Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[BGMatt]

LOL thanks I think.

 

[suncatcher]

Here ya go more of Jeremys awesomness from his farm in Nebraska I use the top picture for my screen saver x 4(4 pics of this bird covers the entire screen) it is my go to for prettiness for the day when all else fails, LOL

I am still reading this thread. But, have to comment on these. Just beautiful!!!!

 

[Texasmja]

I think of a kangaroo when I see roo posted too. People seem to have a problem using words like cock and ***** when refering to chickens or dogs...it's just one of those words that some folks are not comfortable using. In my circle cock, cockerel, hen and pullet are used often as ***** is used often in my wife's world of dogs. It will be interesting to see if ***** makes it through the naughty words filter here on BYC.

Rooster is a very acceptable term with the people I know...it just does not give you a sense of age.


ahahahaha the female dog term is forbidden here..........LOL

Walt

I used the word cock when complementing a SP Rock on a BYC thread and people thought it was hilarious, I just left it alone. People always look at me crazy when I say cock, but I still use it when I am referring to a male chicken over 1yr. I think always using the correct terms when talking to any people can only help them whether they understand it or not. "shrugs"

 

[OffGridMAMA]

Just finally caught up thank you for the great discussion and sharing of knowledge. Those of us new to the poultry world need your wisdom. Again, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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[Chris Herzog]

I can understand how y'all must get frustrated - being passionate enough about poultry to become judges and have so many people misuse terms and such.  To this day I could still slap the ignorant person that said to me in a very dramatic voice "Wowwwwww.  You work in the ICU?  You must see a lot of dead people."  It's hard to be patient after a while with people being ignorant and sharing misinformation about something that you care about.

All I can say is that I hope y'all remind yourselves that most people on BYC don't know much more about chickens other than they can buy them at the feed store.  BYC has some good search engine optimization, so when people type "chickens" into a search engine, BYC usually comes up first - not websites that only have reliable, verifiable information on them.

If it weren't for knowledgeable people like yourselves and others, many of us newer people wouldn't get a chance to learn right from wrong in the poultry world.  I researched chickens, heritage chickens in particular, for years before actually getting chickens as an adult  - most people won't do that much work.  Shoot, I'm still learning every day about chickens.  There's a lot to learn, especially if you want to breed standard-bred birds.  Most people don't even know there is a difference between the chickens they bought at the feed store and standard-bred chickens, heritage chickens, and all the correct terms used by SOP poultry fanciers.

Recently I had someone contact me wanting to buy heritage chickens.  It was obvious that they did not understand the correct usage of the term by what they told me they were looking for in chickens.  It was a great opportunity to teach them more, and in the end, they decided they wanted "production" chickens as well as a small flock of true standard-bred heritage chickens.  Just have to remember to take a soft approach so as not to alienate people and make them unreceptive to learning the true meanings of these terms.

I think it's hard to get the correct definitions of terms out there to the public, when the terms are used inappropriately as marketing tools to sell something.  The term "heritage" is kinda like the term "organic" - everyone uses it to make a buck and most people aren't going to do the research for themselves to understand the actual definition of the term.  But that's ok.  Not everyone is going to have goals that require proper use of terms or obtaining/breeding standard-bred birds.  For most people, the birds and information (or misinformation) they get at the feed store fits just fine into what they want to accomplish with chickens.

I hope y'all can just grit your teeth and let it slide when you get too frustrated to feel like you can educate people that are ignorant of the true meaning of this stuff.  Don't get so frustrated that you disappear completely and take your knowledge with you - without people willing to educate, all would be lost.

Very well said. I post very little now days for fear of saying or asking the wrong thing to the wrong person on this site and some others that I go on. I don't really have anyone near me into chickens like I am, so now I hold off and have one or two people that I go to that I met at shows and ask them when I see them. I like to think I've improved in the way I think and speak to people over the last year but who knows....
Again your post was very well written!
Chris

 

[fowlman01]

Cochins are as broody as silkies and I understand they are also great moms. I'm yet to find out. I acquired 2 silkies and 3 cochins last fall, planning to have them do my brooding for me this year. I have one broody silkie now but the cochins haven't started yet. (They are young though).

Walt, what is it about diet that you think makes the difference?

I agree about the relative hardiness of hen-raised chicks over brooder-raised chicks. I would venture a guess that in the brooder they are at a more or less constant temperature all the time, and eating the same food for every meal. Hen raised chicks spend an amazing amount of time out exploring, even on cold days, and only duck under Mama Hen once in a while to warm up. Plus, they are tasting bugs and grass and anything else Mama Hen suggests they try, right from the beginning. I believe it is the variety in both diet and conditions that lends to their being more hardy, but that is only a guess.

I am not big on mixing feed. Only because I have so many birds and don't have the time etc. I do know that it has a lot to do with hatching though. I believe it is far more important to prepare your breeders with the correct diet to give you a better shot at hatching. There are many places to find breeder recipes that will help you get better than average hatches. Successful breeders of Call ducks and Cornish.......the two breeds I think are the hardest to hatch, spend a lot of time preparing their birds from the beginning with breeder diets that raise their chances of a good hatch.

Walt

 

[catdaddyfro]

I am not big on mixing feed. Only because I have so many birds and don't have the time etc. I do know that it has a lot to do with hatching though. I believe it is far more important to prepare your breeders with the correct diet to give you a better shot at hatching. There are many places to find breeder recipes that will help you get better than average hatches. Successful breeders of Call ducks and Cornish.......the two breeds I think are the hardest to hatch, spend a lot of time preparing their birds from the beginning with breeder diets that raise their chances of a good hatch.

Walt

Agreed

I do mix my breeder feed.

And from many many years and after raising many many multiple thousand broilers at a time I learned and know for a fact that diet and nutrition has almost everything to do with the well being and outcomes of anything hand fed/automatically fed, that and scheduled/routine maintenance or care-taking. Still yet the only thing that can one-up that for the animals is letting Mother Nature provide them what they naturally would eat but this too has to be there for them to find and consume also.

Jeff

 

[HEChicken]

I am not big on mixing feed. Only because I have so many birds and don't have the time etc. I do know that it has a lot to do with hatching though. I believe it is far more important to prepare your breeders with the correct diet to give you a better shot at hatching. There are many places to find breeder recipes that will help you get better than average hatches. Successful breeders of Call ducks and Cornish.......the two breeds I think are the hardest to hatch, spend a lot of time preparing their birds from the beginning with breeder diets that raise their chances of a good hatch.

Walt

Okay, that makes sense - thank you for taking the time to explain. I couldn't agree more - nutrition is everything. When I started this, I attempted to make it as economical as possible so bought the cheapest feed I could find. My birds did okay on it but somewhere along the line, I figured that giving them the best nutrition I could find would result in better quality eggs and, since I want to feed my family the best I can, I switched to a high quality feed. I am not feeding specifically for breeders - yet - but do believe you are onto something there.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

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I've been thinking about these guys ever since you posted this picture. What do the Runners look like in the water? Do they spend as much time in the water as the ducks I might be more familiar with? Do they exist in the wild somewhere (or something similar) or are these a man-made duck?