Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[NYREDS]

I'm not Bob but kathyinmo, on this board, has some very nice New Hampshires.

 

[Robert Blosl]

I am bob and my friend New York Reds is correct Kathy got some of the first on this board a while back and she would be a good source. It depends where you live in the south we are about washed up with eggs and chicks as its in the high 90s. Keep looking and also we need to ask what state do you live in. What you do when you are looking for rare Standard Breed Chickens is when this season is over who got eggs or chicks or is a breeder and then search for left over extra chicks. Saturday I went to Matt 1616 house and saw the REAL AMERICAN line of New Hampshire's. They are only 1/4 German and they are as close to color as I have seen in 50 years. I saw Rh ode Island Reds like I had back 15 years ago its my old line.

You say you live in Tenn and it looks like the eastern Knoxville area. I lived in Knoxville about 28 years ago and it
is not to far to make a road trip this October to Clanton Alabama for the October Alabama Bantam show. These great birds I saw will be there. Also, Matt 1616 will be going to other shows with in driving distance and it would be worth your time and money to drive and pick up birds at that time. You may think this is a foolish but Matt and his dad Joe drove from way down here to the big show in Indiana last fall to pick up the rhode island reds from Illinois so we can have the Mohawks. Kathy in Mo drove 900 miles one weekend to get some Barred Rocks so where there is a will there is a way.
bob

 

[kathyinmo]

Hi Bob - Could you recommend a good source for those New Hampshires you mentioned? I've been looking for some eggs and bidding here and there, but so far I haven't had any luck.
I'd love to start a small flock of New Hampshires. Thanks. Heather

I just put up an auction, if you are interested.
12 New Hampshire and 12 Barred Rock hatching eggs. HERE

 

[ashandvine]

Many of the old standby breeds (Rocks, RIR, Wyandottes, Orps etc) are very popular...maybe even more so than the unusual or rare breeds because of the heritage poultry movement. Get APA SOP quality though or you will have the same trouble unloading them.

Walt

I've been thinking about this as it was a little confusing to me at first. When I went researching breeds to have etc I went to the ALBC first to see if there were breeds there that I might have already had an interest in. I found the Magpie Ducks that way. Having been raised with lots of RIR and rocks and knowing everyone here has Orps and dottes I didn't want to repeat it. Maybe they aren't as common in the south but up north RIR and rocks are the standby, plus buff orps. The way I read that site I felt that many of those birds were either hard to keep up here because of the weather or they were heritage breeds that had been forgotten or replaced by new breeds, like Comets. Aren't many of the breeds there 'heritage' and also unusual/rare now?

 

[fowlman01]

I've been thinking about this as it was a little confusing to me at first. When I went researching breeds to have etc I went to the ALBC first to see if there were breeds there that I might have already had an interest in. I found the Magpie Ducks that way. Having been raised with lots of RIR and rocks and knowing everyone here has Orps and dottes I didn't want to repeat it. Maybe they aren't as common in the south but up north RIR and rocks are the standby, plus buff orps. The way I read that site I felt that many of those birds were either hard to keep up here because of the weather or they were heritage breeds that had been forgotten or replaced by new breeds, like Comets. Aren't many of the breeds there 'heritage' and also unusual/rare now?

I was talking about purebred RIR's, Rocks etc....not the commercial variety. There is a huge difference in how they look. Check out some of kathyinmo's barred Rocks or New Hamps and you will see that they look quite different that what you are seeing in your location.

When yo see the real thing you will understand what I am talking about. There are not a lot of these around.

Walt

 

[ashandvine]

I went and took a look around. Its funny, but I remember my grandfather having a few RIR that looked like this... but then years and years later seeing the lighter 'commercial" variety and just thinking I had remembered them incorrectly. Glad to have this pointed out. Thank you. This sort of answers my other postulation "Aren't many of the breeds there 'heritage' and also unusual/rare now?" regarding the ALBC site. I was confused how the heritage movement was different (or if it was) from the rare and unusual list. There is cross over seems to be the answer. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[fowlman01]

I went and took a look around. Its funny, but I remember my grandfather having a few RIR that looked like this... but then years and years later seeing the lighter 'commercial" variety and just thinking I had remembered them incorrectly. Glad to have this pointed out. Thank you. This sort of answers my other postulation "Aren't many of the breeds there 'heritage' and also unusual/rare now?" regarding the ALBC site. I was confused how the heritage movement was different (or if it was) from the rare and unusual list. There is cross over seems to be the answer. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

The ALBC is the only organization I know of that has a "Heritage" position. The APA/ABA do not......not yet anyway. Online you will find all kinds of things called "Heritage". The American breeds are always a good bet as they should be considered heritage if they were accepted by the APA before 1950 or so. Many of the American breeds were admitted to the APA in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Once you see the real thing instead of the hatchery or commercial versions you will see why they are valuable to people. They look totally different and are usually quite a bit bigger than the commercial strains. The real RIR's almost look black at a distance.

Walt

 

[Chris09]

I went and took a look around. Its funny, but I remember my grandfather having a few RIR that looked like this... but then years and years later seeing the lighter 'commercial" variety and just thinking I had remembered them incorrectly. Glad to have this pointed out. Thank you. This sort of answers my other postulation "Aren't many of the breeds there 'heritage' and also unusual/rare now?" regarding the ALBC site. I was confused how the heritage movement was different (or if it was) from the rare and unusual list. There is cross over seems to be the answer. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

Most hatchery fowl are crosses, they have been crossed for high egg production and the ability to be sexed at hatch.
To me the only "heritage" hatchery fowl have is there heritage to a industrial or "mass production" age.


Chris

 

[Robert Blosl]

I went and took a look around. Its funny, but I remember my grandfather having a few RIR that looked like this... but then years and years later seeing the lighter 'commercial" variety and just thinking I had remembered them incorrectly. Glad to have this pointed out. Thank you. This sort of answers my other postulation "Aren't many of the breeds there 'heritage' and also unusual/rare now?" regarding the ALBC site. I was confused how the heritage movement was different (or if it was) from the rare and unusual list. There is cross over seems to be the answer. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

Glad you posted on this thread. If you look at the first tread I started October almost two years ago I used the term Heritage Large Fowl. I knew when I used that term which I really dont like would cause problems with a few but it was the word that has kept this thread alive. I today call large fowl Standard Breed large fowl. When I was a boy in the early sixty's and going to the chicken shows in the Pacific North West the old men called the large chickens Standard Fowl or Standard Breed Fowl and the little chickens Bantams. Many articles where written by great writers like Maurice Wallace of Canada and he used the term Standard Fowl all the time. I asked him one time in a letter what he meant and he said large full grown Reds. Funny to me as I always look at large fowl and bantams as Standard as we breed them to the standard. It is just a old saying from the glory days of poultry which the breeds I push where alive and well.

In regards to the club you mentioned I dont put a lot of my thinking in their ratings. Some of the breeds that I know have less than 100 adult birds alive in the winter are so rare and scare I cant even find eggs or chicks for beginners but they make it look like there are thousands of them. Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds which where very popular in your state in the early days are so rare their may only be 50 adult breeders int he USA around January of each year. What breeds would you like to have for your climate?

If there is any breed of interest tell us and we have contacts in this region and also, New York Reds is a judge who travels this region and knows most of the good breeders that would have stock that you would like to own.

Keep posting you come from a great chicken state and they still have fairs and poultry shows in your region. bob

 

[3riverschick]

"Some of the breeds that I know have less than 100 adult birds alive in the winter
are so rare and scare I cant even find eggs or chicks for beginners but they make it look like there are thousands of them."
-----Hi Bob,
You got that right. I had no idea there were so few of these breeds. There is so much chatter about them it makes it
look like they are very popular. Wish I has room for more than one breed. I had no idea. Also didn't know there was a
place like this where seekers could actually get a hold of quality stock. what a great service.
karen