Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Yellow House Farm]

Well, thanks for your thoughts, nonetheless, my comments were, too, true conjecture for I am breeder neither of BR nor of GC, it was a memory/thought I had while washing dishes.

 

[fowlman01]

IMO: I would think the white rocks would be bred to the barred's for size, but I don't see how that could tighten up the bars. Never did it, so I don't know. If you have decent birds to begin with, you should not have much trouble with the barring as long as you pay attention and find out how to do it. I would take those light males that you are going to get and if they had the type mate them with the darkest female I had with good type. Hopefully a very dark one. Some of you know that there were two varieties of barred rocks in the old days. Light and dark were in the SOP, so you will get these variations. Think about it before you cull them.
My first barred came directly from Ralph Sturgeon and even I could not fowl them up. In 1979 Ralph judged the rocks out here at the APA National in Pomona,CA and gave me one of the greatest moments in my chicken life. A RB in a huge class of LF rocks. I have had some great wins in my life, but placing that high with a huge class of Rocks was the high point for me. Oliver Bowen had BB with a white.........the best part for me though was Ralph Sturgeon judged the birds. He was the only living expert on barreds at that time.

They are a gorgeous bird when correct. I will have them again.

Walt

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
Strangely enough, I'd had the pleasure of talking to a Delaware breeder on the phone the other day. He mentioned a friend of his, a very well known person in poultry, said that a way to tighten up barring on BR's was to outcross to a White Rock.

Just what I heard... I personally don't think outcrossing is the way to go, not that way. Within the breed/color pattern could help, at least if you have a good knowledge of what the new blood has in the line(good points, bad points). Thats me and how I feel, and how I intend to work with my birds. Now I am new to much of this... so I could be completely wrong in my thinking...

That is also what I read on Bob's site

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
nice story walt.
I know I have some work to do on mine, I hope to add some reese line birds this year.
punky

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
Strangely enough, I'd had the pleasure of talking to a Delaware breeder on the phone the other day. He mentioned a friend of his, a very well known person in poultry, said that a way to tighten up barring on BR's was to outcross to a White Rock.

Just what I heard... I personally don't think outcrossing is the way to go, not that way. Within the breed/color pattern could help, at least if you have a good knowledge of what the new blood has in the line(good points, bad points). Thats me and how I feel, and how I intend to work with my birds. Now I am new to much of this... so I could be completely wrong in my thinking...

That is also what I read on Bob's site

Maybe it works, I have never tried it
This is a young cockeral at the Cow Palace in the early 70's. He has a nice long wide back. He was also much fuller in the front and underline than it shows in this pic. You need straight barring and each feather tipped in black to look like this bird. He got into a pen fight and lost a tip of his comb, but that was not a big deal.

Walt

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Early 70s .... hmmm, I do recall those were some good ol' days.

I love seeing pictures of the Barred Rocks from back in time...... Thanks for posting your picture.

 

[X2Farm]

Quote:
Me neither

I was just tossing that out there, since it actually related to something I'd heard... carry on

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
Early 70s .... hmmm, I do recall those were some good ol' days.

I love seeing pictures of the Barred Rocks from back in time...... Thanks for posting your picture.

If you remember it, you weren't there........

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Early 70s .... hmmm, I do recall those were some good ol' days.

I love seeing pictures of the Barred Rocks from back in time...... Thanks for posting your picture.

If you remember it, you weren't there........

Ummm, yeah, I heard about them though.

The pictures I have look like it musta been fun.

 

[Chris09]

Barred Breeds that carry the Slow Feathering Gene (K^s) or the Very Slow Feathering Gene (K^n) will have better, crisper, cleaner Barring than breeds that carry a "normal" or rapped feathering gene.

The Barring Gene (B) is a gene that starts and stops pigment production and as the feather grows to give the barring pattern.
The extremely narrow and sharp barring seen on well marked Barred Rocks is achieved by the presence of the K gene for Slow Feather growth, which allows for a lot of on/off sequences in the time it takes for a feather to grow. The same barring (B) when on a rapped feathering breed gives wide, coarse, fuzzy "Cuckoo Barring" as seen in the Cuckoo Maran.

So with that said, the slower the feather growth on a Barred Rock the bettering the Barring will be..


Chris