Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[kathyinmo]

The Chicks went out for their first walk about today. The air was cool, in the high 40's, but the sun is warming things up nicely. Should be around 67 today. Their behaviors are so very different than hatchery chicks of the same age. So much more assured, confident and curious. Interesting.

One of the first things I noticed about these birds is that they are super foragers. When I got my first birds from Jeremy, I remember posting about that. They foraged so much, they ate very little feed. It had me concerned.I love these Rocks and hope you enjoy them, too.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I agree Walt...Gary has had some of, if not the best Speckled Sussex in the country for many years. Yellow House, I think you recieved some misinformation and I would definately let your source know that they were wrong.
This is a classic case of how the internet can at times be a curse more so than a blessing.

Thanks, Matt. The judge who implied the opposite to me may have aheld a different view. I did my best to simply convey what I had heard without being vehement or spitting

To the repulsed drooler: 'tis perhaps better to calm down and not try to squash honest conversation. I made the comment respectfully and others respectfully offered an opposing position. It's referred to as dialogue. There is nothing vicious in relating that one had heard that so-an-so's quality isn't great, especially if one, as I did, makes it clear that the comments could be viewed as incorrect. It leads to conversation.

 

[Matt1616]

Agreed Yellow House...I don't know how your source came about that opinion. It could have been that he saw the birds in person and didn't like them or that he a was told by somone else. I know that there are lines of birds with in certain breeds that I have seen with my own 2 eyes that I think are total junk and there are people that think they are the best thing since sliced bread. That is the thing about poultry, alot of it depends on the taste of the person looking at the bird. I think some people take what they read on the internet to heart and sometimes the information is not accurate. I will say that the internet is a incredible tool for many things. If I had not had the internet when I was looking for the breeds that I wanted it could have taken me years and maybe never to find the lines that I ended up with.
Gary did tell me a year or 2 ago that he had a varmint get some of his best breeders and he was trying to build his flock back so that could be some part of the reason that someone would have that idea. But as I stated earlier, I know that Gary has had some of the best Speckled Sussex for quite some time and there are people that refer to him as Mr. Sussex.

 

[fowlman01]

Hearsay and incorrect info should not be posted here. There are 150K people who can read such things and take them to be true. I feel that as an "Educator" I have to be much more careful about the accuracy of my posts and what and how I say things in general...but that is just me.

This kind of post can hurt Gary Overton in a real way. I have been in poultry for many years and I know from my own experiences how this can hurt the reputation of a real breeder. People only read what they want to see and the part about it possibly not being true is lost. In addition....making fun of another concerned poster is not very adult. This is not the kind of "conversation" I want to read in this thread.

Walt

 

[flitter]

There are quite a few Sussex eggs on eBay right now... Light, Coronation, Speckled and I think one other. I don't have any Sussex... can't have another breed... no room... but they are sure pretty birds.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hearsay and incorrect info should not be posted here. There are 150K people who can read such things and take them to be true. I feel that as an "Educator" I have to be much more careful about the accuracy of my posts and what and how I say things in general...but that is just me.

This kind of post can hurt Gary Overton in a real way. I have been in poultry for many years and I know from my own experiences how this can hurt the reputation of a real breeder. People only read what they want to see and the part about it possibly not being true is lost. In addition....making fun of another concerned poster is not very adult. This is not the kind of "conversation" I want to read in this thread.

Walt

Actually, Walt, that person's rebuttle to my simple comment was one of the silliest things I had ever read on this blog. Indeed, it borderlined on the strange. To say that one spits at a comment is worthy of a good laugh, dare I say an adult laugh. Otherwise, it's worthy of an adult inquiry as to the psychological well-being of the poster. Also, I appreciate that you are defending Mr. Overton, but I didn't actually attack him. A judge with whom I work closely, having seen the stock wasn't impressed. So I stated gingerly that that is what I had heard. There was more than enough room in my statement for counter comment, which Matt has done adroitly. The judge with whom I work is a very good breeder; his eye is quite strong. He is, however, opinionated, which jives interestingly with Matt's above comments. Matt offered information concernng predators. I also had a predator take some of our bet breeding stock in the early part of 2011. It was very sad, and probably impacted my 2011 results.

I reassert that, though my comment wasn't what you would have liked, it was still a valid comment and stated fairly. Neither was it definitive, and I have very much welcomed Matt's counterpoints. Indeed, we would have loved to work with Speckled Sussex but cannot because of our frostbite factor. It makes me very glad to hear that there are those who think them in sound hands. It's a blessing for the breed.

I would also point out that your quick come back was a statement about how long you've known Mr. Overton; such is not a statement about the stock's quality. I, too, am a nice person with people who have known me for a long time and who think that I am a person of quality. That doesn't mean that all of my stock is. Some things we breed are very nice; others are still in the rough, which of course makes sense, considering the rarity of some of our breeds and varieties. Barring hatchery stock, Speckled Sussex are quite rare; they are hardly White Plymouth Rocks. It would not be at all surprising that a nice person's Speckled Sussex were in need of support. It certainly wouldn't be a reflection on the person of the breeder. As a breeder of Dorkings, I'm well aware of nice people's stock needing love. For the record, I've heard many good things about Mr. Overton. That there are those believe that his stock is tip-top Standard quality is a wonderful thing. Our Dorkings are not. Someone on here might one day comment "I've heard that Yellow House' stock may not be top quality." and there will be someone to offer a sensible reason like "Well, they're rare; so, it's going to take a while to get them there." That simple exchange will not harm us; just as my tentative and refuted comment did not harm Mr. Overton.

Joseph

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Does anyone have contact information for Jeff Oxley of Athens, OH? Do you know if he still has Houdans?

 

[3riverschick]

Thanks, Matt. The judge who implied the opposite to me may have aheld a different view. I did my best to simply convey what I had heard without being vehement or spitting

To the repulsed drooler: 'tis perhaps better to calm down and not try to squash honest conversation. I made the comment respectfully and others respectfully offered an opposing position. It's referred to as dialogue. There is nothing vicious in relating that one had heard that so-an-so's quality isn't great, especially if one, as I did, makes it clear that the comments could be viewed as incorrect. It leads to conversation.

====================================
" There is nothing vicious in relating that one had heard that so-an-so's quality isn't great, especially if one, as I did, makes it clear that the comments could be viewed as incorrect. It leads to conversation."
Hi Yellow House,

Actually there is. I stand with fowlman1 in his excellent explanation of below of how an unreferenced opinion like the one you posted can hurt a reputation.
Your opinion of me doesn't worry me a bit. It's possible "relating that one had heard that so-an-so's quality isn't great, especially if one, as I did, makes it clear that the comments could be viewed as incorrect." could lead to some kind of conversation. However, it can also lead to conclusions based on 1/2 infomation. Conclusions which can hurt reputations.
Discretion holds a valuable place in animal breeding. We are not talking about withholding or avoiding the truth here. We're talking about verbal wisdom, couched in a positive literary voice, which is the product of both knowledge and experience. Correctly done, discretion is a mindset which understands that any type of conversation should leave the subject in a better place than when the dialogue started. That is the acid test of whether one is operating with discretion or not. Whether the end result is positive or negative, the dialougue ends with a solid foundation upon which those involved can pursue further truth.
That is not what you did. You stated the subject and then ended it with inaccuracy, leaving the reader with an insufficent infomational foundation for confident further research. That leaves the possibility for "assumed" knowledge and incorrect parameters for further research on the subject.
Sincerely,
Karen

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I see a lot of less than flattering things said about various birds and people, etc. here and I just think it's silly that because something (very mild!) was said about someone you all happen to have a tremendous amount of respect for, the rules suddenly change.

This forum is for sharing and sussing out quality and good, old heritage bloodlines. If you so vehemently disagree with what Yellow House relayed, say so and state your reasons and let that stand as the strong, valuable counter-testimony it should be. It is scandalous to think that only favorable opinions are ever to be shared here! How would we learn?

This sounds like a high school clique gone wrong, all of a sudden.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

====================================
" There is nothing vicious in relating that one had heard that so-an-so's quality isn't great, especially if one, as I did, makes it clear that the comments could be viewed as incorrect. It leads to conversation."
Hi Yellow House,

Actually there is. I stand with fowlman1 in his excellent explanation of below of how an unreferenced opinion like the one you posted can hurt a reputation.
Your opinion of me doesn't worry me a bit. It's possible "relating that one had heard that so-an-so's quality isn't great, especially if one, as I did, makes it clear that the comments could be viewed as incorrect." could lead to some kind of conversation. However, it can also lead to conclusions based on 1/2 infomation. Conclusions which can hurt reputations.
Discretion holds a valuable place in animal breeding. We are not talking about withholding or avoiding the truth here. We're talking about verbal wisdom, couched in a positive literary voice, which is the product of both knowledge and experience. Correctly done, discretion is a mindset which understands that any type of conversation should leave the subject in a better place than when the dialogue started. That is the acid test of whether one is operating with discretion or not. Whether the end result is positive or negative, the dialougue ends with a solid foundation upon which those involved can pursue further truth.
That is not what you did. You stated the subject and then ended it with inaccuracy, leaving the reader with an insufficent infomational foundation for confident further research. That leaves the possibility for "assumed" knowledge and incorrect parameters for further research on the subject.
Sincerely,
Karen

Karen, your discussion on discretion was really quite lovely, a definite change in tone and more grounded.

I still disgaree with you and Walt. My one small statement was one of many in a flow of comments and was open for proper rebuttle, which Matt did. I made the comment as part of a dialogue, without holding to it. Furthermore, I'm glad I made the noncommittal comment because it received Matt's retort which allowed me to think about Mr. Overton's Sussex in a new, more positive way.

You, on the other hand, were simply explosive and reactionary in your response and failed to say anything concrete about the stock you defended so extraordinarily vehemently. There's no comment abut their confirmation, weight, width, depth, length, productive qualities or correctness of coloring. Nothing. Indeed, for all of the brouhaha, there has been no substance.

Mr. Overton's reputation has not been threatened by this dialogue, for any reading are going to follow it to it's end, and, in the off chance that someone read that one comment without looking before or after and also assuming that that reader make outstandingly rash conclusions from two sentences, that one reader might be put off, but then that reader, or type of reader, was never going to patronize Mr. Overton in the first place.

Could I have shown more discretion to fit your taste? Yes. I shall endeavor in the future to add more disclaimers when I go fishing for clarifiers.

Your response was outlandishly over the top and strangely rude, while still being humorously quasi-medieval, which I guess is an expression of my taste. It's too bad you didn't simply offer your comment on discretion originally. Then I could have apologized and asked for some more clarity concerning the excellence of the stock in question. With the profound knowledge which your fiery defense implies, I would have followed up with my expression of happiness in learning that there are still some good Speckled Sussex out there.

Joseph