Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Robert Blosl]

Quote: Silver Penciled Rocks
Partridge Rocks
Red Dorkings
Silver Grey Dorkings
White Crested Black Polish
Blue Andalusian
Silver Laced Wyandotte
Rose Comb Rhode Island Red
Single Comb Rhode Island Red
Blue Orpington
Some pictures available at "horstmanspoultry.com"
I was lurking and found a thread with this on it. Its Dick Hortsmans breeds of large fowl
Google Dick Horstman in to your computer or try his web site.

He sells eggs and chicks and his Dorkings should be like I saw about the same as everyone else.

Urch in Minn may have some as well but hurry he is retiring soon and you all will be out of luck for his old breeds he has been raising
Once they are gone in three years I would say two thirds of them will be up in smoke as most beginners will give them up.

Dicks birds are good birds for beginners and easyer to get started like Urch.

Thanks for the method and how you picked your breeds. What many do is make their decision by the pictures in the catalogs
which are perfect pictures that might have been used for the APA standard. No chicken has ever looked like those pictures then when you
get your birds all grown up you say to yourself these birds dont even come close to what the pictures looked Ike.

Its kind of like ordering a German Shepard puppy and when he grows up he is part Chow or Beagle like dogs I have raised.

Those barred rocks in the bottom have nice clean barring. Fred are those the Reese Barred Rocks? bob

 

[Fred's Hens]

Those barred rocks in the bottom have nice clean barring. Fred are those the Reese Barred Rocks? bob

Of course they are.

 

[Wynette]

Hey, Bob, did you get a chance to speak with Dick Horstman at the Newnan show? I was able to chat with him for about 10 minutes, he was in the sales area and had several folks looking at some pairs/trios he had (silver penciled & partridge rocks), so we weren't able to chat for long.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hi Robert, thank you for the information.

I picked breeds that 1. very rare and need conserving 2. are good for meat and eggs. 3. appeal to me look-wise 4. have good variation between them..

I really want to do Colored Dorkings and I found them at Sandhill, what do you think about the quality of those? The reason I picked those was because one of my customers suggested them and I looked into them and really liked the way the Coloreds look, and they need conserving, plus I want to taste the fabled meat.

I picked the Black Java because I ran across a farm website that's here locally by me that raise them and I really liked them. I'd like some really nice quality Black Javas, are Duane Urchs' good?

I picked the Chantecler's because I thought they were really pretty and rare.

The Dominques are the other breed I was looking into. I will definitely check that thread out!

That's a neat list. I might offer a few ideas:

1. Stop at three, which is already a lot. Three breeds is a lot, especially if you're just beginning. When I say "a lot" it is with the assumption that you are hoping to develop a breeding program. There's a difference between a breeder and a hatcher, meaning a breeder makes strides in the development of his or her strain, learning anything he can and seeking improvement in a serious, disciplined manner. A hatcher just sort of has a bunch of birds because they're pretty, and they make more in the spring, usually of a slowly degrading quality. The former are rare; the latter are much more common. Too many breeds, meaning the inability to pick something and stick to it, is among the first reasons for beginners to fail.
2. Dorkings are awesome. I would recommend one of the three primary colors: Whites, Reds, and Silver Greys. Of these, I'd say the first two are the best at the moment. Coloreds are an unstable Color pattern that is very difficult to perfect. As of now, I know of no truly strong flocks of Coloreds in existence. However, color is only superficial. The three primary colors, White, Red, and Silver Grey are the surest hope for the breed. Breeds with more than two or three colors rarely have other varieties with extant stock of any true quality, especially when compared to the primary colors in the breed.
3. A comment might be that your breeds are a bit redundant, meaning they're similar in purpose. You might consider two of the above and then a tradiitonal egg-type fowl (Hamburg, Spanish, Ancona, Leghorn) to round out your program and give you something truly divergent from those you've already selected. Still I'd keep it to three at most, which is still probably more than most folks have infrastructure enough to do well.

Best,

Joseph

 

[cluck-cluck]

That's what my young frizzle chick looked like. I wonder if you've got some sort of funky frizzle gene mixed in with your Seramas?

Well, I guess that must be it! I can't come up with a better explanation. Thank you so much for your input

 

[poltroon]

Hi everyone, I am so puzzled by this young chick I have who is about 7 weeks old in this picture. It's feathers are tattered and I can't figure out what the issue is. He seems healthy and happy, no mites or lice, I've looked everywhere. The tattered feathers are symmetrical, and evenly distributed, suggesting genetics? I've been trying to find info on this condition for weeks now, and just can't find anything. I just want to make sure it's just how he is, and not that he is lacking in nutrition or something. Have any of you come across something like this before?

My daughter had a bantam brahma do something like this. I had the same thoughts as you about what the heck was going on. At the next molt, the bird developed normal feathers... but that particular pullet never had great feather quality and IIRC died inexplicably and fairly young.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Getting Heritage Large Fowl via shipped eggs.

This is a very reasonable way to get started with Heritage birds. Many breeders are growing in confidence in their ability to pack eggs so that they survive the handling by the Post Office. This is my preferred shipping method, and had great success shipping some eggs last month. Packing & shipping eggs Hope that website is back up.

Today, JimmyJay54 sent me 18 eggs through the mail. His packing method is very, very similar. All the eggs arrived perfectly intact. They'll rest now, and be incubated. Will they all hatch, every last one? Don't know, but not every last egg hatches when I collect them from the nest either, but 75-80 percent? Very common with shipped eggs.

Many top breeders sell shipped eggs for $25 to $35 a dozen, plus shipping. I highly recommend asking a good breeder if you can get on their spring 2013 egg shipping list. You'll likely be very, very glad you did.

 

[black75betty]

I'm glad that you posted this! I am three years into keeping chickens- and am looking to change my flock over to Heritage Large Fowl (now that I have a good set up and handle on caring for hatchery chickens, selling eggs, processing etc.). I have been reaching out to breeders and most have been reluctant to ship eggs (this is even before they hear that I live in Alaska!). 25 chick minimums just isn't realistic for me at this point.

Anyway, thanks for the positive post- and tips about shipping eggs- hopefully more breeders will feel comfortable about shipping eggs as a result.

And thank you so much for all of the great info on this Thread! I can't wait to get some "real" chickens... When you spend as much time in research as possible/$/highly insulated construction/and time spent doing chores in weather that would make most hide in bed- it really is worth it to have the best chickens to work with. After looking at the photos on this thread my poor little darlins' now pale in comparison- bless their hearts!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Here is my "page" illustrating how I package eggs for shipment

Hope it helps

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/shipping-eggs-by-yard-full-o

 

[black75betty]

Is is insulting to send these links/info to breeders who express a lack of interest in shipping eggs?