Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[hcammack]

Just wanted to post some pictures over here.

Got 6 Salmon Faverolles pullets from a great breeder in Massachusetts. He has been at it for 30 or more years and is a Master Breeder of Faverolles Dick Boulanger.
The pullets have some serious filling in to do. Plus a bit of a lice problem but they are being treated.









Let me know what you guys think. They have a lot of growing to do still.

 

[poularde]

You should see the emails and phone calls I get wanting off the wall breeds. I ask the question why do you want these rare rare breeds. They say its a interesting history, they have great egg laying ability, they lay lots of eggs, they where popular in the 1950s ect. I tell them if they where so great why dont people fool with them any more. Some of these breeds where promotions of breeders who wanted to make money selling chicks. I think the worse one was the Rhode Island Whites trying to ride the coat tails of the Rhode Island Red explosion in the 1930s. The Delawares was another, sounds great on paper but try breeding these breeds they are hard, if you try to show them the dont win and sooner or latter they become almost extinct.

Many beginners take on breeds that only a ten year experienced chicken person should have. How ever, many just want them in the yard to look at and say they are preservationist but they are not. They keep the birds and they will revert back to their origin and become barnyard culls in no time. Thats why many who go in and buy out a good breeders flock are out of them in three years. They dont know how to breed them. The worse story is having a guy buy two dozen eggs from a rare breed who has not raised a chicken in a incubator for twenty years and then goes to a feed store and buys a $35. Styrofoam cheap incubator. Puts the incubator in a old spare bedroom near a window where the sun hits it during the day and hatches one chick. Sound familiar? It was me 32 years ago. I did this so many want these hard to get eggs and they have no skills using a incubator and then buy the worse incubator you could have for such rare eggs. That is why if I was a beginner I would like to have ten started chicks sent to me over night express and then I should get two males and two females for next year and you would be off to the races for breeding the next year. Or make a road trip of four or five hundred miles with the family and go pick them up one weekend at the persons house.

Anyway, most of the chickens you all want are very very rare. You need to have a list of the top five breeds you would like to obtain then study the population of these breeds and pick one that makes sense and is around. If Mr. Urch does not have them then they may not be available. Of course there are the Hatcheries most of the time they have the old breed and what you get is about what is available but that is just the facts of life. At least my two phone calls last night where breeds I could manage to help people locate this spring with chicks from good breeders. I guess today I will get a call for a purple chicken with a crazy looking comb today.

Well off my soap box and going to clean conditioning pens and get dust up my noise. I should feel real good by Noon. Have a nice day and keep the pictures coming .

These are very good points. I guess this would be me. I have has a tendency to pick the rare breeds. I really wanted to pick a breed that is in serious trouble.

I am now beginning to understand that all well bred birds are very rare. I can be quite stubborn and I will still keep at it with the Crevecoeurs. From what I have seen I do not think I can mess them up much more than they already are. I only have a trio this year. I will get some more stock next year. I have so much I want to work on with them. I will be going very slow. I hope I will have something that I want to bring to a show in a few years. I want to breed them because it is a breed I do not want to disappear.

That said I have quite a few other breeds I love. I plan on breeding a few of them to try them out. I have some pretty good stock of a few. I will be narrowing it down to the max of three breeds. I think I might just keep a few just because I enjoy them.

It is hard for a newbie to pick. I have been spending my first two years hatching chickens still trying to decide what way I want to go. There is just so many wonderful breeds to choose from.

 

[diriel]

@poularde,

Sir, do yourself and the birds a favor? Pick one breed up front, and one color within that breed, and breed for all you are worth for at least 5 years. After you have that experience under your belt, Then you can legitimately decide if you want to take on other projects. Good breeding is hard, bad breeding is easy.

Best of luck in your endeavors,
Gary

 

[Robert Blosl]

Walt you earned so many points over the years with different breeds you are making a com pleat circle.

Nothing wrong being a point chaser if you stick with it after you win the number of points to be a master breeder. What get me is they give up in eight years or so go to another breed or even give up poultry.

I guess I am asking to much for someone to enjoy the hobby and stick with a breed for ten or twenty years. Not many can or will do it.

The ones who do my hat is off to them and then we hope they will be good stew arts of the breed, their club and help the beginners.

 

[campinechickens]

New Hampshire pictures..... I need to start culling. Here are a few of the cockerels.












molting.............

oh my! I've never seen New Hampshires before! These are totally gorgeous!

 

[campinechickens]

I hear so many people talk about white birds being at risk of hawks. Is it true or an old wive's tale? I have hawks living right next to chicken areas, flying over all the time. They've never touched my (white) Delawares. I've only had two losses to hawks in 12 years, they were dark colored youngsters.

Kathy, beautiful birds. You are so blessed.

We had a white hen with our free range flock, the hawks never got her.

 

[campinechickens]

Its a old wives tail. I have lost more red bantams to hawks. Large fowl I have not lost. I tell you one thing if you have a good line keep them clean breed for true white genes you will win more awards or Trophy's at shows than a colored bird. Also it is the best breed to learn how to breed for type in large fowl. After five years of breeding them you are ready to take on the rest of the old large fowl breeds. If more people did this there would be less people giving up large fowl chickens. They take on the hardest breeds and colors and even a guy with twenty years experience would have problems. bob

I know I'm a beginner, but I remember reading in the Standard that if there are two birds, one colored one white, that are tied for points, the judge should choose the colored bird because the exhibitor has worked harder to get it to that point. Not trying to be controversial, just a little confused.

 

[campinechickens]

If you want to do well, concentrate on a breed that has been established and keep at it. It is very rewarding when you bring it to a higher level of quality.

Walt

What about the breeds that are not so well established? If every person who starts out with show poultry chooses a well established breed, we can wave goodbye to the breeds on the critical list who are hanging on by a thread. Sure, you might have to start out with "hatchery" stock, it might take years until you get a good bird, maybe years after that you actually win something with them, but these breeds need help! Encouraging people to get American and Asiatic class birds because they aren't smart enough to handle the ultra rare breeds is going to point them away from the critically endangered birds and therefore assist with their extinction! I started with Campines, which are very hard to find, and after 8 years working with and breeding them, I've really improved the birds I had and I'm starting to win at the shows I go to. Instead of being told they can't handle rare breeds, people need experienced breeders to mentor them and teach them how to breed and improve their chosen breed, be it Rocks, Reds, or Javas, Andalusians, and Campines.

 

[WinklerFarms]

If you want to do well, concentrate on a breed that has been established and keep at it. It is very rewarding when you bring it to a higher level of quality.

Walt

What about the breeds that are not so well established? If every person who starts out with show poultry chooses a well established breed, we can wave goodbye to the breeds on the critical list who are hanging on by a thread. Sure, you might have to start out with "hatchery" stock, it might take years until you get a good bird, maybe years after that you actually win something with them, but these breeds need help! Encouraging people to get American and Asiatic class birds because they aren't smart enough to handle the ultra rare breeds is going to point them away from the critically endangered birds and therefore assist with their extinction! I started with Campines, which are very hard to find, and after 8 years working with and breeding them, I've really improved the birds I had and I'm starting to win at the shows I go to. Instead of being told they can't handle rare breeds, people need experienced breeders to mentor them and teach them how to breed and improve their chosen breed, be it Rocks, Reds, or Javas, Andalusians, and Campines.

Thank you! Well said!

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote: You have a good point if you can invest the time and money but many beginners dont have the skills to tackle these tough colors and their are no mentors who can tell them how to breed them for color. Heck there are not any articles saved on how to breed these hard colors. I can not find a article to tell me how to breed the gray call color pattern or for that matter the Rouen which is a little different. The old timers took their secrets to their grave. I think if you take the twenty or so super rare breeds that you suggest and you can get them to a 92 point level that is pretty good. They may not win at shows but at least they are respectable to the breed.

You may be one of the many rare folks that has had success, I am just telling you I have tried to help so many people and even on easy er breeds like rocks and reds only two or three stuck with it for ten years.

What we need to do is find the breeds then try to see if our computer skills can locate some of the old articles in these old journals and then log them some where so we have a data base to go to.

I got a phone call last night from a person thanking for making it public how to breed R I Reds for color. She says she could not find any place on the Internet that had any information.

Many of these breeds need double mating and if they do we need to advise the beginner that will have to be done.

What do you all think where could we store this information and make it public for the beginner.??