Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

I show a lot..25 to 50 birds per show and I don't feed them anything different than what is in the sack of feed. I believe that a lot of the things people try to obtain with supplements can be achieved by good breeding. It works for me.

Walt

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
Dug around and found these two books ( 2002 and 2008) with info on
Safflower seeds, etc.
-------------------------------
Nutrition and Feeding of Organic Poultry
books.google.com
Robert Blair - 2008 - 314 pages - Google eBook - Preview
Safflower on Page 113
http://tinyurl.com/7uaxmwp
--------------------------------
Poultry Feedstuffs: Supply, Composition, and Nutritive Value - Page 73
books.google.com
J. M. McNab, K. N. Boorman - 2002 - 427 pages - Preview
"Because the protein quality of safflower meal is low due to a paucity of
lysine, satisfactory performance of poultry will not result without blending
safflower meal with other protein supplements and/or the use of synthetic amino acids ..."

http://tinyurl.com/d2uamqn
--------------------------------
Best,
Karen

 

[bnjrob]

I show a lot..25 to 50 birds per show and I don't feed them anything different than what is in the sack of feed. I believe that a lot of the things people try to obtain with supplements can be achieved by good breeding. It works for me.

Walt

I think that's a good part of it Walt.

There is also a nutrition component - feed your birds with good quality, balanced nutrition and they will look well and shouldn't need supplements to get them in top condition.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Need help?

Yes me.

I saw last night one of the nicest Rhode Island Red 18 month old hens I have seen in a while. In fact I use to have many like this hen about ten to five teen years ago. What I liked about her was her tail section with the classic Tee Pee spread, the nice long back and her classic brick shape. Her color came back even from her molt and I just think she would be a bird I would like to rebuild my old line back with that I gave up ten years ago. However she has a fault and one that I have not seen in my old strain of Rhode Island Red large fowl.

She is nock kneed.

So how to I go about breeding her to breed out this fault out of this line and get this great trait she has with her top section and tail in all of her future off spring.???

I have access to four half and half cockerels and I am sure one or two of them will be full of vigor and have big boned strong legs to help over come this dilemma. What I mean half Illinois and half Flordia strains that we have done here.

Next what causes such a good looking female to be nock kneed? In breeding is my guess as its been 14 years since the breeder got his start form me and the strain was closed or no out side blood then and today since 1912.

The half and half chicks look like they are on upper pills this is the cross I have been wanting to see for ten years.

Walt, New York Reds what do you think?

 

[thedragonlady]

Need help?

Yes me.

I saw last night one of the nicest Rhode Island Red 18 month old hens I have seen in a while. In fact I use to have many like this hen about ten to five teen years ago. What I liked about her was her tail section with the classic Tee Pee spread, the nice long back and her classic brick shape. Her color came back even from her molt and I just think she would be a bird I would like to rebuild my old line back with that I gave up ten years ago. However she has a fault and one that I have not seen in my old strain of Rhode Island Red large fowl.

She is nock kneed.

So how to I go about breeding her to breed out this fault out of this line and get this great trait she has with her top section and tail in all of her future off spring.???

I have access to four half and half cockerels and I am sure one or two of them will be full of vigor and have big boned strong legs to help over come this dilemma. What I mean half Illinois and half Flordia strains that we have done here.

Next what causes such a good looking female to be nock kneed? In breeding is my guess as its been 14 years since the breeder got his start form me and the strain was closed or no out side blood then and today since 1912.

The half and half chicks look like they are on upper pills this is the cross I have been wanting to see for ten years.

Walt, New York Reds what do you think?

Can I chime in? I made some really nice black Wyandotte LF from my SLws by using just such a bird. The cross never came back to haunt me in the knees! Give it a try.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Need help?

Yes me.

I saw last night one of the nicest Rhode Island Red 18 month old hens I have seen in a while. In fact I use to have many like this hen about ten to five teen years ago. What I liked about her was her tail section with the classic Tee Pee spread, the nice long back and her classic brick shape. Her color came back even from her molt and I just think she would be a bird I would like to rebuild my old line back with that I gave up ten years ago. However she has a fault and one that I have not seen in my old strain of Rhode Island Red large fowl.

She is nock kneed.

So how to I go about breeding her to breed out this fault out of this line and get this great trait she has with her top section and tail in all of her future off spring.???

I have access to four half and half cockerels and I am sure one or two of them will be full of vigor and have big boned strong legs to help over come this dilemma. What I mean half Illinois and half Flordia strains that we have done here.

Next what causes such a good looking female to be nock kneed? In breeding is my guess as its been 14 years since the breeder got his start form me and the strain was closed or no out side blood then and today since 1912.

The half and half chicks look like they are on upper pills this is the cross I have been wanting to see for ten years.

Walt, New York Reds what do you think?

I have some what of a question of the same but different nature on this subject too Bob

I have a most beautifully colored German New Hampshire male that is dark (no yellow hackles) anyway I am wanting to use him as a breeder to see if I can try to get the hens with the yellower hackles to darken up some but the issue I have with him is he a little short in shank not too short but shorter than his sibling brothers. He has the best (uniform) body out of the five and great color other than a wee tad short in leg. So I will post this sort of a poll like deal then how to rank these faults from bad to real bad I reckon is how to phrase them. Shank length, leg color, split wing, wry tail, tail break, dropped wing, tail angle, pinched tail, long back, roached back, plumage color/pattern, comb shape/size, ect... feel free to add in what I forgot.

Anyway I think I'm gonna use him just too see if the color thing will change up and I guess will see how the leg length turn out?

Jeff

 

[Lacy Blues]

If it were my bird, I would just make sure that the female/females I crossed him with had the proper length shank or even a little long. If he's the first like that in the line he's from, it might not present too much of a problem. You can always cull the birds that show up with short shanks. Maybe Bob or Walt have a different suggestion.

 

[lildinkem]

Exhibition White Orps are nearly extinct in the USA. Under 10 serious Exhibition White Orp breeders I know of are even trying to breed and show them.
One of the our BYC better White Orp breeders in the country let me have this pullet's daddy. I am using him with a Buff Sport Orp and a Single Comb White Wyandotte pullets.
This is one of the older chicks. Near or abouts 4 month old.
Haroldine

 

[aveca]

I show a lot..25 to 50 birds per show and I don't feed them anything different than what is in the sack of feed. I believe that a lot of the things people try to obtain with supplements can be achieved by good breeding. It works for me.

Walt

Walt, i had no idea you showed or even owned that many..wish you would grace us with some pics of im sure are splended examples...17 time australion national champion australorp breeder said nothing works like greens ( stuff growing around your yard ) to shine up a bird..i feed what romig recomended that he uses on all of his, thou it isnt really special..same stuff just a little greens added.. they really beef up on it..or it enhances what momma nature gave ya...really helps the molter throu a rough time..mostly thou its just same mix..my cheap camera doesnt even capture the high glass shine on the dressage horses..those horses look like showroom vehicle shine..my camera makes them look like jalopees..an old timer told me that waaay back in the day they used to shine up feathers with a silk rag , they swore by it.

 

[aveca]

im thinking about using my old food dehydrator and collect up some of the plants in the yard that these chickens love, crumble them up in a big jar for next early breeding season..there is one plant i dont know the name of it, but they gobble it right up..the local native americans told me use it to tame bee stings and it really works..we call it chicken lettuce ..that and a few others they cant seem to get enough of.. one has a tiny white flower , they eat those right to the ground..they leave the things they dont like so i wont be picking those..
i have the horse so we always have hay around..i noticed years ago that in coldest weather i would bed them down in soft hay pretty deep..it would start dissappearing..couldnt figure out where it was going..until i saw a hen with a stem of hay out her beak like a farmer..and the yolks are really beautiful color..i was kind of worried about them getting clogged crops , we always keep piles of sand gravel around and so far hasnt been a problem..but it would probably be better on them if i crumble it up like a jar of basil. some of that hay was stalky. there was an article published recently about using alfalfa for poultry.

I was at Kim's Ranch a couple of weeks ago, and she really does have great pasture grass growing out there! We cracked open a Dorking egg to check for fertility, and the yolk was very Orange, so the chickens are very healthy indeed.

Great topic! I am getting ready to fix the grass in my back yard. I have been thinking that I would have to keep the chickens out of the part I want to keep grass growing and give them the clippings once a week. I was gong to try letting them out on the grass for less time to see if I could keep some. After reading this, I may try bermuda grass and over seed with rye grass in the fall.

Does is this good, or would clover or something else be better? My water is like Kim's(enough salt and boron to kill some plants) but my soil is pretty much all clay. Of course now it is full of chicken "fertilizer".

Ron