Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[xoxocammyxoxo]

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Culling from the brooder:
1. You cull those with deformities or weakness of any kind.
2. As they grow you continue to look for unwanted traits.
3. You watch growth and health very closely. Cull sick or unhealthy birds through out the growth process.

Facts.
1. When keeping a small flock there will be degeneration in size, health, and fertility if you inbreed to closely.
2. This hobby cost money. (Can't get away from that one).
3. All of us learn as we go along. There is always something too learn.
4. There is nothing in the world wrong with bantams. Some are very rare and need preservation such as the Pyncheon and Nankin.
5. Many rare breeds are rare for a reason. Some are hard to keep. Some have health issues.

It has never been my purpose to scare anyone off or to exclude anyone. But I don't believe in telling half-truths to get people into rare breeds.

I have to agree. Rare breeds are rare for a reason whether it be because of health or popularity. I've already decided on the two birds that I want (Delaware and Phoenix) it just so happens both those are rare breeds.

There will always be rare breeds because the fact is that there isn't enough people out there to raise all of them. Even at this time I'm having to decide if I'm going to choose one variety or all the varieties. So if I only select one variety of Phoenix, what about the other ones?

Does that mean they should just go extinct? No. I would like to know of more people who are selecting rare breeds but the truth is using a rare breed does cost money.

 

[xoxocammyxoxo]

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Exactly.... Now in these Standard Malays, this problem may or may not be fixable (from your experience I'm going to assume no) so by NATURAL SELECTION, these birds are becoming more and more rare.

 

[saladin]

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Exactly.... Now in these Standard Malays, this problem may or may not be fixable (from your experience I'm going to assume no) so by NATURAL SELECTION, these birds are becoming more and more rare.

Or maybe my breeding selection was not adequate. The fault could be mine (though others do have the same problems). One prominent breeder is trying to fix the problems with imported birds from Germany. I truly hope this works.

All breeders need to be aware though that at times, we the breeders are the problem. This can be caused by anything from management issues to selection issues. I certainly learned from the whole ordeal. I learned I can't keep and adequately raise large fowl Malays. It is never a bad thing to learn from our mistakes.

 

[saladin]

kathy,
By the way, I took no offense at your request. Sometimes I forget that not everyone has the space that you and I have. So, I write from my experience. Thanks for the request you made.

 

[kathyinmo]

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Thank you. Your experience and advice is appreciated!

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

ive got plenty of time and 69 acres of land just not alot of money

 

[Minniechickmama]

I think that one of the problems facing the rare breeds in this country is that we need more diversity within the breed of bloodlines. For instance, I received some Norwegian Jaerhons as some extras in an order last spring. Cool birds and very rare in the US. They are a Norwegian breed and only recently have been here in the US (last 10 years or so). The diversity of the bloodlines just isn't there IMO. There are others we are probably seeing discussed on this thread that the same thing is true. I hate to be negative about what breeds people should keep, but maybe some breeds don't belong in all corners of the Earth. Part of the problem too is that some people who are wanting to be breeders of rare breeds are doing so without the knowledge on how to breed. There are those who think that you just need to have the hens and a rooster of that breed and if you just keep hatching their eggs you are preserving the breed. As I think saladin pointed out, if you aren't improving with each generation, you aren't really preserving anything, you are just making more. You can call it ignorant (I don't mean this in a derogatory way) or nieve, but there are way more breeders around who don't know the first thing about how to do it intelligently than there are those who put thought and effort into creating a better generation. You see this in every species where people are breeders. I breed rabbits and select for the best and sell off the rest for pets. I also started raising Standard Poodles. People who want to breed to make money from it aren't generally caring if they are doing a service to the breed or not. I could keep breeding my male with the overbite just to get puppies to sell and make money, but I got him neutered so that bad gene doesn't live on. Same applies to chickens with bad legs, or crooked beaks or wry tails. How do you stop people from claiming they are breeders? You can't. The answer is to do the breeding you know how to keep the best coming.

Okay, there is my sermon for the night. I don't mean to sound preachy, sorry.

 

[Robert Blosl]

There are chicken collectors and there are good breeders. It is hard to find the folks that are good breeders but many we do know from thier history are good breeders they are very few but we can find them. They are not people who have been breeding for two or three years. We know the folks who have been breeding for ten or fiveteen or tweinty years these folks have the rare strains. Some people got good birds from a master breeder and these birds are still good enough to share with a new person such as we are doing with Barred Plymouth Rocks from Frank Reese. Also, the new strain of Columbian Plymouth Rocks out of Canada we will share those birds with good beginners as well . The gene pools of these strains have not been screwed up yet by anyone and there for when you get birds from say two or three of these breeders who have these rare strains you can trust you will have a good Standard Breed chicks and you can then learn how to breed them up over time. Thats our job to help you if you want to learn how to breed them these rare breeds. We can find you the good breeders and they will not be coming from a hatchery.

If you want to go on your merry way by yourself you can. But most of the time you will paint yourself into a corner and you will be one of the Hear today gone tomorrow breeders. Breeding livestock like chickens or ducks is not easy. It is a Art and a Science.

Remember many are called but few are Chosen. Ralph Sturegeon preached this in his book Start Where your are with What you have.

So befor you order any chicks or eggs from a hatchery or a so called breeder of the old fashion Standard Breed Chickens we are talking about ask us first. Ask me or Walt in a Private Message. We will say Ok or maybe not.

I spend almost a hour every day sending out personel messages or emails to beginners from this thread. I dont mind it but I promise you one thing I wont let them down. I will send them to a good breeder or a beginner who has good stock to share with you that they just got from a master breeder. If I dont know who to send you to I will tell you. Some breeds just dont have any one breeding them they are just out of it because they where not popural after they got in the Standard or they just did not breed true and people gave up on them. The pictures that the artist made make look pretty but they just do not breed true.

For breeds that are not at least 50 years old I may not be able to help you. I started this thread not for rare breeds of Poultry but for Old breeds that go back to the 1850s to the 1950s. These are the breeds that need help not the rare breeds that came from some place that I never heard of. Some of the pictures of chickens that you have posted on this thread I never heard of or have never seen at a show. Are these the H breeds that we talk about . NO. However, if you want to raise these breeds that is fine. I am trying to save the old breeds that we developed her in America or where brought over in the 1850s to 1900s by the old timers.

Again if they are not in my 1962 standard of Perfection to me they are not RARE old Standard breeds of fowl. I wont to help you find Buttercups Buff Leghrons, black minorcias Cornish, Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds ect.. Tonight I had a mother ask me to find her son some Blue Andulisians. They may not be 50 large fowl alive today with this breed. I will find her some for her boy. These are the old and Rare H. breeds I am talking about that need help.

Well I am getting sleeply my cold pills are kicking in and I am getting off my old and broken down soap box. Keep this thread going push the old H. breeds and learn learn learn how to improve them regardless the color class or breed. bob

 

[jenjscott]

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LOL, I read this as many are culled and few are Chosen!

 

[punky rooster]

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I agree. thanks Bob