Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[aveca]

Yup. There are a lot of insecure judges out there. There are no Annie Clarks, Alva Rosenburgs, or Pete Knoops anymore.The Forsyths are still trucking, last I heard. True all rounders.

The one thing I forgot to mention is that at AKC shows at least you know for sure who will judge your dogs. I've always wondered why poultry people put up with not knowing. What do you do when there are 3 wise men and an idiot on the judges list? You have paid an entry fee to ask for a person's opinion of your birds/ breeding stock. What if you draw the idiot in your breed ? Only once have all my birds been withdrawn, as they did not "feel well".

 

[BGMatt]

Yup. There are a lot of insecure judges out there. There are no Annie Clarks, Alva Rosenburgs, or Pete Knoops anymore.The Forsyths are still trucking, last I heard. True all rounders.

The one thing I forgot to mention is that at AKC shows at least you know for sure who will judge your dogs. I've always wondered why poultry people put up with not knowing. What do you do when there are 3 wise men and an idiot on the judges list? You have paid an entry fee to ask for a person's opinion of your birds/ breeding stock. What if you draw the idiot in your breed ? Only once have all my birds been withdrawn, as they did not "feel well".

Probably goes back to money. Poultry show entry fees are nothing comparatively speaking, we don't have handlers to pay, there's not as much politics (i.e. I won't show under this judge because they won't place my dog). Also without the advertising campaigns and titles and all that stuff there's a lot less pressure on judges to go with what has been winning (or a popular decision) and stick with the Standard.

 

[fowlman01]

Yup. There are a lot of insecure judges out there. There are no Annie Clarks, Alva Rosenburgs, or Pete Knoops anymore.The Forsyths are still trucking, last I heard. True all rounders.

The one thing I forgot to mention is that at AKC shows at least you know for sure who will judge your dogs. I've always wondered why poultry people put up with not knowing. What do you do when there are 3 wise men and an idiot on the judges list? You have paid an entry fee to ask for a person's opinion of your birds/ breeding stock. What if you draw the idiot in your breed ? Only once have all my birds been withdrawn, as they did not "feel well".

If an idiot is going to judge my birds I give them about 3 different looking/styles of the same breed and hope I win the raffle. We show 40-50 birds at a time. Even if they are not a great judge, you hope for one that is consistent and then you can bring just one bird. Some of the Rosecomb bantam guys out here used to do that. Just enter one bird and drive it there in the back of a Lincoln like Bob Brown used to do.

w.

 

[3riverschick]

Fascinating 10 page essay on the evolution of the feather from Yale University.

http://www.yale.edu/eeb/prum/pdf/Prum_n_Brush_2003.pdf
Neat,
Karen

 

[cluck-cluck]

Perhaps you could plant fast growing willows on that side of your property, nice a dense. Three years and you're set. Buy good quality stock and fertilize it well, and you'll have a wall up soon and a return to privacy. They're not your best friends and, slaughter or no slaughter, who wants someone as such staring at your property? Talk about good fences make good neighbors. Life is brief.

Yes, I've got something growing there now... not big enough yet Thanks

I agree on starting with an SOP breed. It also helps if the breed has a rich literary history to study (in English).
Best,
Karen

Oh boy, if I could find more stuff on Creves, in English, I'd be so happy!

Why raise chickens if you can't enjoy the coop smell? The poop here ends up as a fine dust on the TV. The birds keep it ground up...no piles.

w.

LOL, I wonder about my own nose. I don't smell anything "bad" in my coop and run. One thing nobody mentions, and this may only work because of the arid place I live, but I get grass clippings from 3 sources (friends and family) every week, I dump them in the run, and there is so much, they can't eat it all, so it drys up on the run floor, where the chickens scratch and eat it. Bugs have returned to that area of the backyard (I had a nasty wooly nightshade growing there for too long, and the area seemed devoid of any life forms for years!) Anyway, I think the chickens are scratching their poop into the dry grass, and so far (9 months?) I haven't cleaned out the run at all. Instead, the bedding of dry grass has been growing nicely and it's like they have a lovely cushion for a floor. The coop has sand under the roost and I just use a litter scoop to clean that out a few times a week. The rest has shavings, including the nesting boxes. But I can see this might not work for other climates...

Fascinating 10 page essay on the evolution of the feather from Yale University.

http://www.yale.edu/eeb/prum/pdf/Prum_n_Brush_2003.pdf
Neat,
Karen

That's cool, haven't read it yet, just skimmed. Thanks, I love these kinds of articles!

RE: showing, I plan to show, in order to learn about my bird's faults, but not until I get them closer to the sop, and when I think know what I need to do, but want a wise eye to make sure I am on the right track. At this point, it's so obvious what needs to be done, I don't see the point (of showing, not going to a show). I still need to attend any show I can to train my eye and learn from people. It's unfortunate that I'm such a shy person, but I'll just have to get over myself and bite the bullet, or take my hubby who will talk to anyone! LOL

 

[Lacy Blues]

=
Well if you ever showed at a dog show and weren't the judge's pet... well, nuf' said. My experience with showing animals was a pit of favoritism, back-biting, rep destroying hype. Occasionally, one was good. But one was always watching one's back, and one's dog.
Frankly, poultry showing just sounds almost too good to be true. That adults could come together with such camaraderie and just have fun....like dog shows were back in the 60's. I have been thinking about it and think part of it might be that no one "presents" the birds to the judge. Plus the owners, breeds and fans aren't allowed in the building while the judging is going on.
Best,
Karen

They are allowed in the building, just not in the isle where the judge is working. They put up ropes at each end of the isle so people can't come in that area.

If an idiot is going to judge my birds I give them about 3 different looking/styles of the same breed and hope I win the raffle. We show 40-50 birds at a time. Even if they are not a great judge, you hope for one that is consistent and then you can bring just one bird. Some of the Rosecomb bantam guys out here used to do that. Just enter one bird and drive it there in the back of a Lincoln like Bob Brown used to do.

w.

Walt, how do you know ahead of time who is going to judge your birds? I've seen shows advertise which judges they have secured for the show but not mention what classes they will be judging (with exception to the Crossroads shows).

One show I went to was getting behind on the judging I guess, it wasn't that late, and they hadn't judged the Mediterranean class yet. They called over somebody, I don't know who it was, to judge the Mediterranean class. He may have been a judge but he wasn't one that was brought to the show to do the judging. Kind of ticked me off as I didn't know if he was really a judge or not. He went through the class really fast. I wasn't upset because I didn't win, but I don't really think that anyone with birds in that class got a fair assessment.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: If the show is sanctioned, the judges must be licensed. If judging was far behind, it is reasonable that they would ask a licensed judge who is present for help. They may have already had him as a backup "in the wings" so to speak.

 

[TheNuttyChick]

Fascinating 10 page essay on the evolution of the feather from Yale University.

http://www.yale.edu/eeb/prum/pdf/Prum_n_Brush_2003.pdf
 Neat,
 Karen

Very interesting, thanks for sharing it with us

 

[galanie]

Well I'm going to jump in here on the "I don't plan to show" discussion. I had never planned to show. Then I started looking for sanctioned shows around here and found that there's only 3 per year anywhere within reasonable driving distance. I consider "reasonable" to be somewhere that I can get to and back in one day and still have at least a couple hours to spend there. There are other shows, but they are not sanctioned. There's the Fancy Feathers shows in New Braunfels, Beaumont Fair, and the State Fair show in Dallas. All of which are more than 200 miles away. But I have been to a couple now. Yes, they are fun. Yes, you do learn. Yes, I will be showing someday.

There are others, which are in my state, but driving from one end of this state to the other is farther than driving from Fairfax to Tallahassee. And I don't have the resources to go on holiday much. But I'll be moving soon and there could be shows in adjoining states that will be close enough. But I've yet to research it. Too much else to do now and in the coming months to focus on that.

And of those shows I have attended, there was only ONE bird entered that was the same color and breed as what I have. And that wasn't exactly a tiny show. So the opportunity to learn about my breed at shows is even more limited. But that won't stop me from doing the best I possibly can and with the help of a wonderful mentor, I still think I'll have something worth having.

Initially, the post said to show, but then it focus was more on "go to shows" - there is a difference there. You dont' have to actually take a bird to a show to attend and learn, but I can see that you would learn more if you did.

Guess my point of all this is that there are those of us who indeed cannot make it to many shows. But we still have the SOP and some great folks around to help.

 

[fowlman01]

Well I'm going to jump in here on the "I don't plan to show" discussion. I had never planned to show. Then I started looking for sanctioned shows around here and found that there's only 3 per year anywhere within reasonable driving distance. I consider "reasonable" to be somewhere that I can get to and back in one day and still have at least a couple hours to spend there. There are other shows, but they are not sanctioned. There's the Fancy Feathers shows in New Braunfels, Beaumont Fair, and the State Fair show in Dallas. All of which are more than 200 miles away. But I have been to a couple now. Yes, they are fun. Yes, you do learn. Yes, I will be showing someday.

There are others, which are in my state, but driving from one end of this state to the other is farther than driving from Fairfax to Tallahassee. And I don't have the resources to go on holiday much. But I'll be moving soon and there could be shows in adjoining states that will be close enough. But I've yet to research it. Too much else to do now and in the coming months to focus on that.

And of those shows I have attended, there was only ONE bird entered that was the same color and breed as what I have. And that wasn't exactly a tiny show. So the opportunity to learn about my breed at shows is even more limited. But that won't stop me from doing the best I possibly can and with the help of a wonderful mentor, I still think I'll have something worth having.

Initially, the post said to show, but then it focus was more on "go to shows" - there is a difference there. You dont' have to actually take a bird to a show to attend and learn, but I can see that you would learn more if you did.

Guess my point of all this is that there are those of us who indeed cannot make it to many shows. But we still have the SOP and some great folks around to help.

200 miles is like a short commute in CA and TX...lol I love those 3-4 hours short trips. The TX State fair is a good show and usually has top breeders showing.

w.