Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Arielle]

Lacy BLue-- Love the recept idea--will try that.

Hey,

Not sure i posted this image before. here's one of my breeder hens



Another breeding hen

THere is something elegant about this bird-- maybe it's the coloring, as I think the same thing when Kathy imo posts her dels!!

I had one LT sussex, and I was amazed that it grew VERY fast. Much faster than the BCmarans in the same hatch. SHe was an impressive pullet, one that I have never forgotten.

 

[Arielle]

Merry Christmas!!!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: So that I can better understand a "broad" feather, and a "stiff" feather. . . . . . I'm wondering which birds that I have already fit this? Perhaps looking at the poultry when the wind is blowing and see whose feathers are a mess and those that are still in place??


On another note---DH was putting away birds and one that went to perch on TOP of the coop jump off in the dark. Kids were called over to help capture the bird. DH put it in with the broody and her other 5 months olds, and the pullet ran to mother and tried to get UNDER her! HE says a few still try to stand on her--they are almost her size! ( THese a hatchery size mutts) She would make a good broody to raise chicks next year.

 

[Marengoite]

Turkey dinner is almost done--a store bought as the first q the kids now ask is " is it one of ours?" THey are boycotting homegrown.

Not sure how to get around this . . . . I do love the texture and flavor of the birds that take a little longer to ge to the roasting pan. I"ve her the favs have a wonderful flavor different than other birds. . . .

My wife bought eggs yesterday. We have three dozen brown and two dozen white in the refrigerator, but she is opposed to chickens on principle and refuses to eat homegrown eggs. Same for chickens I process. She has eaten our turkeys, but she's not real fond of them. Would rather have a flavorless Butterball. I'm going to try smoking some next year and see if that works better.

I don't understand the opposition to homegrown meat. It has more flavor, more texture, and a deeper connection than meat from the store.

 

[Marengoite]

Reminds me...

I picked up one of my Andalusian cock birds yesterday. Checking everybody for mites, etc., anyway, when I got him out of his pen and was able to stand back up I promptly told him that he was as big as a Christmas Turkey! I wouldn't eat him though (not yet) He's my biggest boy and is he ever an armload! I need to get some scales (still) so I can weigh my birds! I had picked up his daddy, just before, and I can tell you there was a HUGE difference!

What kind of egg production do your Andalusian hens have, Lacy Blues? I really like the looks of Andalusians and don't mind having white egg layers for variety. Some of the sites that advertise them say they lay about 150-200 per year. Are yours in that range or better? Just trying to get a feel for the breed. I don't want to dive in too soon. I want to get some experience under my belt with the Buckeyes and Hamburgs first before taking on something as difficult to maintain as Analusians (although I would love to have a couple to add to the yard because they are so handsome looking).

 

[Pozees]

My wife bought eggs yesterday. We have three dozen brown and two dozen white in the refrigerator, but she is opposed to chickens on principle and refuses to eat homegrown eggs. Same for chickens I process. She has eaten our turkeys, but she's not real fond of them. Would rather have a flavorless Butterball. I'm going to try smoking some next year and see if that works better.

I don't understand the opposition to homegrown meat. It has more flavor, more texture, and a deeper connection than meat from the store.

The eggs I definitely don't understand; if buying eggs produced by battery-housed hens is okay, why would it not be better to use eggs produced by well cared for hens that see sunlight, breathe fresh air, and are fed well? Better for the hens, and better for the humans consuming them - and I must say, fluffier than any grocery store eggs I ever used. Just one very humble opinion. The more hens we each keep whose eggs we consume and sell to/share with our neighbors, the fewer hens will have to live less comfortable lives. I get the issue of eating a chicken you've raised, I live with someone who still prefers the arm's length consumption model, but am hoping to convert him in the coming months.

 

[ashandvine]

I know this sounds odd but for us initially the two issues were 1) having everyone understand that we raise them with care, not love-- you are what you eat (you love your pets and don't eat those), and 2) the visual difference of a bird that isn't all white breast. Even still I find myself looking at my processed birds asking myself if I should have waited longer to eat them. I have learned to look at their legs instead of the breast. I know this sounds very much like a joke, but really, I find that my meat birds have more leg than breast and it got me thinking about how the leg used to be a choice part where the breast is now. Its all just hypothesis.

That pic a while back of the Game hen with her chicks in the snow has really stuck in my brain-- especially as its been snowing today. Its got me thinking and I appreciate its being posted. So many facets to learning about chickens/nature/history.

 

[Bentley]

So eggs I ship to, say Colorado or Kentucky may not hatch as well as eggs I ship to Florida or Texas? Hmmmm......

Given tens of thousands of eggs hatched and when compared to eggs from the same flock, those not shipped to higher altitudes then no, eggs incubated at higher altitudes do not hatch as well.

 

[Bentley]

That is very interesting - never really would have thought about it until it was mentioned on the Colorado thread.  Does variation in humidity have any effect?

Humidity does not have a huge effect on eggs during storage/shipment unless its extreme variation. Humidity will control the amount of moisture lost in the egg which can be compensated for by altering the humidity during incubation to get the proper weight loss. Now again, extreme differences may effect hatch but that would be due to excessive weight/moisture loss of the egg.

 

[3riverschick]

Well, this gets seen when the bird is Colombian and either eb/eb or eb/eWh. I doubt that is the problem here. Looks like you have a color imbalance. Should be able to fix that by more closely matching the depth of color in the hackle and/or undercolor when you breed him. ( interestingly, the old lit says to breed the Light Sussex like the Light Brahma. That can only mean in the very general sense that they are both Columbian breeds. Because Light Brahma is eb locus and Light Sussex is eWh locus. So if one breeds Light Sussex according to the Light Brahma, you may see the black stippling on the birds.

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Can you explain what you mean by this?

Thanks

Judi

eb is the locus for Brown. It means the bird's plumage coloring is painted in a Brown base. eWh is also a Brownish base. It means the bird's plumage is painted on this color base. But in both eb and eWh Columbian birds like Light Sussex and Light Brahma, , any brown is covered by black , plus removed and white is substituted instead.
In the case of a pure eb based Colombian bird and sometimes in the case of a heterozygous eb/eWh Colombian bird, there is a tendency for black stippling (splatters of small dots) to show up on the saddle feathers. However, in this Colombian flock, there is only one bird showing this black stippling. If it was a locus problem, more birds would be showing the stippling. Plus, the genetic history of these birds is known and there is no eb in it. So this is a pure eWh based Light Sussex showing the stippling.
In Sussex, and many other breeds, the kind and depth of coloring in the undercolor affects the color in the top feathers. I have cites for this but just not at hand. There are several articles in Google Books where noted authors discuss this and how to handle color balancing in the undercolor so the top feathers come out the correct color. Might try Lamon book on Mating and Breeding poultry. The Card book on Breeding Laws in archive.org. and others.
Merry Christmas,
Karen