Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[bantams galore]

Just going to piggyback here and say this is totally possible. It takes immaculate record keeping and single mating so you know exactly what birds produce what in their offspring, but I've known some very very good breeders that don't hatch very many birds, and I mean about 25 or less total a year. It is very hard to do this with rare breeds that have been let go though, but still doable. Knowing what birds produce what is always the key, and what you are aiming for as a goal. I know guys that hatch 600 a year and make less progress than guys that hatch 25-50.

That is so great to hear,............ that it is possible........ can you give more details? how do you do it well??? My only problem with single mating is that the birds in cages don't get to scratch and dig and look so beautiful doing it, but I guess they can if their pen is big enough. So how does the little guy make a difference????????

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Here are some photos of 2013 Ancona pullets. The older birds in runs are the F2 of a project mating. They're color is weaker than the "pure" Ancona group, but they have some nice infused size. The younger pullets on range are non-project birds and have stronger markings. They're type is also fairly strong. Unfortunately, as with the Dorking photos, we had just thrown wheat, which killed them for poses. The Anconas are so tame that I could hoot and holler until the cows come home, but if there's wheat on the ground, it's a bit, "Yah, whatever farmer-man." I does give a great view of their fluff....

. I guess it shows them being industrious, which I guess is what Anconas do best.

 

[Extra Java]

Who needs to attend a poultry show when we get to see birds like these?

Beautiful!

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Who needs to attend a poultry show when we get to see birds like these?

Beautiful!

Thanks, Extra Java, when you see a flock of Anconas on range, it's pretty striking.

 

[chickadoodles]

Wow they are beautiful!

 

[Robert Blosl]

What great advice. Thanks Fred and my friend from Oregon Right on Right on.

I AM A ROOKIE: I am starting with buff silky bantams. I have Buff Brahma Bantams.
So let’s talk about a breed. I have a good silkie male and a killer buff Brahma male. I am mating them to two pullets. I rotate the males into the pen every day and rotate them out and on the third day I put him in a pen by himself and let him eat, drink and rest. He gets the same feed, water and lights from above which is about 16 total hours of stimulation on his eyes to help the females lay and keep his fertile. I pick the eggs out of each pen and mark them pen one Brahma or pen one silkie and the date.

I am not going to write down pen two for the other hens and then I put the eggs in the incubator every four days or every seven days it don't make much difference but the fresher and the sooner I like to do it. I then hatch the chicks and put them in a brooder box and raise them just if they where feed store chickens. The best love feed and care I can give them I will hatch maybe twenty to thirty chicks. That's all I have time and room to raise. I will cull them as they grow older and then end up with maybe four good males and six good females and then hope I got a male or two females better than their parents. I will then re breed the best son back to the mother or two hens and the best daughter back to the sire the next year. This is my method on any breed Mottle Javas. Light Sussex or Columbian Wyandotte’s iif I got some.

You dont have to go big. To have success I be leave in getting the best blood lines I can round up. Heck the chicks cost the same and the shipping so get the best. If you dont want to be a preservationist or a exhibitor just get what you can from some of our good folks on this board and dont worry about it. Most of them have the top lines they got from the top breeders and I would be happy with any of their stock if I was a beginner.

You don’t even have to buy a standard of perfection. Just have fun and enjoy looking at the nice birds as you see on this thread. They eat the same a mouth of feed as a feed store chicken and they are docile and pretty to look at.
I hope I painted you a picture of a rookie getting started with a new breed. The silkies are five months old and I have had the Brahmas for five years. I use them as sitting hens for my eggs and raise my little chicks on semi free range. I am still learning. My Reds I have done better with I am on my 26th year.
Hope this helps you and the lurkers. Its so easy a sixth grade cave man kid could do it. It just takes courage to get started and make the move. BOB

 

[BGMatt]

That is so great to hear,............ that it is possible........ can you give more details? how do you do it well??? My only problem with single mating is that the birds in cages don't get to scratch and dig and look so beautiful doing it, but I guess they can if their pen is big enough. So how does the little guy make a difference????????

The guys I know that do small matings typically don't let the birds range much or at all during breeding season. A 4'x4' pen is just fine for a breeding pair, for smaller large fowl or bantams I know plenty of folk that even use the larger dog crates (like great dance size), heck I'm a big fan of those for conditioning birds before a show but that's another topic.

Again though to be successful on a small scale you need to keep excellent records. Toe punching, wing banding, whatever, you need to be able to know each birds parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc. Because you need to know what traits each bird individually passes onto it's offspring. Basically you run it more like a dog breeding program or horse breeding program, keep your pedigree, track what each bird tends to pass on to it's young both good and bad. That's how the people I know that keep it small do well.

The other part of being successful on a small scale is culling ruthlessly. If you hatch only 25 birds, keeping more than 1, maybe 2 shouldn't happen, you can't afford to have birds in the flock that are less than the absolute best produced. Some of these breeders I know that only hatch a few birds have had years where they don't keep any, but go back and change last years matings (because they obviously weren't good ones). If I were to follow this strategy I would keep only the best singular bird of each sex per year, and breed them back to a parent or grandparent that produced offspring with strong traits where that bird had weak points.

Then again, what do you mean by "making a difference"? If your goal is to improve the breed for yourself and maybe another person or two, easy. If your goal is to produce birds that do well at shows without hatching a lot, little bit harder but easy. If it's to help make a breed more widely available and "save it from disappearing" or similar, then that is never going to happen on a smaller scale, it just can't because the numbers aren't there. Now you could do one of the first two, then find a breeder that raises on a larger scale and get them started, which would be a good way to contribute to the hobby as a whole.

 

[Canieldonrad]

if only the folks knew how many chicks you have to hatch to get to this level to get white pure birds. Great photos. It pays to be patient strange traits will come and then go. Thanks for the pictures.

Herman Mahl explained it to my dad like this, hatch 100 and keep 3.

Breeding in any capacity takes a great effort. Reviving a hard pressed variety is definitely a tough task.

 

[NanaKat]

Here is my two cents: I only know of 2 - 3 other folks here on BYC breeding Columbian Wyandotte. I have seen only one other breeder at the Show in Shawnee Oklahoma two years ago. We could use some more folks interested in breeding and improving the breed. They have a pea comb, lay 3 - 5 eggs a week and dress out as a nice meat bird at 4 - 4.5 lbs. The make good brooders and great mothers. Pleasant disposition and love to forage. Young birds from this year's breeding pens And the breeding parents. Started with a rooster and 4 hens three years ago..... Rooster with hen 1, then hen 2 and hen 3

AletaG. The first year, I hatched 25 chicks and kept only one pullet. One of the four hens died during the next summer when we had a string of days with temps over 100. Beginning in December into January, I set breed pens using the rooster over the three remaining hens and then over his daughter. 100 chicks resulted in 2 cockerels and 7 pullets reserved for breeding in 2014. Culling began at 16 weeks...criteria then was overall shape, stance, vigor and heads. At six months, type is more obvious and tail spread on the pullets was easy to spot as are Broad backs and chests, leg spread and stance and lacing/edging and wing position. Now at 7-8 months the pullets are beginning to lay. Bob and TheDragonLady and Melissa, thank you for you kind comments and encouragement.

 

[Matt1616]

Here is my two cents: I only know of 2 - 3 other folks here on BYC breeding Columbian Wyandotte. I have seen only one other breeder at the Show in Shawnee Oklahoma two years ago. We could use some more folks interested in breeding and improving the breed. They have a pea comb, lay 3 - 5 eggs a week and dress out as a nice meat bird at 4 - 4.5 lbs. The make good brooders and great mothers. Pleasant disposition and love to forage. Young birds from this year's breeding pens 2 cockerels and various pullets And the breeding parents. Started with a rooster and 4 hens three years ago..... Rooster with hen 1, then hen 2 and hen 3

I don't know if anyone mentioned this but Wyandottes have a Rose Comb not a Pea Comb.