Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
However, if you have room and time, and keep good records.....you can take a single Hortsman male to you hatchery birds and work hard for several yaers and improve them. But that would be like reinventing the wheel. It may take 10 years to bring the hatchery stock up to the quality that Dick has now. OR more it took generations to get the stock at it present state, I for the life of me can't see going off and throwing a bad potato into the soup pot and then trying to fish it all out over time when suppers served up and already on the table.

Would be cheaper and quicker to just buy some of his.

My thinking exactly.

Jeff

 

[buffalogal]

Quote:
If you have the space, and enjoy a challenge, there's no harm in trying. It might take ten years, it might only take a few, depends on how faulty those hatchery birds are, and how good of an eye the breeder has.

I do know there's a certain satisfaction (dare I say it? pride) in baking a cake from scratch that you can't get from just stopping by the bakery on the way home.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
If you have the space, and enjoy a challenge, there's no harm in trying. It might take ten years, it might only take a few, depends on how faulty those hatchery birds are, and how good of an eye the breeder has.

I do know there's a certain satisfaction (dare I say it? pride) in baking a cake from scratch that you can't get from just stopping by the bakery on the way home.

Its another nasty rainy day here in Southeast Arkansas.

So we are BAKING! I have 3 muffin pans and one cake pan in the oven!

House smells great! Can't even smell the chciks in teh brooder tote....next to the Christmas tree.

You are welcome to join us!

Title: Easy Mix Cake

Description:
Long time family favorite. This recipe was provided by the Pet Milk Company for Home Economics Class in high schools in the 1950's.

Ingredients:
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
4 tea baking powder
1 tea salt
1 c. Crisco
1 1/3 c. milk
2 tea vanilla
4 eggs

Directions:
In a large bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, crisco, milk, vanilla. Beat hard 2 minutes with mixer. Add eggs and beat hard for 2 minutes more. Grease and flour 8"x12" long cake pan. Pour cake mix into pan. Bake 350 for 40 min. or untill done. This is wonderful without frosting. Can serve warm with or without butter. My children loves this made into cup cakes. Can add a drop of food coloring into each cup cake and let the children stir with a tooth pick making a marbled effect. Can add chopped pecans into the cup cake batter. Wonderful rainy day activity for the little ones. My children would stand around the oven waiting for this special treet.


Number Of Servings:

Preparation Time:20 min​

 

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
If you have the space, and enjoy a challenge, there's no harm in trying. It might take ten years, it might only take a few, depends on how faulty those hatchery birds are, and how good of an eye the breeder has.

I do know there's a certain satisfaction (dare I say it? pride) in baking a cake from scratch that you can't get from just stopping by the bakery on the way home.

I agree somewhat but I dare say too that even with great stock if you don't have the eye and the patience/time to do all of it right, breeding the birds to the Standard is a hard enough feat all in its own. I think to keep a good line established/or constantly improving them should be enough to raise ones pride level up enough to boast and crow about seems to me. Just doing it the easy way and throwing them altogether in a pen and just propagating the breed (that's simple enough) not much to that, all you have to do is feed them and keep them alive and Mother Nature can pretty much keep that going all on its own,('cept you may have to artificially incubate a few here or there) as some breeds have had that option bred completely out of them. But, all in all, it is a challenge to work with which ever route one may choose to take.

Jeff

Oh yeah, that cup cake recipe sounds good. I can almost smell them through the screen.

 

[kowgurl62]

Quote:
If you have the space, and enjoy a challenge, there's no harm in trying. It might take ten years, it might only take a few, depends on how faulty those hatchery birds are, and how good of an eye the breeder has.

I do know there's a certain satisfaction (dare I say it? pride) in baking a cake from scratch that you can't get from just stopping by the bakery on the way home.

I agree somewhat but I dare say too that even with great stock if you don't have the eye and the patience/time to do all of it right, breeding the birds to the Standard is a hard enough feat all in its own. I think to keep a good line established/or constantly improving them should be enough to raise ones pride level up enough to boast and crow about seems to me. Just doing it the easy way and throwing them altogether in a pen and just propagating the breed (that's simple enough) not much to that, all you have to do is feed them and keep them alive and Mother Nature can pretty much keep that going all on its own,('cept you may have to artificially incubate a few here or there) as some breeds have had that option bred completely out of them. But, all in all, it is a challenge to work with which ever route one may choose to take.

Jeff

Oh yeah, that cup cake recipe sounds good. I can almost smell them through the screen.

I completely agree with everyone about keeping a breeder's lines going and not crisscrossing the birds all up. The plan is to have the "breeder/show quality" pen, and also at the same time crossing those birds over the hatchery stock. Thereby having a pen of pure, and one "mixed". I think that probably with the partridge rock, the diversity is not there like it is with the white or barreds, so an outcross to improve hatchery stock is not in vain. The only thing I know to do is try. It certainly never hurts to try. The only way to improve stock is to bring in better stock that you think may improve yours. The worst you'll end up with is extra chickens to sell. Uh, or as in my case, give away.
So, I guess what I'm saying is, keep the good lines going, but also use them to improve upon what you already have if possible.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Dan Honour of the Buff Leghorn fame, posted last year on the Buff Leghorn thread an idea.

Order 100 Buff Leghorn pullets from Ideal Poultry Farms.

Cull down to the best 10 pullets. Sell the rest at swaps etc.

mate the best Exhibition quality male Buff Leghorn to the Ideal pullets.

Cull heavy each generation for type and color.

By generation 3 or 4 you will have the production quality of the Ideal Buff Leghorn with the exhibition quality of the Standard of Perfection.

However, be sure you read everything possible about a variety/breed before you start a breeding program like this. You need to be able to cull heavy. Lots of dumplins etc. A good breeder eats lots of chickens they say. A good breeder could improve hatchery stock in a few generations. An untrained breeder can destroy a good line in one generation.

 

[lildinkem]

When I first got into chickens I thought to stay within a lines stock was how to do it. BUT, I have changed my mind to a dog breeder's mentality. I now think it is not only okay to introduce new blood but you may get what some call "Hybrid" vigor.
I was told this when I bred a pure Black Orp cockerel who was undersize. I was told he looked more like an Australorp then an Orp. I let him breed to a 50% HATCHERY Speckled Sussex/50% Terry Brit line Buff Orp. Originally I had the brother to this 50/50 mutt mix as the breeding cock in the pen to mentor my young cockerels. Well, this one Black cockerel took over and produced these 2 cockerels. Since one of my Black Orp lines now has the Birchen gene the result is a Brown Red looking Orp type bird. I shown the one in the first pic at Crossroads and the Central Indiana Poultry Show. Asked an APA/ABA judge who has interest in making his own line of Brown Red Moderns. And he said the type is right on target. So, the just of this post is to say 2 scrawny birds can make an excellent "TYPE" bird. And obviously these 2 cockerels have two totally different lines in them. Their brothers. And I only wish I had these birds in a solid Black. I will use them this coming season to EITHER make more Brown Reds OR make hopefully some nice Blacks when I take them back to Black.
My Black line with the Birchen hens produce an egg every 4 days outta 5 when in season. I think out crossing lines is accpetable and the result are just as likely to produce a show winner as a line breeding program. I have Buffs who are for the most part line bred. And the percentage of top notch Exhibition birds is no better then my Black line.


Pics of these "HYBRID" Orps.
This is Frank. I think most all who know about orpingtons will agree his build is not like any Black line in the USA. He has the traditional Buff Orp type. Nice tail, sorta a Rock build. Many have told me they like Franks build. I like him too.

I very much like Harold's type too. Give me some in ALL BLACK!

 

[kowgurl62]

Quote:
Believe me, I know about culling, had to do a lot of that with the marans roos, but I can only eat so much chikkkkkken, so I just usually end up giving away what I don't want. I've actually gotten some decent birds from Ideal hatchery before. I've really like their black sexlinks as egg layers and are a nice big hen, and the buff orpingtons were nice big birds, not show quality, but very nice birds.
Education is a must, plus going to shows and actually seeing what good birds look like is also important I think.

 

[capayvalleychick]

What if you have a much smaller number to start with? I have 11 chicks from (what I was told was) a good breeder. Is it possible to create a breeding flock with so few, in order to keep the strain pure?

Kim

 

[Matt1616]

Yes, that is plenty to get a breeding flock as long as you don't get all roosters or all hens.