Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[cybercat]

Belated Happy New Year all. As always this thread is such a good read. But those chickens and there feet put me off my dinner.

I have not been on in a bit due to holidays like many it takes up time. I have one request from those that know me and what I am breeding. Please do not pass my name on to those looking for Partridge Rocks. All eggs here this spring will be hatched and raised then culled to replace stock. I will not be giving or selling eggs or chicks this year. I look forward to increasing flock by 30 here I hope depending on how much I need to cull. Luckily we got space and a large freezer.

It is great to see so many taking part in this thread. Do make sure to pass the word on to all our newbies here on BYC and other chickens sites. This thread is a GOLD mine for everyone. Well, I am off to go back and read some more.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
I think Bob ment are those to them like RIR are to us

All I can say is where I come from I never saw a chicken like that. Poor chicken where ever he came from.

I can only think when the fellows went to the docks to pick up thier imported chickens if they saw some thing like this they would be a little up set. The Red Javas, the Poturias from Brahmas world, the White Face black Spanish, the Leghorns, the Red Games, that where stuffed at the Peabody Inst. all the old chickens that made up our so called old American Class nothing like these chickens I dont think ever came into New England like these things. I never saw a picture or a black and white drawing of such a fowl.
Thank goodness. I sure would not want to have in the gene pool of my R I Reds.

Does any one have any good articles on line Breeeding?

I have been getting some messages from the beginners wanting to know how they can improve the poor breeds they have. They have sent me pictures of some of thier chickens and boy they need improvement.

What can we do to help them.

Also, I have a nice lady who is showing her chickens for the first time what can she do to get her male and female large fowl ready for the show. I dont mean washing them but making them look better for the judge. Any secrets you can scare. bob

I contacted the nice lady Bob. She is here in Calif, so I will call her next week when I get back from the show. I will also be at her first show, so I can help there as well.

Walt

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Depends on the calendar you are using.

If your going off the old Orthodox calendar Jan. 7th (Tomorrow) is Christmas and the 14th is New Years.
Happy Holiday CC.

Chris

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
Bob, send the beginners to http://www.albc-usa.org/EducationalResources/downloads.html

The ALBC developed their Chicken Assessment for Improving Productivity when they improved the Buckeye. Several great forms and charts etc to assist in improving any breed.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

It posted twice.

 

[X2Farm]

Have any of yall been in contact with Joel Gilman, in VA? I've tried contacting him about Partridge Rocks, to no avail

Has anyone else found a good source for Partridge Rocks?

 

[NC Giants]

Joel was on the premium list at last months Smithfield NC poultry show but did not attend. I haven't seen or spoke with him since late summer. Hope all is well with him and his family

 

[X2Farm]

Quote:
Oh boy. I hope all is well with him and family too.

Think I'll take that as my cue to let him be and not pester.

 

[Robert Blosl]

http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/ALBCchicken_assessment-3.pdf

Found this to be a interesting page thanks Jim. How they improved the Buckeye in Dons Project in North Carolina a few years ago. This same method will work with large fowl Standard Breed birds even those slow laying or non super production egg laying kind some people want. Jamie Duckworth did this with his fine barred Plymouth rock large fowl stock.

Ralph thanks for helping this nice lady. I am sure she will enjoy your hints and tips to make her large fowl they best they can be for the show she plans to attend.

I plan to put togeather this year for the Plymouth Rock Fanicers Club a series of articles on how you take your chicks from the incubator, to the brooder box to the rearing pen to the culling pen and then the finsishing pen to get ready for conditioning . Then how you condition, train your birds for the show room.

We spent two years on how to breed for color so we need to share the secrets of how to rasie them and improve them.

Got a email from a friend who is into cattle breeding and sent me some interesting stuff on the views and ideas of Line Breeding of cattle.

It is so much harder than rasing chickens as you only get one calf per year where in chickens you may get ten to twenty per female.

Should be interesting but got to covert to a level that is understood for the beginner. Not many of these cattle breeders where succesful breeding great cows or bulls but a few understand this art and science called line breeding. Just so hard to understand but yet so improtant to get a strain to be great.

For you who find this thread interesting and helpful lets hope we can hit 300 pages someday. bob

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Does anyone else on this thread own Chanteclers? If so, which variety?

The Chantecler Fanciers International (CFI) is the official breed club.

The Chantecler is a Heritage breed from Canada. With its cushion comb it can withstand the harsh winters of Canada. Last fall Greg Oakes brought a truckload of White Chanteclers, of pure Canadian decent, from Ontario to a Wisconsin show. he sold all that he brought. Numerous breeders now have these Canadian lines that go back to the breed's creation in the early 1900s.

Here is a photo, courtesy of Gina Bisco, of a Canadian White Chantecler.