Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

Agreed! But... Sometimes it is awfully difficult to locate good breeders that want to sell good stock. And... good breeders often don't want to let good stock go to a beginner or an unknown? As my MIL would say "I don't mean that meanfully".

It is difficult to find good breeders, so you need to do some research. Generally good breeders do not advertise online, some don't even have a computer. Join the ABA/APA or look at Poultry Press and find out who has the best birds and who might sell those birds. The APA gives you a yearbook when you join that has contact info on a lot of good breeders along with statistics that will give you an idea how successful they are. It may seem as if all these good breeders are hidden, but they aren't, they just don't hang out at this site...usually. If they are here, look for pictures of what they have or in Jim's case what the birds look like that have hatched from their eggs. Jim Hall sent some very nice Orps to thedragonlady and there are lots of pics of them in the Orp thread. Just don't believe what you read here unless you know the source and the source can back it up with pictures. DO NOT believe anyone who is saying they have such and such line...it doesn't matter cuz they probably ruined that line a long time ago or it was ruined long before they got it caz the previous "breeder" wrecked the line.

kathyinmo is a good source of eggs in Barred Rock and New Hamps. Jim is a good source of Orps and I believe some other breeds, and there may be one or two others that sell eggs, but generally expect to get junk as they are only producing eggs without regard to quality. Some folks have matings for fertile eggs that they just throw together to get a lot of eggs without caring what the results might be as a grown bird. ..especially these people who are getting $75 a egg like the Tolbunt Polish. . 99% of those birds are junk. One of the premium hatcheries of rare birds sent out a newsletter this month stating ...."dont worry about keeping bird to a standard as they change continually and this is natures way" That is not an exact quote, but this is a place that gets lots of money for their birds and if I couldn't keep them looking the same I might say the same thing. This new interest in poultry has brought out all the shysters from under their rocks. Lots of people trying to make money off chickens lately. Very few people make money off chickens except maybe Tyson or Fosters Farms.


Walt

 

[Lacy Blues]

Question...

Those who have worked on their heritage breeds, do your birds start laying at 5 months (like the accepted norm)? I think I remember someone saying that some don't lay til 6 months or later?

Is expecting your bird to lay its first egg at 5 months, or before, looking for "production" qualities? Is there any information regarding an early lay age correlated to how long they lay?

Just curious.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Question...

Those who have worked on their heritage breeds, do your birds start laying at 5 months (like the accepted norm)? I think I remember someone saying that some don't lay til 6 months or later?

Is expecting your bird to lay its first egg at 5 months, or before, looking for "production" qualities? Is there any information regarding an early lay age correlated to how long they lay?

Just curious.

I raise Columbian Plymouth Rocks in LF and my pullets normally do not begin laying until they reach 6+ months of age

 

[Robert Blosl]

Here are some pictures I found in my wife's computer of old breeds something to look at for you during these hot days of summer . I got some pictures from a fellow in England but they where attachments to a email and I can not get them into my computer but they are interesting. They are breed to their standards and they look fine however they dont look good to my eye as I use a different standard . I have come to a conclusion to let the good times roll. If you want to take on a hard color pattern as a beginner do it. Then you can tell in three years how you do or how you manage your birds. I think in twenty years there will be very few old breeds left like they are today. Once the fellows retire who have the hatchery type flocks with average to good color and type go we will be left to the regular hatcheries and at least those people will have something that kind of looks like the breed. Its just the way times change.

Nothing a old guy like me can do about it. There will still be a hand full of breeders who will try to preserve the old breed but with large fowl and feed prices they are slowing shrinking.

I can only afford bantams as my market to unload excess birds is limited to where I live.

So as we say in New Orleans let the good times roll.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Lacy Blues, Our production Rocks lay at 22 weeks. By 24 weeks, even the slowest are in lay.

Our heritage Rocks are now 19 weeks old and aren't even close. I am not expecting eggs until 28 weeks. My goodness, the production BR are feathered out in 6 weeks, while the heritage Ringlet BR were bald all over at 6 weeks. Slooooooow feathering, thus, slow to POL. Everything is slower, much slower. Hope that helps.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Question...

Those who have worked on their heritage breeds, do your birds start laying at 5 months (like the accepted norm)? I think I remember someone saying that some don't lay til 6 months or later?

Is expecting your bird to lay its first egg at 5 months, or before, looking for "production" qualities? Is there any information regarding an early lay age correlated to how long they lay?

Just curious.

We received our first egg from a pullet yesterday. She was 4.5 months. She is an "Arkansas Blue" a new breed developed for the commercial industry in connection with UA. That said, I have never seen a Heritage Orpington lay before 7 months of age. Most will be 8 months old. Their huge bodies need to mature before they start laying.

Learn more about the UA Arkansas Blues at https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/624359/blue-egg-layers-from-unversity-of-arkansas

They are a pea comb, white ear lobe, blue shanked bird of shades of Blue/Black/Splash/White that lays a large Blue egg. It was a cross of a exhibition Blue Araucana and a commercial White Leghorn. Estimates are 320+ eggs per year. Excellent free ranger. Hens weigh about 4-5# and males about 6-7#. Maybe one day we can send some eggs to Walt and get him to draft a Standard for them.

Meanwhile, I prefer a bird that when culled, our large family only needs one bird on the table. I think most will agree, one Orpington on a table is enough! It may atke 8 months to see eggs, but it is worth the wait!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Bob asked me to post these pictures as he was having trouble with his computer....I'm sure he will be back to explain

 

[Gallusfarm]

Glad to see you mentioned White Faced Black Spanish a few pages back, Bob. Not a lot of interest. They need work for sure. Here are some of my birds.

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excuse missing wattle on cockerel.

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[JulieNKC]

Hi. I was referred to this thread for information on getting started in showing, and it's wonderful. I've made it through the first 100 pages, although I keep getting sidetracked with the great links provided so it's taking awhile, lol. My main interest as far as showing/breeding is in my bantams at the moment though. Would I be better off getting a bantam standard or the APA one? Is there a difference in the standards in the two? I eventually plan on having both, but one thing at a time.
Thanks!

And Gallusfarm- I don't know much about what is good quality verses not, but those are some beautiful birds. The few I've seen have been kind of boring, somewhat like a leghorn mixed with a black rosecomb. Those guys are very eyecatching though.

And now back to trying to glean all the info I can off this thread.

 

[poularde]

Glad to see you mentioned White Faced Black Spanish a few pages back, Bob. Not a lot of interest. They need work for sure. Here are some of my birds.

​

excuse missing wattle on cockerel.

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Those are some neat looking birds. I think they have the coolest faces. I hope they can get more interest. I hope you best with them. Thanks for sharing.