence. Along with it I set up a poultry history display which included 5 copies of Standards of Exccellence from the 1800s & a number of old magazines from the late 1800s-early 1900s. Did you know that at one time there were 82 different poultry related publications in this country? Annual subscriptions were 25-50 cents.
I set the poultry display up like a mini-show & hung signs with information about the origins of the various breeds. I dressed in 19th century farmer garb & spent 2 days answering questions about the various breeds. There was an almost constant stream of people through the barn where I was set up & the majority of the stopped to ask questions. I even out drew the sheep shearing demonstrations.
Another element of the display was an APA information table including history of the organization & membership info. Severel people who stopped stated they had gotten chickens within the last few years but they'd never heard of the APA. Eight people took membership applications & indicated they would bejoining.
Two of the most popular breeds displayed were the Silkies & the Large Fowl Games. I did cheat a little & included Rhode Island Reds. They weren't included in the Standard until 1904 but hey, it was my show & they're my breed.

ETA: the CEO of the museum came through on saturday & loved the display. Like many people he had no idea there were so many diverse colours & types of poultry. He asked if I'd do this display twice a year on 2 of their big event weekends.

Chickens are "in" right now...very high degree of interest in poultry. Congrats for doing the display.

Walt

 

[bnjrob]

Did something interesting this weekend. The Farmers Museum is a living history museum where they have created a 1840s village complete with a working farm. A few years ago I started doing poultry keeping workshops for the museum consulting witht eh farm staff on poultry related matters & I provided the farm with a flock of my Dominiques.
This weekend I put together a display of 16 breeds of poultry that were included in the first APA Standard of Excellence. Along with it I set up a poultry history display which included 5 copies of Standards of Exccellence from the 1800s & a number of old magazines from the late 1800s-early 1900s. Did you know that at one time there were 82 different poultry related publications in this country? Annual subscriptions were 25-50 cents.
I set the poultry display up like a mini-show & hung signs with information about the origins of the various breeds. I dressed in 19th century farmer garb & spent 2 days answering questions about the various breeds. There was an almost constant stream of people through the barn where I was set up & the majority of the stopped to ask questions. I even out drew the sheep shearing demonstrations.
Another element of the display was an APA information table including history of the organization & membership info. Severel people who stopped stated they had gotten chickens within the last few years but they'd never heard of the APA. Eight people took membership applications & indicated they would bejoining.
Two of the most popular breeds displayed were the Silkies & the Large Fowl Games. I did cheat a little & included Rhode Island Reds. They weren't included in the Standard until 1904 but hey, it was my show & they're my breed.

ETA: the CEO of the museum came through on saturday & loved the display. Like many people he had no idea there were so many diverse colours & types of poultry. He asked if I'd do this display twice a year on 2 of their big event weekends.

That is VERY cool! My husband and I have always been "into' ren faires and such. We did an event geared more toward Civil War era and dressed the part, had spinning wheels and spindles to catch the eye of event goers and discuss the old-time arts and crafts with them. I would love to find someplace to do what you did and get people interested in all aspects of old homestead type things including the livestock, and help keep history alive in more people's minds.

 

[ashandvine]

What a great idea! I might try something like this with our area. The house we live in is actually a 200 yr old house that is associated with a land trust. The King of England gifted this house to the original family and we are the first non-family folks to live in. I say this because you know heritage breeds were here and I like the history and idea of having heritage here again.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Charlie you hit the jackpot. Thank you so much. I K Fetch was one of my favorite poultry people. He has been considered as the father of Poultry Husbandry by many writers in the early days.

His book Poulltry Culture was one of my favorites.

New York Reds what a great service you did. You need to have this video taped so people can see this. It could be put on U tube see if someone can do this next time for others to see. I may have my camera back and if its working I can send it to you and have someone push start and record.

Yes Walt Poultry is hot right now so many people want to get back to the country. For me I want to live as simple as I can with some comforts of modern times but much of my days is lived if I was back in the 1940s.

The computer is how ever a major thing right now and web sites. Our local paper is going to Mon Wed and Fr iday with a Sunday issue. Times are changing.

Thanks for keeping this thread alive and going. Keep pushing the old rare breeds that where in the APA Standards in the 1940s. I know some of you have rare chickens I never seen befor or dont even know what they look like but the old breeds need help I mean the kinds that was in the APA standards in the 1920s to 1950s. Some of these breeds people ask me about are so poor in quality most of you will give them up in three to five years. They are just down in appearance or never where that popular in the first place.

However, It has been a great 18 months since I started this thread. I am seeing New Hampshire's like I did when I was a boy. They are not German but 3/4 American and 1/4 German. They are so hansom and a great all around breed for the Hobby Farmer or Back Yard er. The Rhode Island Reds are making a com back we will see more in the next five years. Barred Rocks are also on the rise. I saw some great females Saturday and they had good tails for a change.

Have a great Holiday. bob

 

[fowlman01]

Baker Creek Seeds puts on an Heirloom Fair here in Santa Rosa. They include a poultry show that is APA sanctioned. Best of Show is $500 and Res is $250. There is a ton of interest in the birds. Their were over 25 heritage Turkeys there and last year was the first show.

Lots of interest in everything heritage and back to the land.

Walt

 

[chuckeychickens]

Hi Bob - Could you recommend a good source for those New Hampshires you mentioned? I've been looking for some eggs and bidding here and there, but so far I haven't had any luck.
I'd love to start a small flock of New Hampshires. Thanks. Heather