Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[fowlman01]

Thanks, Walt - do you think the topline question that I posed could possibly be coming from the larger sizes we are seeing?

That could be. Once birds get too big they become more coarse looking. Some judges can only see size. The bird should meet ther SOP description and any deviance from that is a fault.

Walt

 

[catdaddyfro]

Fred, are your bids from GS? If so I have question for you and anyone else on here with GS Barred Rocks.
Mine where hatched in July, and looking very nice, but when do the cockerel heads grow into those huge bodies!
I guess I am just used to my RIR, but these Rocks sure look odd with there huge bodies and heads that look a month behind the body.
The pullets are not that way. They look like little hens already.
And man does this line eat! This time of year I get home after dark. If I go out and fill the feeders I have to remember to shut the coop door first or these Rocks will leave the roost to come out and eat in the dark.

I do really like them though. They have great personality.
I did hear however they take forever to start laying
Ron

Ron I have 6 of these big ol boys and the two I put over in the cull pen (feedlot) LOL but didn't get around to butchering as soon as I was going too any way they are all going on 14 months old and these two look as good now or better than a couple that are in the good pen(made the cut) so all I can say if you can wait and are willing to afford feeding them don't get in "no big hurry." I, like you, like them a lot too and think they are worth waiting on. The pullets, yeah they are a little slow but I have them in with my Reds too and it looks like they may be a month behind of course now (this time of the year) i don't expect them to start spitting out eggs by the bucketfulls anyway. LOL I'd say they come in around the 8/9 month time frame. maybe some a little earlier i think timing has a lot to do with these BRs. My pullet group is 6 mo. younger than my male group is, (just for clairification, here) and not to be any more confusing than normal.LOL

Jeff

 

[Fred's Hens]

Fred, are your bids from GS? If so I have question for you and anyone else on here with GS Barred Rocks.
Mine where hatched in July, and looking very nice, but when do the cockerel heads grow into those huge bodies!
I guess I am just used to my RIR, but these Rocks sure look odd with there huge bodies and heads that look a month behind the body.
The pullets are not that way. They look like little hens already.
And man does this line eat! This time of year I get home after dark. If I go out and fill the feeders I have to remember to shut the coop door first or these Rocks will leave the roost to come out and eat in the dark.

I do really like them though. They have great personality.
I did hear however they take forever to start laying
Ron

Ron, yes, they are from GS - Jeremy - KathinMO - me.

Yes, on all your points above. Yes, they take a year to grow out and won't likely lay until near their birthday. LOL

The cockerel's head/neck/chest/tails take forever to match up with their gigantic, over grown bodies, but they do.
The personalities/temperament are top, top notch. Kathy says they are as broody as can be too. All good stuff.

The "downside" which I try to warn the backyard gang is simply this. These are not anything, absolutely nothing like a hatchery, utility bird. They'd eat a backyarder out of house and home, take a year to lay, lay far too few eggs, I'd guess, for the them to ever be happy with them. This is just my guess, but I think most backyarders would NOT like these birds. Dunno.

 

[FOGELLY]

Fred and Jeff
One thing these Heritage lines have taught me is to be patient.
I don't have any plan on culling for a longtime yet. I don't mind waiting on eggs either, my RIR usually don't start until around 8 months.

When I say I like these birds I mean Really Like Them!

Anyone that comes to Fogellyville gets a tour of the chicken area from my 8 year old son.
The first pen he goes to is the Barred Rocks. He know their complete history and that is included in the tour. He absolutely loves them and everyone of them will be all around his feet anytime he goes in the pen.
He has told me several times that none of these are for eating, that will have to wait until the next generation we hatch.

Ron

 

[Fred's Hens]

We divided the cockerels into three groups at 6 months. Good, better, best. At 8 months? We questioned our choices and at 9 months? There simply isn't a loser in the bunch. Not a one. Finding the "right" breeder or two for the first group of matings is going to prove very, very difficult. We'll likely use almost all of them, and then, perhaps judge their offspring.

I've never seen such a level group of cockerels in all my life. Even the "runt" caught up, indeed, passed the bigger ones in size. Go figure.

 

[Wynette]

That's interesting stuff, Fred. I have found the same in my Jersey Giants. Tagging them for quality at 6 months, then when I looked at them again at 8 months, the tags changed around. Then, at 11 months, the smallest had caught up to the largest.

There is no chicken, in my personal opinion, that's a more handsome picture than a mature Barred Rock cock bird. I am unsure why I never got into breeding them, as a good one is just the picture of beauty to me!

 

[Fred's Hens]

We got a RIR cock last year and hatched a couple dozens chicks out. The gangliest, silliest looking one? I brought him home here to winter him over. His tail was too high, way too high, his chest was nothing, his back was nothing. That was at 5 months.

Now? Dang. His back is wide, his chest is thumping in, and even his tail has set 15 degrees lower and who knows where it will finally set? His neck now matches his body, whereas he looked like a goofball as a youngster. You just never can tell with these birds. For sure, you cannot be in a big rush to judgement.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Yes, they take a year to grow out and won't likely lay until near their birthday. ...
... These are not anything, absolutely nothing like a hatchery, utility bird. They'd eat a backyarder out of house and home, take a year to lay, lay far too few eggs,

Aren't they supposed to be a useful, dual purpose fowl? Were the original BRs so slow to be productive?

They are awesome. If I were a chicken collector, I would have some because I adore the look of them.

 

[catdaddyfro]

We divided the cockerels into three groups at 6 months. Good, better, best. At 8 months? We questioned our choices and at 9 months? There simply isn't a loser in the bunch. Not a one. Finding the "right" breeder or two for the first group of matings is going to prove very, very difficult. We'll likely use almost all of them, and then, perhaps judge their offspring.

I've never seen such a level group of cockerels in all my life. Even the "runt" caught up, indeed, passed the bigger ones in size. Go figure.

Hey Fred I totally agree with you here. my story is somewhat just as you stated about ? them at different phases too, they all are keepers in my book, not a crappy one in the flock I've not had any of the other heritage types RIRor NHs that all were good they were all OK, but not all good as a whole group. and the topper is the one of the boys that LIVED thru Mareks never ever have I had any chicken survive this type of Mareks the crippling type and wasting away. He did not succumb he made it! this boy is just as pretty now as the rest of his bros and is catching up to them in size a weight. Now he is a big big baby too "spoilt" rotten from me doctoring and handling him so much. He has a limp on the left side due to the paralysis from the disease but eats like a miniature donkey and is happy as Lark this goes to show me they have a strong will to survive I had but all given up on him but he didn't he lived and he will be here till he dies just BECAUSE!? LOL

(I have a story too on two dogs I've had live thru full blown Parvo also its a bad disease too, so much so the vets can't heal them most of the time, but I have twice, have one alive now but that's a whole 'nuther story though)


Jeff

 

[3riverschick]

Lit and Practical Knowledge ; Art and Science...in Breeding

Hi,
I admit to being way over at the far lit side of the lit vs practical experience pendulum. I enjoy it immensely. I love studying breeding programs and theories. Creating excellence in the abstract and then applying it in real life to see if my educated guess was correct. I know when I try to explain what I mean I often come off sounding like a know-it-all or esoteric. That's just me trying to explain something I have been thinking about for a long time. I will try harder to write in simpler terms. I know it can be a problem for me.
Hubby Bob told me this morning , "There's theory and then there's what works." . How true. The science of breeding and the art of breeding. We are so very fortunate to have veteran breeders here that share the art of breeding with us. I agree we don't need stifling genetic science to accomplish the art of breeding. I just love integrating science with the art of breeding to see how much science I can add into the art before the science starts to get in the way.
Someone asked me a while back if crossing alleles was a problem in strain-crossing. It's only a problem if one doesn't mind the extra work to get back to the correct allele once more. I just meant extra genetic winnowing could be avoided by staying with the same allele, that's all.
I'm a huge fan of Margaret Derry. Do own her poultry book. Just haven't finished reading it. I should do that so we are both on the same page about the White Leghorns.
Best,
Karen