Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Bonster]

Are these lovely birds still available in the US? The article in the link for the Malinois Kalkoenkop indicated there is a turkey headed that was bred by crossing the Cuckoo Maline with a game bird...doesn't sound as pretty as these pictured. Do we have breeders for the Belgian Malines? I'll try to do some research...

Sorry for the late post - the turkeyhead is bigger, has a more upright stance, and has a small triple comb rather than the single comb of the Malines. They're not separate breeds - the turkeyhead is seen as a variation of the standard. You can see a picture of the golden cuckoo here:
http://www.avitats.com/pouleetrangeremalinesatetededindon.htm

This one's in German but there are some nice pictures of the single comb variety, and Google Translate works fairly well:

http://www.vieh-ev.de/Rassen/Gefluegel/mechelner_huhn.html

They're an interesting breed - they were sort of the go-to broiler in Belgium before the modern commercial breeds took over. They grow fast, reaching slaughter weight at three months, and have very good white meat. They're now a specialty label sold for the gourmet market.

 

[nyanamia]

Yes much better looking but still off somewhat to me esp for overall American class winner at Dallas TX? at what point and where do you measure the tail angle its to be 45* forty five degrees where? on the main tail feathers or main sickles. this tail is more than a 45* angle

I said this on a couple other places and I'll say it here too. I think folk put to much into making these utilitarian type birds into "show birds" they should show and hold their own if bred as the Standards calls for without all of the frills and bells and whistles Just sayin'

Keyword here was Should LOL

Jeff

This show was at the state fair. I am a total newbie so I really don't know exactly what makes a great bird, but after seeing all the hatchery birds on BYC and also seeing all the nice SOP birds on this thread, I'm getting a lot better at knowing what a "junk" bird looks like....and there were a lot of those at this show. There were many birds with naked patches from molt, and also a whole bunch of disqualified birds. So the better ones definitely stuck out, even to an inexperienced person like me. Also, literally half the chickens in the show were Marans of various varieties. I got tired of looking at Marans! lol
It was a great experience though, and maybe I can get myself down to the Bluebonnet Classic show and see what those birds look like.

Emily

 

[kathyinmo]

Why, thank you very much, Bill ! That means alot to me.

Here are some of the male F3 Delaware projects....

 

[kathyinmo]

Now, about the tail on the New Hampshire......
Last year I culled for those oversize and-or over angled tails. Well, to me they were. Maybe I'm wrong.

This year I am much happier with the tails.....
Am I wrong?

 

[Lacy Blues]

The first one looks like its at a 45. Does the standard say 45?

 

[mrheinz77]

STunning birds, Kathy.

 

[fowlman01]

I like the tails on yours better than the one posted earlier. Send me that first male. I lost one of my males last night in this hurricane that came through here. You have a cleaner look on your males.

The Dels are really coming along nicely.

Walt

 

[Robert Blosl]

Those are Delawares worth talking about big difference than what we had two years ago. These are barred correctly in my view. Also, the New Hamshire R---s look stunning.

I kind of get Terets syndrom when I see New Hampshire R---s sorry. In there hay day when Ken Bowles was pushing them in his Hatchery they just about put the Rhode Island Red out of business. So us Red guys dont think to much of them becasue of that.

Pretty chickens with correct tails. Way to go.

 

[gjensen]

I would like some feedback, even if it is critical. I put a lot into this, and would especially appreciate Walts and Bob's thoughts.

 

[Pault76]

The dragon lady I'm interested in the chicks. I can't for some reason send you a pm on here. My email is

[email protected]