Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[thedragonlady]

Yes, she is spoiling them. LOL!

w.

We gals are good at that !

 

[fowlman01]

We gals are good at that !

I am sure that they will end up as special birds.

w.

 

[Robert Blosl]

What a beauty set up. In regards tp Line breeding for a beginner I got a private message today asking me to write out a outline step by step for three years for a guy. I am not going to tell you his breed of fowl but its a interesting twist. He found a guy who was a trophy hunter. He bought a female from a master breeder for some big bucks and showed her to win trophy's and shows. He also bough this star female and three males that came from a lady in a state down the road that she bought from this master breeder three years ago. Lets just say they are Black Minorica large fowl for the sake of it.The come from the top line in the USA he is a very lucky fellow.

He wants a breeding plan to mate the three males he got from this lady and breed them to the super champion hen she is now three years old. But still productive to produce many eggs and chicks. He wants to start three family lines with this star female. This is what I would do if I was him.
So he is going to divide the time with this female over a four month period next winter with each of these three males . Each male will spend about two to two and half weeks in the pen then he will watch the eggs in the incubator at say ten day mark and if they go clear he will place the next male in the pen and repeat the process to say April. He will toe punch each chick hoping to get one killer pullet from each male and then the next year he will put each male in a pen like above and hatch as many chicks per daughter to their sire as he can. Then he will start a rotation line breeding program say in three to four years and should be able to line breed like this about 50 to 60 chicks per year out of each pen. He should be able to do this if he keeps good records and pedigreed the eggs for at least 10 years. He should be able to get new fresh blood in eight years and mix it in to his line and start all over again with his program. This is a simple method to get started with one superior star bird and say two or three good males from the same breeder. He could also go out and purchase a male or two from someone else but he would pull down this gene pool that has been line breed for over thirty years which does not make any sense to me but that is what most people do. Smart fellow and I hope my illustration will help him with his good breed. Also, iit may give you a idea to do this yourself with what breed you may have.
Most important thing to have is goals is like Fred stated build the body mass or type first don't worry about the little stuff like Walt was talking about leg color, points on comb secondary wing color you do that latter after you get a grip on what you are doing. If not you will be like the trophy hunter who has joined the biggest club in Poultry The here today gone tomorrow club. Nice thing about these guys you can buy a good Rolex incubator and all his chicken equipment for twenty cents on a dollar value. There should be lots of folks like this over the next two to four years. If you find thier stuff buy it.

In regards to Matt 1616 post. Its just a fact Jack as they said in that famous movie. That's what he does day in and day out. When you come to a Poultry Show you are going to have to beat him out first. He is a breeder and will invest in the top birds in the USA and Canada. I know I live about 20 miles from his house. Great messages wonderful pictures Build The Barn First. KISS

 

[Wisher1000]

Hello, all!

This Silver Campine Obsessed newbie that Mr. Blosl refers to is just me.

I think most of you already know about my fixation on Silver Campines. His inquiry on my behalf is the result of my having contacted him for some free advice on where to start and happened because BGMatt mentioned his articles and after reading most of them I noticed that we (Mr. Blosl and I) are in the same state.

Ron and I talked about Shannon's SCs back at the start of the Egg Shipping Experiment. Deb heard me lamenting the loss of my hatchery quality SC hens (was that last year, or year-before-last?) and has promised me eggs this fall. Cathy brought me a pair and a spare which I have now, except that a hawk took the hen, so I only have two bachelors, now.

I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, but I realize that I am learning everyday even if I am not getting much hands on experience, yet.

Thank you all for your information and suggestions. I am quite serious about this and the more I learn, the more excited and determined I get. I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Lisa

 

[AletaG]

Hi all! Thanks for all the input; I learn stuff here on BYC every day. I live in an area where if there are 50 fowl on display at the county fair, that's A+ you know? And I can only make one other larger state wide fair. There are a couple hundred there, but nothing like what you all E and S of PNW see regularly (saw a video of just the *cornish* section at an APA shindig a couple years back, and there were more specimens on display than I've ever seen in one place of fowl in general). Is there anyone out this way with the kind of chops you are talking about? I'd hound 'em mercilessly, if I knew who they were! I found a university ext. service link: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_long_hens.html that backs up the long time of fertility. I'd use WSU, but their website stinks. I'm thinking I should just crack open eggs after a week or so, see if they still are fertile, if yes, no cockerel, if no, add cockerel. My background is in plant pathology research. I'm kind of a detail spaz. I'll report what I find next season.

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: Emily Robertson in southern British Columbia. She is part of TruNorth Heritage Poultry. (website) Emily does bring birds and eggs south to the USA. She breeds Light Sussex. Uses Canadian and English strains.
Uses population genetics to breed for utility. TruNorth also shows the birds and they win. If you are looking for a Heritage breed which can win in APA shows
and produce like it was historically bred to do, TruNorth has fine birds in that regard.
Best,
Karen

 

[NeilsHamburgs]

Crack open?

 

[BGMatt]

Hi all! Thanks for all the input; I learn stuff here on BYC every day.  I live in an area where if there are 50 fowl on display at the county fair, that's A+ you know? And I can only make one other larger state wide fair. There are a couple hundred there, but nothing like what you all E and S of PNW see regularly (saw a video of just the *cornish* section at an APA shindig a couple years back, and there were more specimens on display than I've ever seen in one place of fowl in general). Is there anyone out this way with the kind of chops you are talking about? I'd hound 'em mercilessly, if I knew who they were! I found a university ext. service link: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_long_hens.html that backs up the long time of fertility. I'd use WSU, but their website stinks. I'm thinking I should just crack open eggs after a week or so, see if they still are fertile, if yes, no cockerel, if no, add cockerel. My background is in plant pathology research. I'm kind of a detail spaz. I'll report what I find next season.

 

There are lots of fantastic and serious dedicated breeders in the NW. You just won't find most of them on here. Or on the Internet in general. County fairs are kind of nothing (that's why when someone advertises show quality and mentions wins, it's a good idea to find out if its just at fairs or at real shows).

Both Washington Feather Fanciers and Pacific Northwest Poultry Association put on two shows every year, and there's a show put on every June at Mother Earth News event. Attend those and I think you'll find more of what you're seeking.

 

[debs_flock]

I lost my quotes I picked up, so this is regarding the lakenvelder photo I posted.

I got two lines of birds. I got some from Urch and some from a local-ish guy. He didn't have the info on who he originally got his birds from, but they appeared to be quite nice. All of my lakenvelder are LF. I'm working pretty hard on culling to clean up the markings. I'm growing out a large pen of them this year.

They were the original breed I was attracted to. I spoke with a judge friend and he tried to convince me that people try them and give up. No one to show against and the markings make them difficult, but I find the breed so beautiful it makes me feel good just to look at them. I keep bringing them along to shows to try and generate an interest in them. I've also donated eggs into club raffles.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

I'm thinking I should just crack open eggs after a week or so, see if they still are fertile,


Is there any particular reason you could not candle the eggs to check fertility?