Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Do you know how many people have attempted this listing stuff? I have seen it several times.

Your best bet, in my opinion, is to check Charlie Voda's well maintained site, as Bob has suggested. HERE
I keep the site in my signature line for easy access.

 

[thedragonlady]

Lots of people do their part to help the youth, but there can always be more. I taught showmanship to a 4H group a couple days age and I hate showmanship. I can't think of any west coast breeders that don't help the youth. Sometime there is no breeder close by, so the parents need to try to find a mentor. I have found that in real life.....not on the computer........breeders are very helpful. They are not going to hang out in this site however. You need to find the breeders, they ain't coming to your house. These are backyard hobbyists, we are not in this to make money.......very few people ever make money selling chickens as a back yard enterprise.

A couple of us have told people how to connect with breeders......they are not going to advertise online..........they are not coming looking for you. They are happy to help, but it is up to you to find them and convince them to sell you some birds. Again...they are generally helpful, but if you approach them like you are in a WalMart, they aren't going to sell you anything.
They are not going to sell eggs or chicks. We need to look at all our birds before we let them go. I'm breeding my birds for me, not for other people. If someone is selling hatching eggs or chicks it means they have a junk pen for the average customer...they are not going to sell a potential one in a million bird as a chick.

Walt

Well put as usual Walt ! You and I know that there very few people who will get eggs or chicks from us, and those are generally FREE to trusted breeder friends.

 

[fowlman01]

I can understand why se breeders are a little unwilling to sell good stock to certain people. I have heard many stories of a good breeder selling good birds to people (usually 4-H kids) and they just go to waste. Breeders put way too much time and money into their birds to see them wasted.
I have sold the last of our gray Runners to an FFA kid who wanted to sell eggs. We sold him two drakes and 4 females and two of them died somehow. And he selling all but a pair of them to attempt to breed. Needless to say I am not happy about the fate of those ducks, it was a huge waste of good birds. We sold the same kid some white leghorn bantams and then he put them in some really small cages with no ventilation in the coop and no light.
He's a nice kid, but just a collector and chicken jockey.
It's a rare thing to find someone who is dedicated an knows what they are doing when selling your birds.

I know you know this, but to the lurkers......you almost have to run over a duck with a truck to kill them. They are generally bullet proof.

When I sell or give away birds I want a breeder to have them or a person I believe has that potential. And when it is feasible, I want to use that person as an insurance policy in case I have a problem here. It would not be a benefit if I could not resurrect the birds to quality they were when I sold them.

Speaking for myself. If I have anything for sale, my decision to sell to a person is based on my interaction with them prior to the sale. This is kind of new, but we now have these soccer moms/dads that don't want little junior to have any setbacks, so how much for a bird you think will win the junior show? Soo now I have to be careful about juniors as well. I give them the "how rewarding it is to raise your own and win" lecture, but they just want to know how much for a show champ? I sold a black runner to a kid for $15 and he did take care of it and won best of show in a 500 bird youth show. I sell good birds to kids cheap if I think they will at least give it a shot. I even enjoy it if they beat me.....once.

Walt

 

[Bluetick340]

I know first hand how kids through neglect will ruin potentially champion animals, be it hogs goats or sheep. I'm not sayin sell them your potential breeding piece, just some good birds they can compete with. If their interest grows their planning and management will become better. If they liked it and did well this year they will be back, and they can be trusted a little more with better stock. I never try and get kids to get started with the best stock they can afford because you never know how hard they will work. You be the judge in selling birds, if they would be better off with hatchery stock, or just some project birds send them that direction. Kids + parents+ stock+ management= success. My point is I guess with any hobby, or trade or skills in ag if we don't advocate and educate it will be lost. Love the heritage movement across the county. We had more stock number across the board an really in poultry this last year at our district fair. That makes me happy.

 

[fowlman01]

I know first hand how kids through neglect will ruin potentially champion animals, be it hogs goats or sheep. I'm not sayin sell them your potential breeding piece, just some good birds they can compete with. If their interest grows their planning and management will become better. If they liked it and did well this year they will be back, and they can be trusted a little more with better stock. I never try and get kids to get started with the best stock they can afford because you never know how hard they will work. You be the judge in selling birds, if they would be better off with hatchery stock, or just some project birds send them that direction. Kids + parents+ stock+ management= success. My point is I guess with any hobby, or trade or skills in ag if we don't advocate and educate it will be lost. Love the heritage movement across the county. We had more stock number across the board an really in poultry this last year at our district fair. That makes me happy.

Interest in poultry is on he rise. Our city just voted to allow chickens within the city limits. (pop 168K). We have good small livestock programs here in CA.

Walt

 

[kathyinmo]

I have sorta changed my mind on giving 4H kids birds. I think it is better to sell them to them. Then, they seem to take a little better care. In the past I have given them away, and they lose some and figure it is no great loss - as they were free.

 

[mschlumb]

I know you know this, but to the lurkers......you almost have to run over a duck with a truck to kill them. They are generally bullet proof.

When I sell or give away birds I want a breeder to have them or a person I believe has that potential. And when it is feasible, I want to use that person as an insurance policy in case I have a problem here. It would not be a benefit if I could not resurrect the birds to quality they were when I sold them.

Speaking for myself. If I have anything for sale, my decision to sell to a person is based on my interaction with them prior to the sale. This is kind of new, but we now have these soccer moms/dads that don't want little junior to have any setbacks, so how much for a bird you think will win the junior show? Soo now I have to be careful about juniors as well. I give them the "how rewarding it is to raise your own and win" lecture, but they just want to know how much for a show champ? I sold a black runner to a kid for $15 and he did take care of it and won best of show in a 500 bird youth show. I sell good birds to kids cheap if I think they will at least give it a shot. I even enjoy it if they beat me.....once.

Walt

Ha, I know I was shocked to learn that an adult duck died! Just driving home the point of the ignorance or maybe incompetence of some people.

I have helped kids get birds before and have sold them birds and they have done well with them. I love to see when kids I have sold or given birds too are successful with them.

I had given a kid 9 lakenvelder chicks, of good quality, and he wanted me to pick out his birds to take to the fair. He picked the trio that he thought were the best before I arrived. I went to his house saw his birds, and I would've picked the same birds that he did. And he did a great job of raising and caring for them. I was very impressed considering this was his first time with exhibition birds.

Some people are just good with livestock of any sort and are good listeners. Others... well not so much

 

[gjensen]

I think that you are right Kathy. It can't come too easy.

There are some good stories though. It isn't all bad. I had a young man ( I think 15? ), contact me this summer. Anyways, his mother brought him by. She never got out. She was letting her man handle his business.

I was very impressed with his knowledge of the breed. He had never had his own birds, but he had built himself a coop and run. He had put some money away etc. He was very well mannered and carried himself like a man. I had to tell his mother how well that he carried himself, and to tell his father what I had said.

I couldn't let him pay. I told him he was going to need the money for the feed.

 

[3riverschick]

I guess I do not understand why breeders guard their stock so strongly. Even the best horse breeders in the world with 2 olympic horses don't have buyers knocking at their door. I would think, good breeders would want to share their stock to buyers . . .

Hi,
A lot of it has to do with many newcomers believing they need to use two strains to found their flock. So they get 2 strains and cross them, not understandng how to breed the get. So they breed the F1's together instead of backcrossing them to the appropriate parent, or some other such mistake. Then they sell the get ( before they have had time to understand what they have purchased and/or wrought) to other people claiming the birds are from such and such parent strains. When the get don't pan out because they were incorrectly mated, there are culls running around the fancy , tagged with the top breeders name, thus hurting their reputations. Game, set, and match.

 

[Bluetick340]

Guys book I mentiond had a bunch of breeding methods in it. One he calls the gamecock method. The book gives a good expanation of keeping lines going be it dogs or whatever.