Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

Just wondering here…I have read that with my RIR’s and I’m assuming this would be true with my NH’s as well as other Heritage breeds that you want to keep track of your birds that feather out the fastest, crow first, lay eggs first and so forth. My question then is with my BR’s. Keeping track of the ones that crow first or lay first is not a problem but should I disregard the ones that feather out the fastest or just not consider the speed in which they feathering out at all with these birds. I ask because my understanding is that you want these birds to feather out slow in order for the barring to be straight and not V-shaped.

I have also read where some of the BR lines are lacking in their tail section. Is this because their feathers grow so slow so that at say 2yrs old a Roo would have his full tail or is it because these lines are just lacking in the tail and they just need to be worked on in this area.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

I don't know about all the voodoo....crow first etc, but I can tell you that tails have been a problem in BR large fowl and bantams for as long as I have been around. They either have a tail or not when they first finish with their adult feathers ..it won't come along the next year....or I have never seen that happen.

Walt

 

[Chris09]

Chris, great insight. Question. Is this perhaps one of the reasons that all these hatchery quality Barred Rocks, bred to quickly feather, quickly mature and be quite heavy layers, ie, production BRs, seem to all lack this slow feathering, on/off gene "K"? Without that gene, these birds "resemble" a Barred Rock, but sorely lack the look of the real McCoy.

You hit the nail on the head.

Hatchery birds mature, grow and feather very quickly and when a Barred bird as in the Barred Rock feathers quickly they tend to have poor Barring.

Chris

 

[Chris Herzog]

I don't know about all the voodoo....crow first etc, but I can tell you that tails have been a problem in BR large fowl and bantams for as long as I have been around. They either have a tail or not when they first finish with their adult feathers ..it won't come along the next year....or I have never seen that happen.

Walt

Thanks guys. Walt, I’m not sure what Voo-Doo has to do with breeding chickens if anything but I guess being from down here in the New Orleans area, I should already know the answer to that one, lol.

I guess the heart of my question was if I should keep track of which BR’s chicks feathered out the fastest. Based on things that I have read posted by you guys, I was a bit confused on what to do with this breed. However, I think Chris09 confirmed what direction I was leaning in with his reply. So thanks Chris for the reply!

I guess I could have put the tail feather question another way. Maybe it would have been better to ask....Do tail feathers continue to grow and get longer as the bird ages or do they grow to a point then stop. I now have the answer to this based on your response so thank-you Walt.

Chris

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote: Voodoo? Thats a good one Walt. That concept i used on my white rocks and reds wont work with the Barred Rocks I dont think. I can only think of two things one cross hatchery barred rocks onto Standard Barred Rocks and dont worry about the barring or cross white rocks onto barred rocks and get better tails that way. Some have done it in the last ten years.

I got a phone call this moaning from a fellow who has my White Rock large fowl. He told me he was getting rid of his barred rocks and wanted to get some white rock bantams. I thought this fellow was from near Nashville when he called me then I found out he was my rookie who lived above Knoxville. I was shocked why he wanted to give them up. These are not the Kansas barred rocks either.

He is happy as can be with the Whites I guess and does not want to fool with the barred gene any more. Now you can see why it is so hard some times to get these rare breeds as they are hard as can be to breed in the first place. They are just not that popular but they sure look great in the pictures. I will tell you a story a friend of mine had with Barred Rock bantams. He said the better the color got the longer it took his bantams to mature. After eight years of breeding them he said he could not take it any more and got rid of them. He still has white bantams and he does well with them. The better the barring the slower they matured he told me. So there must be something to it.

Well got to put another pin in my Voodo doll. bob

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote: Chris dont feel bad on that tail issue it fooled me on a male that I went nuts over. It looked to me that he would have the best tail I ever saw on a barred rock and he was used in the breeding pen that many got chicks from him and the males when fully mature had a mess for tails. In fact I know two guys who got out of barred rocks because of this.

There is a fellow in Ohio Kraig Shaffer who may have the anser to this question. He has a strain of barreds he has rasied for over 15 years and he has good tails on his males and good barring. Maybe he knows how to breed males with better tails. I have always seen females when they won best of breed in the Poutlry Press even the Fonsbink line he had better females than males and he was the last of the super star breeders in the last 20 years. Got any extra pens Chris?

 

[Chris Herzog]

Got any extra pens Chris?

I'm getting ready to start on 10 - 4x4 pens this weekend. After I'm done with them I will....what are you thinking?

Chris

 

[Chris Herzog]

Here is a pic of one of my Cockerals that was hatched at the end of Feb. I have liked this bird the best of all the BR males I have right now. He definately stands out from the others.




Chris

 

[fowlman01]

Thanks guys. Walt, I’m not sure what Voo-Doo has to do with breeding chickens if anything but I guess being from down here in the New Orleans area, I should already know the answer to that one, lol.

I guess the heart of my question was if I should keep track of which BR’s chicks feathered out the fastest. Based on things that I have read posted by you guys, I was a bit confused on what to do with this breed. However, I think Chris09 confirmed what direction I was leaning in with his reply. So thanks Chris for the reply!

I guess I could have put the tail feather question another way. Maybe it would have been better to ask....Do tail feathers continue to grow and get longer as the bird ages or do they grow to a point then stop. I now have the answer to this based on your response so thank-you Walt.

Chris

Voodoo is all the things people think affect certain traits...but maybe don't. Tails are strange things. Lots of breeds tails shorten as they age and may be quite a bit shorter after 3 years. some like the longtail fowl the tail keep growing. I haven't noticed much change either way in BR's that I have had here. The only BR's I have owned came directly from Ralph Sturgeon. Getting tails on LF is a lot easier than bantams and when in does not seem to shorten up. The Bantams were very hard to get any kind of correct tail on and they did shorten up. The only reason I even mention bantams is because Ralph made his bantams from the large fowl...so I could never figure out the difference in the tails. In my experience..... if this answers the question. I knew if it had a good tail or not by age 6-9 months old. these were pure Thompson Ringlet birds that Ralph had had since the 20's. It is the basis for any of the good BR's today. Lots of people take credit for BR's, but they all came from E.B. Thompson blood. So...don't expect some wonderful tail to grow in if it doesn't have it early on.

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

Here is a pic of one of my Cockerals that was hatched at the end of Feb. I have liked this bird the best of all the BR males I have right now. He definately stands out from the others.




Chris

It is hard with pics, but ......does this bird have the stiff tail feathers in yet? (the main tail feathers). Is there an angle instead of a curve at the base of this tail? He looks good overall, but I would need a side shot of the tail to give an opinion. Nice straight barring and width between the legs. Looks great for his age at this angle.

Walt

 

[15littlem]

Here is a pic of one of my Cockerals that was hatched at the end of Feb. I have liked this bird the best of all the BR males I have right now. He definately stands out from the others.




Chris

I don't know if this seems silly, but if you look at his neck and head, it looks almost as if he has some Asian blood in him.