Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[cgmccary]

Great thread. Great dissertation by Duckworth. Great pictures. I see RIRs that look like RIRs should look. I enjoyed the read & nice to see all you on here.

Bob, I'm gonna be down your way in early November (got a mandatory conference in Orange Beach).

I've taken some new pictures since moving & will try to post some of my scrappy Buckeyes -- many are in pre-molt stage so not looking so hot right now.

Chris M. (Cleburne Co., Alabama)

 

[punky rooster]

i love your BR!!!

 

[cybercat]

Robert thank you for a good Heritage thread. Our last one under this name a few years back was not so good.

I call myself a To be heritage breeder since I have yet to have a hatching. My stock came from Mt Healthy and I got 2 lines that I have ID. One is a true heritage line being that they were slow to develope and way slow to lay. Some over 7months. I free range because I can and that has helped in first culling. What I have left is mostly the heritage line now from predator attacks. I look forward to one of my hens going broody and hatcing some chicks this late fall or next spring.

I became a member of the ALBC just for the reason that they are truley working and promoting heritage breeds. I think now their definition is more excepted than when it first came out as standard of heritage. I choose to work with just one breed as I find it easier to have more in less. I can have more of this one color of the breed here at our place than I could if I had more of than one color or breed. This means I can raise more than one line down the road.

Since most true heritage chickens are very hard to come by, and in some colors next to impossible, it is important to have many. I do think you can breed up from hatchery stock on those rare colors where breeders are next to impossible to find. ALBC papers help alot in that since they have those documents geered to just that breeding up. I keep records and will soon be buying the ZooEasy poultry software to do just that with less paperwork. I personally am Not working on show birds but AM working on SOP for my birds.

I might and that is a BIG might show down the line once or twice just so others can see these chickens. But our place is clean and I want to keep it that way. There was no livestock on this property in over 50 years and then it was just cows. It was natural forest when we bought it and most still is. One reason I chose to do heritabe sztock was that I have always used native plants when gardening. So it makes sense to do the same with animals.

It is good too see szo many here intested in the heritage breeds and stock. Some I have know of since I have been here on BYC. But it is great to see others wishing to get involed also. Ok, novel done. Lets keep it going.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I am thrilled to see this thread here. I hope it continues to evolve one valuable conversation after another addressing the challenges and rewards of these breeds.

As for me personally, the ALBC has been a source of wonder for me since I was a teenager in 4-H and I am so thrilled to finally be an adult on my own farm with the resources to begin to follow this path. I think it will be particularly challenging when it comes to getting breeding stock and proving them, due to me geographic location, but I think ultimately these heritage breeds will out-perform any production strain in our harsh environment.

So far, there seems to be a lot of discussion about the more traditional American dual-purpose heritage breeds. One person brought up the Sultan, and one of the breeds I will be focusing on is the Orloff. I find it interesting that, while breeds such as the BR and RIR has been in large part lost to production factors, the Sultan and Orloff have gone in the other direction, and been nearly entirely relegated to ornamental fowl.

I would love to see all of these breeds meet in the middle once again, recognizing that beautiful birds are those that are not only winning at the shows, but putting meat and eggs on the table.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Took a picture today of a Heartage Rhode Island Red Cock bird. Can you tell how big he is??? Or how much he weights?? bob

 

[punky rooster]

would love to see all of these breeds meet in the middle once again, recognizing that beautiful birds are those that are not only winning at the shows, but putting meat and eggs on the table

me 2 but with buckeye GO RARE BREEDS

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Is that 2"x4" wire fence behind him? Wow.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Ill take a wild guess and say 15" to the top of his comb as for a weight if hi is around 15" I would say about 10lbs. That is if that is 2X4 wire..

Chris

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
I can't tell without some kind of reference next to him, but it looks like you have a leash on him so he must be big.

The APA now has a Heritage Poultry Committee. The Committee is looking into the process to have APA judges being able to certify heritage poultry breeds. As far as I know they are still discussing the definition of Heritage poultry. Butch Gunderson is on that committee.

Walt Leonard

 

[ChickenPotPie]

This is the kind of thread I like to see. I could really use some help/direction for my little boys who have chickens.

Rabbits is my thing but not so much poultry. We have over 80 various birds but can't call it too much of a hobby because I just like the eggs, meat, and ornamental value they bring. It's my boys, my 8 year old in particular, that really loves the poultry. He and his brothers sold all their birds about 1 1/2 years ago to purchase 6 little RIR chicks from a youth exhibitor here in CA.

Below are the only pics I have of their RIR rooster. Any critiques I can get would be much appreciated. Just yesterday I was thinking of talking the boys into scrapping the RIR thing and getting Leghorns so we can get more eggs. Reading that these RIRs don't start laying until later is good to know. I was thinking there was something seriously wrong with them not laying until 9 months old!

Idk, maybe their is. Anyway, here's their roo. Pick 'em apart.

We also have Royal Palm turkies (mine) which I've decided I LOVE, a pair of Sumatras, meat chickens, a few misc, pigeons, and a pair of Call ducks. And a bit OT: I also show JW rabbits and recently got some American Chinchillas (heritage breed meat rabbit) to keep me entertained while I wait for my ultra rare Argente Bruns. Just found out it will be at least another year before I have a chance of getting those.

So, I know the love for heritage/rare animals and that deep urge to preserve and improve them.