Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[NanaKat]

If you like clean legged hens for brooding, then the Wyandotte is a good choice. Right now I have three sitting on nests and one brooding chicks. I also use a Cochin x Wyandotte as a good layer and broodie. Two of those are sitting on eggs now. And I have Cochin hens that are the hardest to break being broodie. They are fluffy incubators with featherduster legs.
All three make good mothers.

This Blue Wyandotte pullet is broodie before becoming a year old hen. She laid about 10 eggs and then claimed a nest of layer eggs. I tried to break her in a hanging cage to cool her off but she would have notheing to do with that. Gave her some pure Wyandottes. They should hatch next week. The picture on the right is a Cochin/Wyandotte sliding back into her nest of eggs which will hatch the same time.


A wyandotte can cover 8 - 10 LF eggs while a cochin can cover 10 - 18 eggs. The extra featherng makes a nice incubator.
This hen hatched 12 chicks in October and went broodie again twice before I could get her to quit long enough to condition for laying. She is in a breed pen now.

 

[3riverschick]

Well Walt,' I have been thinking about this Light Sussex coloring thang.
I think a couple of things are going on here.

Here is I.K. Fletch stating in 1885: "
Title: Poultry culture: how to raise, manage, mate and judge thoroughbred fowls.
Author: Felch, Isaac Kimbal, 1834-1918.
Publication Info: Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, Mann Library
Print source: Chicago: W. H. Harrison, 1888, [c1885]
URL: http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=chla;idno=2714169
Collection: Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
Page 168.

We admire a pure white back and undercolor in a Light Brahma pullet, with a clearly defined stripe in the hackle. But if successive matings of sire and dam, both being white in undercolor, are indulged in, the result will be faded and eventually white birds. A plumage like .that of the Light Brahma, made up of white and black, cannot be exempt from the shading of the one color into the other with which it is associated ; and in this breed the Standard wisely acknowledges both white and bluish undercolor, and gives no preference to either shade in adjudicating for premiums. This position is a just one, and judges should not deviate from it, for without this dark undercolor in the sire we cannot sustain the breed. It matters not what our likes and dislikes are or may be, nor how we may breed for our own amusement, yet in all public expressions we should be careful to speak of each breed in its true light, and all truthfully-recorded experiments become of much value in counteracting whatever false ideas may appear in print from time to time.
=====================
Okay this lit above is way before I think someone would have swapped alleles in Light Brahma.
--------------------------------
So maybe breeding Light Sussex is 2 things.
One: to choose the eWh allele.
Two: that done right, maybe only 1/3 to 1/2 the Light Sussex would be show birds? Because of the differences in under-color from the SOP needed to produce quality coloring in the top feathers? It seems, regardless of the allele used, there is a need for color in the under-color to keep the top color from fading in successive generations. I mean, eWh birds (we'll stick with that for now), can be bred with pure white under-color for a few generations. Then the black starts to fade out and one needs to inject a male or female (depending on the matings' need) with darker color than SOP either in top or under-color...to bring the black back into balance again with a pure white under-color.
Course none of this color balancing will work if one has chosen eb allele because eb naturally produces the wrong undercolor, plus black stippling on the saddle feathers.
So it seems, for Light Sussex at east, eWh allele + color balancing = the order of the day.
Hum,
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

Walt,
I know the SOP says pure white under-color to the skin for Light Sussex. Do they mark down if one shows a Light Sussex with a touch of color in the undercolor? Knowing that it is sometimes necessary for color balancing in the flock? Or does one just not show Light Sussex with a touch of color in the under-color?
Thanks,
Karen

 

[NYREDS]

All my American Games made/make great broodies. The winters here can be hard and a mix bag of weather, we can get snow, 40 mph winds, below zero temps, and even freezing rain one day and the next day be in the 50's with the sun shining.
Right now I have 2 or 3 hens that are down on eggs out in the barn so they should be out and about come about the first part of February.

The hen and chicks your talking about is a 1/2 Claret/1/2 Butcher 2 year old hen.



Chris

Same is true of my Old English Games. By far the best broodies of all the birds I've raised although Malays werea close second, another Game Breed. Very protective!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Ok...I'll ask it! Is a Light Sussex not the same color pattern as Columbian?


Is there something that differentiates it from the Columbian color pattern? If not, why DOES the standard call for white with an exception for gray in the down under the wings, but the Sussex standard calls for all white?

 

[Vamvakas]

Thought some of you might appreciate this photo from today at the PA farm show. It's a great illustration of the differences between a standard bred bird and a hatchery production bred bird. 2 buff Orpingtons, which one do you think would make the better meat bird? Feel free to use the picture, it was too perfect to pass up.

That's why I'm never buying from hatcheys anymore... I pre-ordered chicks from daune urch dose anyone know if his birds are big and nice like the rooster on the right?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yes they are. Urch breeds well-bred birds. Every so often you get the wonky bird, but from the vast majority, the birds are some of the best you can purchase as chicks and hope for show birds or a start to standard bred poultry.

 

[3riverschick]

Ok...I'll ask it! Is a Light Sussex not the same color pattern as Columbian?


Is there something that differentiates it from the Columbian color pattern? If not, why DOES the standard call for white with an exception for gray in the down under the wings, but the Sussex standard calls for all white?

Columbian color pattern can be built on either eb (Brown) allele or eWh ( Wheaten) allele. In either case, the tinting in the under-color is different. eb also allows black stippling on the saddle. However, black stippling on the saddle can be caused by too much black in a eWh mating. The way to tell which allele is being used in the bird is the tint in the under-color.
from David Hancox:, "Brahma and Wyandotte which are Brown, eb based and have a blue/gray under-color........
Light Sussex. The genotype is based on the Wheaten eWh gene, shown by the presence of its white (or light) under-color"
Karen

 

[Vamvakas]

Yes they are. Urch breeds well-bred birds. Every so often you get the wonky bird, but from the vast majority, the birds are some of the best you can purchase as chicks and hope for show birds or a start to standard bred poultry.

For right now I just want good standard Naked Necks. Down the road I may attend a local fair and see how I do then go from there.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

He should be a good start for you.