Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[bruceha2000]

Soo, since it's 42 and they're voluntarily open to the elements instead of inside the coop - I think they'll be just fine at night when it's 35 =) Sometimes I have to wonder if keeping chickens out of the cold until they're 6-8 weeks does more harm than good. These ones were living at 60 degrees from week 3 onward and never did they act like they were remotely cold.

I put my 4 week olds out in the coop (in a barn) in mid July with their heat lamp hanging down in front of a LARGE cardboard box on its side with the opening facing the corner. It was connected to the "reptile" remote sensing thermostat at it's lowest level. I had the thermostat plugged in at night for the first week only (it was in the 50s F). Being new to chickens I was, of course, afraid they would be too cold. The heat setup is what I used for their brooder (bathtub in the house).

If yours were at 60F on week 3, I think they will be fine. I went with the "95F for a week, dropping 5F every week until they are 4 weeks old" thing. Dang was it uncomfortable for we humans in that bathroom!

They are now 24 weeks and I have no intention of heating their coop. It was 27F and breezy yesterday. They spent a fair amount of time in the barn alley but they also went out and ate grass or whatever with their feathers blowing forward when the wind was at their backs. Didn't even seem to notice.

I agree that keeping them warm too long into the fall could be detrimental. They need to feather up for the cold weather.

Bruce

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Here is a list of breeds that need attention
95% of all Standard Breed Large Fowl

It is my opinion that 95% of all Standard Breed Large Fowl chickens are in trouble and in need of serious breeders.

There are currently about 520 breeds/varieties of poultry in the Standard Of Perfection. If I remember correctly 187 of these are large fowl chickens. So if 95% is a good estimate that means 177 of the 187 need help.

With all of the breeds that are in need of help I personally can see no reason to try and create a new breed or variety that is not currently in the SOP.

Pick a breed and if you are not sure if it is in need of help just ask the folks here and you will get some answers.

Good luck with the birds
Charlie

Exactly! Without exageration. For what I can tell in New England, there isn't a single largefowl breed I'd call secure. Barred rocks have a few breeders--our version of security (?). A further question one might ask could be which breeds and/or varieties are still available in form relatively close to what might be considered Standard quality and which are not. On might choose one from each of the two categories. That's a heck of a lot right there.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Oops, I forgot Australorps. Weel, there you have it. The two "secure" breeds I can think of in New England because the have more than one breeder I can think of off hand....hmmm...I suppose that's not a very encouraging criterion.

 

[CluckyCharms]

I'm hoping somebody here can help me (I think you probably can, you folks seem to have answers to everything I've asked thus far). =)


A few weeks ago, I ran across a crazy-gorgeous breed of chicken (online). Unfortunately, our ISP was having "cable constipation" or something, and we lost internet...as I came across this bird. Needless to say I was frustrated...but I figured I'd get over it and find something else I liked. Well I can't get that blasted bird out of my head and I have very little information about it....ONLY info that comes from the 1 (and only one) picture I saw.....so I can't even tell you if the bird I saw was an accurate representation of the breed as a whole.

Clues:

It had a very similar coloring to the spangled russian orloff in regard to the rich mahogany with splashes of white and darker colors.
It had a very similar stature as the Russian roosters we see today from other countries (not the ones here) - very vertical, regal, massive looking chicken
It looked larger than your average large fowl chicken in the picture (but I can't say for sure if it is or not)
It had some sort of name that one would usually relate to a human being. Like... Thomas so-and-so or maybe Mr. so-and-so (for some reason Mister sticks in my mind but when I google Mr. Chicken and Mister Chicken nothing comes up remotely related to chicken breeds (which I figured would happen) but I know the name of the bird was some sort of *person's* name which is weird.

The name might have been the name of the person who owned the chicken and not the chicken breed, but I don't think so...it was captioned like "such-and-such chicken"

Thank you in advance for any guessers willing to help me.


And YES I think this would qualify as a heritage breed if it's really a breed according to the APA because the picture itself looked pretty old (depending on whether or not the picture was actually taken in the US and I don't know that either)

Also - it was *not* the speckled sussex or the jubilee orpington or anything else that is a "common to everyone" breed....it had a really weird name for a chicken all things considered. Albert something? Robert something? GAH I don't remember.

I even tried googling "chicken breeds with people names" and that didn't amount to anything. lol!

[Edited to add] I suppose it's possible this bird isn't even a chicken, but it definitely looked like a chicken, just taller and bigger.

 

[CluckyCharms]

I put my 4 week olds out in the coop (in a barn) in mid July with their heat lamp hanging down in front of a LARGE cardboard box on its side with the opening facing the corner. It was connected to the "reptile" remote sensing thermostat at it's lowest level. I had the thermostat plugged in at night for the first week only (it was in the 50s F). Being new to chickens I was, of course, afraid they would be too cold. The heat setup is what I used for their brooder (bathtub in the house).

If yours were at 60F on week 3, I think they will be fine. I went with the "95F for a week, dropping 5F every week until they are 4 weeks old" thing. Dang was it uncomfortable for we humans in that bathroom!

They are now 24 weeks and I have no intention of heating their coop. It was 27F and breezy yesterday. They spent a fair amount of time in the barn alley but they also went out and ate grass or whatever with their feathers blowing forward when the wind was at their backs. Didn't even seem to notice.

I agree that keeping them warm too long into the fall could be detrimental. They need to feather up for the cold weather.

Bruce

Thank you! We've decided we'll let them try it outside in the coop tomorrow (night). It was supposed to be this evening but I changed my mind regarding what color I wanted to paint the interior of the coop so it didn't get done this afternoon....going to do it tomorrow. They did spend quite a bit of time out there today though, and had a lot of fun in their new digs. =)

 

[ve]

Hey CluckyCharms do you think that the bird you are talking abaut can be Spangled Asil or Malay.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Hey CluckyCharms do you think that the bird you are talking abaut can be Spangled Asil or Malay.

I googled those when I read them on your post, and they're very similar in coloring/markings but not at all the same in body shape and facial features. What are Asils and Malays? Are those game fowl? Those are different from the APA SOP standard chicken breeds right? They have their own Association of some sort yes? This bird I saw looked massive in the picture, had a wide chest and really just looked like Gheorghe Muresan with feathers. The name of the bird was definitely the name you'd normally associate with a person...a man's name of some sort and I believe it was first and last name and some sort of title, like Mr...Sir...something. Gah it's going to drive me nuts. I mean, this was 2 weeks ago and I still can't get the bagawk-bagawk out of my mind. I saw it for maybe 10 seconds before the ISP went kaput. I was hoping my internet browsing history would lead me to the site I found it on, but when I checked it wasn't there anywhere.

The picture looked to be somewhere around the 1940s (ish) with regard to quality (but a new picture can look like that too).

My main interest in discovering what this chicken was, is because of how old it looked, and my interest in heritage breeds. It didn't look like something "new", it looked like something old and lost.

Keep in mind it was only 1 picture unfortunately and I never got a chance to look further than that...it could have been an article about some steroid or hormone-injected chicken.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Malays and Asils are in the SOP .... funky looking dudes, for sure, but recognized nevertheless!

Maybe if you Google Aseel .... ?

 

[CluckyCharms]

Malays and Asils are in the SOP .... funky looking dudes, for sure, but recognized nevertheless!

Maybe if you Google Aseel .... ?

Thanks for the information! It definitely wasn't an Aseel, unless of course it was a mix of that and something else, because the face doesn't look right. This guy had an almost completely white face, with hints of mahogany, and the only red part was his comb **I think** not for sure - but I don't remember what kind of comb it was (that would probably help a lot to some who know birds by combs). Of ALL the time I spend on the internet, it would have to crash right when I found a gorgeous breed.

It also had that similar "ticked off hawk" look that the SROs seem to have, that predatory look...I remember his head and beak were shaped similarly to that, but it definitely wasn't an SRO.

I *believe* the legs on this bird were similar in color to those Aseel images though - they were peachish/fleshy colored.

Regarding the name, it was long, and it was a human name...plus something else, I want to say noun, but I don't know. Like "Harry Truman Table" or "Prince Albert Shoe" or... "Sir Isaac Island" or something like that....first name & last name followed by a misplaced noun that made no sense.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Remember: you can have a colour (variety) and then the breed (Aseel, for example) .... ?????