Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Arielle]

I'm a newbie. Started researching online, joined clubs from there just as Walt suggests, and then meeting people at shows and making connections from there. It's been my experience that there are enough people that can get out, join the clubs, and make it to the shows, to keep the breeders happy. In fact, it can be a real challenge to get a hold of quality stock because there are enough new people out there wanting in. Making that effort also demonstrates an ability and willingness to learn. The top breeders certainly don't have to go looking to find folks. Interested folks will find them and will come to them.

I have another perspective as a newbie: I have enough knowledge to know I would not know a good bird if I looked at it. I'm still learning. I don't have the experience to be confident that a particular breeder is actually a fabulous breeder or a mediocre breeder. A skilled and knowledgeable poultry man ( or woman, ) to help me select my first birds would be greatly appreciated under the circumstances. . ANd then guide me. This IMO is a problem for newbies attending shows and clubs--it takes experience to sort out the who the better breeders are. ANd that could take years.

 

[Arielle]

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 . . .

 

[ronniewayne]

I think to an extent they are sharing thier knowlege and birds .. just as has been said you really have to seek them out .and they in some cases they have to be comfortable you will do something with their help and with their strain of birds. i hear the frustration from the breeders as well i shared with hundreds of people and cant go out and find 5 farms that still have this line. just my opinion form the outside looking in. i do appreciate this thread and the true masters who impart knowdlege to us newbies especially when to them i know sometimes they think i just answered that question..it is building my patience to wait on these chickens to grow up .lay eggs ..hatch ..as i began looking for heritage over a year ago ..took a wrong turn..was sold some eggs supposed to be the real thing only to raise a group of 1/2 production birds...great layers just not what i wanted. i hope i'm on the right track now.. ..love the journey good luck to those looking for the birds ..i plan to hatch a lot and cull a lot..i have always found with chickens marketing to be a problem of sorts. hard to get your investment back on anything except hatchery pullets ..in my area they will sell like crazy. maybe i need some more web site savy to find those interested?? hope everyone had a merry christmas and will have a happy new year!

 

[Robert Blosl]

i got a message today asking can you make money with Heritage Chickens. I thought about it and wrote back maybe.

Normally its a hobby. Yes if you sell eggs for a $1. each and chicks for say $8 you can make money. Then you got overhead.

Normally I loose money each year. This year I sold enough chickens and chicks to pay for about 3/4 of my feed bill.

Many think there is money to be made in poultry selling birds dressed maybe or yard eggs. I have no idea.

Sometimes I think the most of the folks on this board are better off just getting feed store stuff and raising them the way they want however they want. Let the .05% of the people fool with keeping old breeds alive for the future. My views are changing as I go into my 3rd year on this board. The proof of the pudding is to find out what these souls will be doing in two to three years.

In regards to selling to people there is a FEAR of Bad Mouthing the seller. Some breeders dont like this feeling as its like being rejected. I had a friend call me up the other when my wife where was in the grocery store all up set by the comments of a customer who got some of his birds. He told me I am never going to sell anyone anything and ship it to them. They will have to see it first be for I take there money. Also, its said to say in the twenty years that he has been sharing his birds not ONE PERSON has his line. They died or are here today gone tomorrow chicken collectors.

So if you are lucky to find someone to sell you some so so true to breed old time chickens count your blessings. It may get harder as time goes on. I have mixed feelings as in twenty years I have one good breeder who made it to the 15th year mark and one who made it to the 20th year mark but hes going backwards and dont share with any buddy.

The man who got me started shared his stock with hundreds of people and I and one other fellow in Ohio had his line. Today he is out and no one has his strain. I am out of large fowl Reds but my friend in Illinois is still going and many of you have his stock. I guess that's just how it goes is this hobby. However as a FOOTNOTE: my wise wife said yes there is only one person who has Mr. Reeses line but at least Mr. Reese and Mrs Donadson can look at each other in chicken heven and say. Our strain is 100 years old and going.

So she has a point. Most strains of good large fowl that I remember in the 1960s are all gone. Maybe a bird here or there was crossed into someone todays line. But on the whole as one breeder told me 20 years ago most strains are gone up in smoke in three years. His name was H V Ken Cooke of Oregon. I think he was dead on that point.

Many are called but few are chosen one of my mentors once told me.

 

[fowlman01]

Here is one for you Bob.



Walt

 

[thedragonlady]

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 . . .

Breeders DO want to share their stock with people who will properly care and breed from them. It is heart breaking to see birds that you have hatched, raised , and sold , go to what turn out to be the wrong sort of owners . Most top breeders will not sell you really good birds until they have known you for a while , or know someone who does.

I happily give away , or sell very cheaply, to 4-H kids that I can mentor, with a strict buy back / return agreement if the children lose interest, or can no longer keep the birds. I will not sell to people wanting to house big Orps in chicken tractors , or those people without decent facilities for the birds. There are simply some things worse than being dead . Someone sees those overcrowded, wormy, bedraggled and stunted birds, and guess just who gets the blame ! Never the new owner.

Breeders rarely make money on their birds . The idea of breaking even might materialize once in a while , in a good year, but the number of man hours expended in doing it right, makes the payoff ludicrous.

 

[melroseladi]

I personally have found it very hard to get started in raising Heritage RIR. While I do find both this thread and the RIR thread to be extremely informative not only with people sharing their own personal experiences, but also sharing links and articles, as well as sharing pics of their birds and their coop set ups, which is greatly appreciated, but finding birds, chicks, heck even eggs, has proven to be very challenging to say the least.

Penny

 

[bnjrob]

Agree. Supply and demand as well as lack of communication and knowledge about non-hatchery birds is what I see as keeping many large hatcheries very successful. Not that that is bad, just doesn't fit many people's desires to keep these standard bred birds going.

We've got some eggs in the incubator - first time to try to hatch our own. Have no idea how it will turn out and they are not seriously bred eggs as our Javas are all less than a year old and I have not picked the exact ones to breed seriously yet. But wanted to get the hang of the incubation process and if they hatch and the chicks aren't the best, they can just be part of the eating egg flock rather than the breeding flock. I've been having people asking if I have birds to sell since before they started laying. Something about telling people that I have rare birds sparks their interest so hopefully I will be able to "spread the Java love" with people that are interested in more than just feed store chickens.

 

[Texasmja]

So hopefully I will be able to "spread the Java love" with people that are interested in more than just feed store chickens.

There is a market for better quality, I listed my culls (which were really pretty, and healthy) and sold all of them in 3 days. 3 people drove 100-150 miles each way to buy them. I sold 27 birds.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
That's precisely WHY I go to the shows - as often as I can, so I can see the winning birds, talk to the judges, and talk to the breeders. I am the first to admit that I still have a TON to learn but I can usually tell the difference between a good bird and one that is not so good even at this early stage of the game. A beautiful bird is just that, beautiful. There is a symmetry and a balance to a good bird, a presence. Learning to recognize a good bird and a good breeder really doesn't take all that long. I also believe a lot of evaluating a bird is rather more an instinct, much like recognizing good art. Some folks can just see it. We have to learn the skills to know how to build the bird, the fine details and specifics of our breed of choice, and that takes years (and a bunch of practice) but an eye can't necessarily be taught.