Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[punky rooster]

Good luck! Do they need work or are they almost done?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Bob or Walt,
I think I saw a list from one of you of what you are calling the Heritage Breeds. Rather than search through 239 pages to find it, I am going to ask if you can repost or if there is a site page for the Heritage Assoc that you can post on here, I am sure others would be interested to see it too.
Thanks.
Theri

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
I had made a list but I deleted it after more reading on the ALBC's web site.
punky

 

[saladin]

punky,
I want to encourage you and others to work diligently at saving the composite breeds developed in the Americas; even though they are in many cases not much more than a century old. In the world of chickens that consititues a Modern Breed. That is why I've worked so hard with the Cubalaya. I was not content until I owned stock from ever well established strain of Cubalayas in the United States; preservation and improvement are two words that should go hand-in-hand.

That said, I would strongly advise keeping one of the Ancient breeds of fowl. These possess great genetic value to us. They are also becoming extremely rare; at least good ones are. Some of these breeds are in such a state of deterioration that if not bred correctly soon they will perish from the American scene.

Take for example the Malay: the Malay as found in the States and Canada today is a mere shadow of its former self. In the past, the Malay was used to make and invigorate many Modern Breeds such as the RIR, Chantecler, Buckeye and Cubalaya. Today, they are nearly gone. The ones that remain are in terrible shape with many problems (legs, heart, shakes, etc.). There are only a handful of real Malay breeders in the USA: Billy Sumner, Carl Brantly, and Ronnie Proffit (they may be others but they don't have the stature of these 3 breeders).

Any way you cut it 3 primary breeders in the USA is not enough to maintain a breed.

You and others need to seriously consider what I'm saying.

We can save the RIR, Chantecler, Buckeye and Cubalaya: that's great. But if the ORIGINAL breeds that made these pass from the scene then we have lost something that CANNOT be replaced. Composites can always be replaced: Originals cannot.

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
Every breed needs good breeders. no doubt

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
Good post, I agree whole heartedly!

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
They still need a bit more work. Color is great. They just need a bit more size. Type is fair. Most have started with Ideal's Buff Chantecler and working on improving those. I have one Partridge x Buff pullet. She has excellent type and size, just not the best color. Just a little lacing. We will mate her to a pure Buff male and see what we get. Hoping for at least a few true Buff Chantecler out of them. She is from Mike Gilbert, the CFI secretary. It is slow improving a variety, but well worth the effort. After Walter recreated the Buff Chantecler, it went almost unnoticed until recently. At least Ideal did provide a source for them. I will be ordering a few more from Ideal this month. They owe me a credit from last season, so will get that in Buff Chantecler. If we can produce a good male from our Partridge x Buff cross pullet, then we can use it to increase the size in the Ideal pullets.

Being in New England, you should consider a few of the Chantecler...in any variety. They look great beside a pen of Buckeyes!

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Very true and I do agree.
We have lost one of the breeds used to create some of the American breed (example the R/C RIR) and that breed being the Royal Cochin China and we don't need to loose any more.

As for the Malay, I believe that the first Malay was brought alive to this country from Malay about the year 1846 by Captain Richard Wheatland for use in the R.I. Red but the Malay is a valuable breed.
Here is a print of a the old Malay Breed.

Chris

 

[centrarchid]

With some of these foreign breeds with very limited gene pools in US, why do not some folks pool resources for importation of quality stock. USDA import protocols pricey but if divided up, then should not be so bad.

 

[saladin]

centra,

Some have made recent imports. The trouble with imports has more to do with the USDA requirements that must be met in the country of importation than the cost and paperwork on this side.