This is a bit long, but may be helpful to some folks looking for heritage fowl from veteran breeders. I wrote this for the Rhode Island Red Chronical. Not sure if it was used in the recent publication or not. I am not a writer and apologize in advance for bad sentence structure, bad syntax and bad puncuation. I hope the following article can help someone in their pursuit of heritage birds.
How to find the good birds
(How to ask the right questions)
Lets make no mistake I do not consider myself a breeder in any way shape or form. I am a person that has taken an interest in poultry and hope to some day have enough experience and knowledge to not only gather some breeding stock but be able to make good enough decisions about my birds to improve on my chosen strain. A simple enough goal I suppose but also not achieved without a lot of work.
My goal in writing this article is to assist others in their quest to find a breed or strain that interests them and just as importantly a breeder that can help them.
I also humbly hope to provide some awareness to the wise, life long breeders in how they may provide a bit more access to the product of their breeding efforts. It is my observation that breeders do not have a great understanding about how ignorant those of us who have acquired a bit of an interest can really be. And even more importantly, how (Wanna be Breeders) have even less appreciation for the art, science and effort that breeders have put into their birds.
In most cases neither veteran breeder nor new enthusiast mean harm and have the best intent, but through lack of understanding and through impatience the two can sometimes miss each other even if the end goal is the same.
I decided through some research, going to shows, seeing some birds, having some hatchery stock etc. that I would like to find some good quality Rhode Island Red exhibition stock. Should be easy enough right? Get on the web Google the darn things and walla!
Well, maybe not. In my first post on Crohio/reds I didnt really know nor did I indicate if I wanted single comb, Rose comb, bantams etc. So my first request to the forum was met with stone silence. I think my question was as simple as where can I buy Exhibition RIR? Imagine the impertinence of these guys reading my post and not responding. So I did what I too often do, given my impatient nature, I posted again not as politely this time ( By the way thanks to Matt Lahmon for taking those down) and I did get a response or two. A bit terse perhaps but responses like what are you looking for? Do you have strain in mind? Are you a Club member? Do you take the Poultry Press? Hmm, all questions I didnt know existed and all answers I went looking for. Matt may have even suggested the virtue of patience in one of his responses.
My next post to the group was phrased a bit differently. I gave a bit of my background, my reason for the interest and that LF probably Single comb was what I was looking for.
Bob Blosl (in my humble opinion) one of the true ambassadors for all show fowl sent me an email with a few names to reach out to gave me a couple of pointers about my communication style and next thing you know I found Greg Chamness and the Mohawk line. There are those that believe this could be the most rare strain left in the U.S. and I am proud to have them. I hope to take a few pullets to the Shawnee OK. Show in December and hopefully take a few to the National Western Stock Show in Denver in January
.
Greg showed patience in my persistent querys about when his breeders were going to start laying and when I was going to get my chicks. Thanks again to Greg for allowing me to have these birds. He indeed sent two different shipments, one of which was lost for too long with the postal service and I only managed to save a couple of them. The second shipment went much better and I now have about a half a dozen pullets and a few cockerels that need sorting out. It was through clumsy tenacity that I was able to find these quality birds. My hope is that others can get the same place with a little less fumbling.
So here are a few of my suggestions for those of us looking for quality breeders.
Approach breeders with what I refer to as polite genuine curiosity. Your first question should not be where can I buy some of these? Do as much research as you can before you begin to look for birds. Take as many periodical and magazines as you can so that you can be connected.. Learn the jargon/vernacular of the poultry world as quickly as you can so you dont sound like an idiot every time you open your mouth. (hard lesson for me.) All questions to breeders and experts should be as specific as possible and as short as possible. Finally consider it a gift when you get your hands on a breed or strain that someone has been breeding on for a lifetime.
To breeders I again humbly suggest that some of us simply have no idea where to start, hence the bad questions. A quick point in the right direction from a person that has experience can go a long way in giving us confidence to continue our search.
I also discovered that if one is patient at the shows and pays attention you will likely be able to have a good conversation with the breeder of the birds you like. At the last show I attended, some White Rock Bantams caught my eye and I could tell by the way the person walking the aisle was looking at them that they were either his or he was familiar with them. To me each bird looked exactly alike (they were peas in a pod) so I simply asked him if he could tell me the differences he saw. This started a great conversation about breeding and fitting birds that I will remember and cherish forever. And it took me one more small step closer to my goal of knowing and recognizing quality when I see it and having the ability to proudly display my birds on a show floor.
