Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Yellow House Farm]

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Well, from bear country, the great thing about bears is that they'll do whatever the heck they want to, so I just don't worry about them (and cross my fingers).

 

[Yellow House Farm]

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Or in my situation, two good guard dogs & Nite Guard Lites strategically placed about the place. I free range my birds during the day. They put themselves up in the evening, and I just close & lock the door at night, but it is no Ft. Knox. The Turkeys and Geese stay out 24/7. We have lots of coyotes, fox, raccoons, opossums, mink, stray dogs & even some bears. I hear & see them nearby or their tracks.

I guess that Fort Know can come in many shapes and sizes

 

[Robert Blosl]

Nice to see the thread is on track and got new blood from so many. I have worked eight days in a row and now off for two days.

Have not had any more phone calls from you know what kind of people.

To the Silver Penciled Rock Ladies in Michigan and Calif keep sharing your eggs whe need them in the hands of good breeders. You are part of the Chosen few I talk about you are doing your part to help others get started with good rare birds.

What do I do with my culls I take my extra birds to the pet stores?

No just kidding I had a person one time ask me that.

I just shipped a nice R I Red Ckl to a family in the mid west yesterday. Not my best bird of the year but my third best bird. I almost gave him my second best bird but I thought they are crossing them onto Rose Comb Rhode Island Red bantams that would be a waist of good blood lines and will keep him or share home with a new person this spring if they want to breed and raise good Red bantams.

I gave them the bird for free and they paid the postage. Paying back the old timers each year for what others did for me when I got started twenty years ago.

A while back I asked one of my mentors if he would sell me some of his birds he had left over. I did not want his best just some he kept form going into the garbage can on Weds moarning when he culls his birds. He said sure send me a box and a hundred dollars and I will send you a trio. So I ordered a big box and had it shipped to his house as I needed the box to get my big large fowl white rock back from Penn to me so I could breed him onto my large fowl white rock females.

So one day I get a phone call from the post office you got chickens?

I go down there and boy the box was heaving. When I opened the box I had two males and three females. The postage was $78.

When I looked at the birds I noticed one of the males was super fantastic. When the fellow called me to ask me if I got the birds and if I liked them. I said these are not culls these are great birds. Which one did you like the best? I said you are known for females but that ckl with the red and white band sure caught my eye.

He said he was Grand Champion of the show three weeks ago. Good God he was worth $100 alone. I got all of them for a few bucks.

Why did he do this.?? He knew I would keep his line going for ever and a day and when he is dead and gone his birds will still be going years to come as that was what I promised him and I would never cross his line on any one elses.

So Many are Called But Few are Chosen. Some people are hear today gone tomorrow chicken people and now here is another law in breeding Poultry.

What goes around comes around.

As you sow so shall you reap.

The Golden Rule of Life and Raising Heritage Poultry. There are so many Laws of Breeding Poultry but don't for get the Basics. Still try to help new people but don't give them your very best birds unless you trust them with your life.

A new Law that I started is Net Working Sharing your birds with others who you can trust so you can rotate your blood lines with each other when you need them or if you have a fire and loose all your chickens you can go back to your friends and get a new start and not loose your gene pool.

Well its time for me to play with my ducks and give them fresh water. Super cold but no snow.

You have a nice day and keep this thread alive and going. Just keep it to breeding the old fashion large fowl that Grand Ma use to have and it should go on to 200 pages. That is my goal.

Have you voted for your favorite thread on this site for the past year?

Bob

 

[Wynette]

Bob - wonderful post with some important messages...thank you. Thanks to you ALL. I am learning so much!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Amazing story Mr. Blosl. I had an "olden-timer" do that for me as well and I intend on continuing the tradition once I have enough birds to share.

On a side note...I put three eggs into the incubator last week. One is still going strong, another looks to have died around day 3 and one of them is a clear. I kind of expected the clear because the birds are not used to the housing situation, but the quitter blew my mind. I figured that male wouldn't breed. Feel bad that I moved his hens and placed him with pullets now.

 

[buffalogal]

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Thankfully no bears, but we do have the rest of the usual suspects; hawks, owls, coyotes, 'coons, opossum, skunk, occasionally foxes and bobcats. We rely on two great LGDs and the fact that the chickens are ranging out with goats and horses to deter most predators. Coyotes and bobcats steer clear of the horses. I have a small terrier (AKA The Verminator!) who has made it his life's work to destroy skunks and chase 'coons off to the next mile section. But the dogs aren't wantonly destructive; the yard is full of squirrels and we have at least one full time cottontail that they don't bother. the birds mostly sleep in the chicken house; we have a few stubborn cases that insist on sleeping in the cedars. There's a resident flock of crows that delight in tormenting owls and hawks; I've found that a little corn and some meat scraps make for cheap owl insurance.

No nightlights, but then, I don't hear well enough to rush outside with a gun if my dogs did have something cornered. I figure if they catch it, they can deal with it.

 

[fowlman01]

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2 words....

Hot Fence

Glad to hear things are going well Scott, keep up the good work!

Hot wire fence has worked well for me for years and I have everything here except bears. It works well to keep the two legged critters out too.

Walt

 

[punky rooster]

Bob you inspire me so much to raise my birds I can't really put it in words but it makes me want to raise birds that are bred to the standard of perfection. You are the one who really keeps me with them.
I would be so happy just to get birds half as good as yours are
thanks your the BEST
Mitch

 

[fowlman01]

Just a heads up. The 2010 APA SOP will arrive at the APA Secretaries office the first week of Feb.

Walt

 

[buffalogal]

Great story Bob!

If I may, I'd like to tell the story about how I got into Dominiques. I'd been chatting online at a nowlong gone poultry board and a breeder mentioned he's be going to the show in Guthrie, Ok and would be happy to bring me a trio. No charge he says, just don't send them through an auction if I didn't want them anymore. So, I get to the show, meet the man, and we go look at the birds he'd entered; first place and BoB cockerel, 1st and 2nd place pullets. Beautiful birds. Then I ask if we could go out and see the ones he'd brought for me (I assumed they were outside in the truck or something) and he says "THESE are your birds." That man was Mark Fields, and I still haven't taken my Doms to the auction.