Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Lacy Blues]

Ok, read and copied for future reference. You mentioned artificial insemination... I've been pondering for several years now, how to go about doing this. Eric Kutch sort of showed me one time but it was quick and I don't recall much of it. Plus, the Andalusians are kind of thin and the males have almost NO space between their pubic bones... except for one male I have. I can get my middle finger between his and though this sounds incredibly tight... and it is... the others have about a third of that.

So... when you have time... I'm an eager student. And appreciative to boot.

Thanks again.

 

[Robert Blosl]

I just kept the best small birds and tried to get them smaller. It took ten years be for I got int the one pound over weight range which you may think is bad but most bantams that are shown if they where weighed would be disqualified but judges don't weigh chickens and if you protested at a show the show Sectary would say we dont have scales. Only breeders weigh their chickens not trophy hunters or chicken collectors.

Tim Bowles and Ken where not related but both great chicken people.

I started getting my bantams near the mark I have today standard weights at 15 year mark then I got type using a great female that had a station like a minorka and be for I knew it all my bantams had rainy day backs or sloped took three years to breed out that mistake.

I did not wait till the birds where a year old to breed them in the early days. You cant afford the time or it would take 30 years to make a bantam. But today after I got the brick shaped birds small I like to wait. I will use the females that are pullets as breeders to sell to beginners as they have no clue what breeding is about any way. They just want red bantams and only one in 30 will stick with them unless they are prov en breeders with other breeds of chickens.s

Did you know that every year about 30 to 35 people join a breed club. After three years you had one hundred people. After five years you may have five or ten people still with the breed and members. It is very hard to find anyone in Reds that stuck with them for Ten years. With Plymouth Rocks you may have three to five people. It could be they have white rocks and they are not very hard to breed because they are white.

So be patient and think way ahead in your breeding bob

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thank you for that advice. I will definitely heed it. No Orpingtons! I'll just keep the ones I have.

Is there a manual or something like that on artificial insemination that someone can recommend? Heavy on pics? I'm very visual oriented. I draw out all my plans on notebook paper

. Within the last week, I had to pick up my black male. As I carried him from one place to another, I absent mindedly ran my hand down his back and stroked the length of his tail. He tensed up each time I did it. Would he be a good choice to use for the AI system?

If anyone has any pointers... I'm all ears.

 

[Robert Blosl]

hhttp://heritagebreedpoultry.com/poultry_shows_swaps.php

Have you been to this site. Register er your birds that you own.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Got it started. Need to find some good pics to upload.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Oh by the way, I found a good demonstration for AI...

Also, Karl Rau, gave a good written explanation... http://www.cochinbantams.com/a__insemination.htm

 

[aveca]

Thank you for that advice. I will definitely heed it. No Orpingtons! I'll just keep the ones I have.

Is there a manual or something like that on artificial insemination that someone can recommend? Heavy on pics? I'm very visual oriented. I draw out all my plans on notebook paper

. Within the last week, I had to pick up my black male. As I carried him from one place to another, I absent mindedly ran my hand down his back and stroked the length of his tail. He tensed up each time I did it. Would he be a good choice to use for the AI system?

If anyone has any pointers... I'm all ears.

there is a youtube vidieo that somone posted in here..but there is a little more to it than that like keeping equipment clean , hot water do not use soap if you can help it in pipettes ect..but there are also classes given here and there like cornell U ..there are several threads in here on the subject..if you have a hen that you are keeping show fit, or has a past injury that prevents her from standard breeding..and shes valuable, its worth learning AI.

 

[Robert Blosl]

What are you doing to keep the poor Heritage Birds from dieing in this heat?

I just watered my birds and hosed them down a little to get cool. Its 95 down here near the Gulf of Mexico.

Got drip water going into one pint feed cups in my 8x8 old breeding pens for my three to four month old bantams. The water is cool as can be from the well.

bob

 

[bnjrob]

106 here. Has been hot here since mid-April but today seems worse since there hasn't been much wind. We insulated our coops so it is a little cooler in there than outside, even in the shade. They went back into the coops around 10 am and haven't come out since. Put out frozen bottles of water and the chickens are laying/sitting/standing on the bottles.

 

[kathyinmo]

Shade - lots of shade. Shade and water saved mine last year when many lost alot of their birds. We had over 6 straight weeks of 100+ weather here last summer. Drought - folks lost crops and animals. Couldn't even buy a bale of hay without paying a mint.... Hope it is not that bad this year.