Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

From The Classroom @ The Coop (where all the genetics junkies hang out) ... Rhode Island Red is:

"eWh/eWh, s+/s+, Mh/Mh, Db/Db, and possible sundry melanisers"

It's those "sundry melanisers" that will effect your beetle green, and, I believe, the feather quality, which goes beyond just the colour genes. If you posted this question in a genetics forum like The Classroom @ The Coop, you would, I'm sure, get LOADS of opinions that would make FAR more sense to you as someone experienced with breeding the birds. You could then sift through and perhaps experiment with some of the possibilities that resonate to you based on your experience and what you already know about the background of your line.

From what I've heard, Rhode Island Red is a VERY tough colour to get right.

Why don't they agree? They are very positive in what they profess online.......as a rule. Like."this is how you do it". It would seem that they should all have pretty much the same answer, but they don't. I believe as I have stated ..... they don't really know what any of these birds are really carrying, but their ego ...in some cases....does not allow them to say "I don't' know". I don't know if this is true, but I have heard several times now that chickens have many more gene possibilities than any other animal.

I must admit that it makes me smile when people dredge up the "chicken calculator" and tell me this is all you have to do............

Walt

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
They're here!

So glad I used the new box from Boxesforbirds.com It's their new 16 bird box, ( they size the boxes for pidgeons) about 3 ft. long! With their great new 3 way divider. So cool! The birds zipped right thru from Montana and got here at 7:30 am. I kinda thought if I used the big box, it might go thru faster. Easy to set a small box aside but this big one is forthright in its presence, VBG. Each of the bird has plenty of room to move around. I am a big fan.

Yes, to cost a bit more to ship, but I don't care. The birds had more room and no worries about not enough room for tail feathers. They are all ensconced in their coops and I have pics,

Will upload them to photobucket and send the URL to the list. Oh, the hackles, they are so SOP. No superhackles at all! Yeah!
Happy, Happy!

Karen

 

[CluckyCharms]

Hi,
They're here!

So glad I used the new box from Boxesforbirds.com It's their new 16 bird box, ( they size the boxes for pidgeons) about 3 ft. long! With their great new 3 way divider. So cool! The birds zipped right thru from Montana and got here at 7:30 am. I kinda thought if I used the big box, it might go thru faster. Easy to set a small box aside but this big one is forthright in its presence, VBG. Each of the bird has plenty of room to move around. I am a big fan.

Yes, to cost a bit more to ship, but I don't care. The birds had more room and no worries about not enough room for tail feathers. They are all ensconced in their coops and I have pics,

Will upload them to photobucket and send the URL to the list. Oh, the hackles, they are so SOP. No superhackles at all! Yeah!
Happy, Happy!

Karen

Hurray!!

I'm glad they arrived safely!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Because not all RIRs are created equally (or the same way.) That is why they need to work with someone like Robert who knows the history of his birds and might do testing moving forward. If he were to work with someone like Sigrid, she would ask for pictures and want very specific descriptions of chick down, fluff colour, etc., to help her guess at what might be in the recipe of his particular birds. And as I posted a couple of posts ago, Sigrid says "I don't know" on a regular basis,but thankfully, she appears to love the hunt.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Thank you.

[Edited to add] It looks like it's not available where I live, but I could either a) get it shipped maybe...or b)find something very similar, so I'll look around. The stuff our TSC sells is that plant only crap and I don't want that. Sigh. I'll look around for something like this, thanks again!

No idea where actual "Hicktown, USA" is, but I feed Southern States. A batch of TSC food killed about 30 chicks this past year. I was livid. Went on a hunt for good feed and was told by another breeder up here about this food. It's Southern States "Breeder/Layer." It's All-Grain, but my birds do amazingly well on them. The chicks do well on the medicated starter/grower. 18% so the large breeds don't grow too fast. I really like it.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Out of curiosity who are you quoting here?

2009 National 4H Avian Bowl manual.

 

[CluckyCharms]

No idea where actual "Hicktown, USA" is, but I feed Southern States. A batch of TSC food killed about 30 chicks this past year. I was livid. Went on a hunt for good feed and was told by another breeder up here about this food. It's Southern States "Breeder/Layer." It's All-Grain, but my birds do amazingly well on them. The chicks do well on the medicated starter/grower. 18% so the large breeds don't grow too fast. I really like it.

Thank you very much!! I'll look into that one as well, I appreciate it. I was hoping for a feed with some animal protein in it but I think I may just have to supplement for that part.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I supplement with a small bit of dry cat food once a week. But, for some reason, this feed they really don't seem to need it. But, a little bit of boiled freezerburned chicken couldn't hurt!

 

[fowlman01]

Because not all RIRs are created equally (or the same way.) That is why they need to work with someone like Robert who knows the history of his birds and might do testing moving forward. If he were to work with someone like Sigrid, she would ask for pictures and want very specific descriptions of chick down, fluff colour, etc., to help her guess at what might be in the recipe of his particular birds. And as I posted a couple of posts ago, Sigrid says "I don't know" on a regular basis,but thankfully, she appears to love the hunt.

Sigrid sounds alright! I have never heard anyone else say they don't know, they always have the right answer....in their opinion. I suppose I wouldn't have a problem if they were all like Sigrid.

Walt

 

[cgmccary]

Quote: Hello Mika***. . .hope you are well. I have Southern States available near me but I feed mine partly, the Tucker Mills 22% mini pellet layena because it does have the animal protein in it. I beleive Tucker Mills for us is a Guntersville, AL mill. I did not want to switch to Southern States because of the all plant protein -- it is always a struggle finging the animal protein based feeds.

Do you still keep and breed Minorca? I know you did at one time. I am thinking my La Fleche will need to be fed like the Minorca -- aren't Minorca slower growing like the La Fleche? A lower protein starter benefits a slow growing breed, doesn't it? What did you feed your Minorca? I thought about at least trying out my formula for Buckeyes and then trying a lower protein trial.

My Buckeyes are moderate to fast growing but they put on a lot of muscle so need the extra protein early but if too long, it actually inhibits growth so the reason I feed it for the first 8 weeks, a 30% protein starter (Purina Game Bird Chow) and I then go down to a 19% Game Bird Flight Conditioner (also Purina). I find that my birds waste less with the mini-pellets. There is a Gamebird Chow 20% Breeder's ration (layena) I use during breeding months along with the pellets. I was thinking of going strictly to the Tucker 22% mini pellets though.

Always nice to hear from you.

Chris McCary