Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Robert Blosl]

To the lady that sent me a message Why is it my Rhode Island Reds don't look like the picture in the Bur key Catalog I found a blog from Australia that I think sums it up historically.

Look at the pictures of the birds even the ones who have pictures of high egg laying females do they resemble your current rhode island reds???

What happen to this old breed to loose its appearance? It looks like their was a fork in the road and one side breed them this way and left the road of the 1930s.

Also, if you go to this blog and have a interest in History of Poultry and what they looked like in Gradmas day look at these historic pictures of other breeds in all the posts he made. Many of us would never see what the glory days of Poultry once was as all the magazines are in Library's around the country. Its a shame we left our roots of what a breed should look like. Has all breeds of animals lost their identify in America to what they once looked like or is it just chickens?

Hope you enjoy this blog I have never seen a collection of data since I have been studying poultry available to us on the Internet.ilike this. bob
http://chickenhistorynow.blogspot.com/p/rhode-islands.html

 

[Aschenfire]

I am just skimming posts but I tend to be a bit offended by anyone stating that hatchery birds are "mutts". Ok, they may or may not be *show* quality birds, but if they are say...Buff Orpington bred to Buff Orpington, they are purebred and not Mutts. I have some breeder bred birds (Silkies and one of my Modern Games which I hatched out) and quite a few hatchery birds. I wonder if anyone could tell the difference between my birds and breeder bred birds if i posted pics of them side by side (my hatchery birds/breeder birds). I have gone over mine by the standards, and with the exception of my "Rhode Island Red" who is obviously a crossbred (a very pretty, dark one but with the wrong body type), and my Easter Eggers (not Ameraucanas), the rest are pretty much right on.

I give total credit for those who are breeding heritage birds, and applaud your commitment and efforts to save the old fashioned, back to the roots and foundation breed type. I hope to do the same with my little Modern Games by adding more excellent young babies as soon as I can find some.

I just think "mutt" is a very insulting word to those who buy purebred, but *maybe* not quite perfect birds. (This has been just one gal's opinion)

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

That was a very interesting article, I got alot out of it thanks

 

[chickencowranch]

Cooked potatoes are fine. Raw have a bit too much selenium in them. Storey's is only half right. I pour the water that I cooked the potaoes in over the peelings. Presto they are cooked by the time they are cooled.

Never actually fed a chicken yogurt. If your looking for probiotics try Apple cider vinegar. My son has feed some of his girls cottage cheese. He was eating they were begging so he offered the heaped spoon. Rosie quickly grabbed the spoon and ran off. Only to bring it back empty. It was pretty amusing, but I wouldn't have done it on purpose. In my opinion chickens should eat a more natural diet. Treats should be found in that bug they just dug up or that fresh blade of grass. I do however buy meal worms for my turkeys, so what do I know.

As for Silkies well I never saw one outside of pictures. My son thinks they look like a cross between and cat and a funky chicken and has no interest in them. The froofiest birds he has are Silver Spangled Hamburgs that he likes to have as he gives the tiny eggs to our customers that have small children or grandchildren. The kids love them and the parents think he is such a sweetie. It's an awesome extra we can provide to our customers.

Thank you for answering me.

The yogurt question I asked was because I read a post somewhere to give laying chickens yogurt to get extra protein. I already give the chickens ACV. I let the chickens out last night for two hours before their bedtime last night. I think I was just as excited as they were.

 

[chickencowranch]

Potatos can become green when exposed to light. THis is a mild poison. In a foods class in college, a prefessor talked about a time when his brother, another food scientist, and himslef embarked on a little experiment. Eating green potatoes. THey only got mildly sick. No biggy for an adult human. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the chemical that makes it green. Otherwise potatos are a great food source for many types of animals.

Yogurt--I learned how to make homemade yogurt, using a starter, here on BYC. It's sweeter than the commercial types. For fun I mix with starter for the chicks as a way to interact with them and they know we bring yummy treats. Otherwise I add probiotics into their feed. Some feed companies add probiotics, others do not. Braggs Cider vinegar has many supporters based on some good scientific evidence that these good bugs promote a healthy gut. THere are recipes on here for using braggs as a starter and adding to pasturrized cider vinegar and making your own. I try to use some myself, in slaw, etc., to improve my health as well.

As for the silkies--as the crosses called things like TOp hats, showgirls, etc. Not my area of knowledge, but they sure are cute.

PS. I'm not an OT. But I've beed breeding and feeding livestock a long time and love to cook.

Thank you for answering me as well.

That's fine about the potatoes. I read through the Storey book and read few things that i had questions about. I don't plan on feeding them yogurt or potatoes. They get starter, scratch twice a day and now anything they can find while free ranging for two hours each night. And grit. ACV in the water. Hay when I think of it. scraps from the kitchen.

I've been feeding cattle and also like to cook, some times.

 

[stonykill]

Thank you for answering me.

The yogurt question I asked was because I read a post somewhere to give laying chickens yogurt to get extra protein. I already give the chickens ACV. I let the chickens out last night for two hours before their bedtime last night. I think I was just as excited as they were.

just put yogurt ina bowl I would imagine. I've never done it, but have seen plenty of pictures of it

 

[fowlman01]

I am just skimming posts but I tend to be a bit offended by anyone stating that hatchery birds are "mutts". Ok, they may or may not be *show* quality birds, but if they are say...Buff Orpington bred to Buff Orpington, they are purebred and not Mutts. I have some breeder bred birds (Silkies and one of my Modern Games which I hatched out) and quite a few hatchery birds. I wonder if anyone could tell the difference between my birds and breeder bred birds if i posted pics of them side by side (my hatchery birds/breeder birds). I have gone over mine by the standards, and with the exception of my "Rhode Island Red" who is obviously a crossbred (a very pretty, dark one but with the wrong body type), and my Easter Eggers (not Ameraucanas), the rest are pretty much right on.

I give total credit for those who are breeding heritage birds, and applaud your commitment and efforts to save the old fashioned, back to the roots and foundation breed type. I hope to do the same with my little Modern Games by adding more excellent young babies as soon as I can find some.

I just think "mutt" is a very insulting word to those who buy purebred, but *maybe* not quite perfect birds. (This has been just one gal's opinion)

I'm sorry that you are offended, but I am pretty certain I can tell you which of your birds came from a hatchery....and if the "breeder" birds don't look right I can tell you that too. Pictures are an excellent way to learn. There is a tremendous difference between hatchery stock and birds bred to the APA SOP. Hatchery birds are great for eggs.

Do your Modern Games look like this? They are probably a different color, but if the body looks like this they are purebred. It would be great to see them.



Walt

 

[Aschenfire]

I'll have to get my babes to stand up on a table, but they look very much like that chickadoo. They are of course, only 11 weeks old, too. BUT they look pretty amazing to me so far, considering I could have gotten low-slung, totally messed up birds LOL! I NEED to work with them more. ATM they love to just leap-flap-run if i try to stand them up (or alternatively they crouch in a really ugly position)

More work... must work with youngsters... *writes self a memo*

 

[Aschenfire]

Here are a couple *candid* in the run shots of my babies. Keep in mind, they are just starting to molt out of their baby feathers... I realized looking at these that they look pretty moth-eaten! LOL! BUT I *hope* they are going to be nice when they mature.

Dragon and Stormy, the MGB's... Stormy especially, is standing pretty nicely in this one. I imagine as they mature they'll fill out in thigh and body. The others there.. are my little *for fun* Polish babies, also 11 weeks old.

Dragon and Stormy again, with my blue baby Azure giving the stink-eye

It looks like Dragon is really shallow in the chest in the first pic... I think it is his stance..he was leaning forward (probably planning to step out of camera range....will try to get better pics of these little boogers.

 

[fowlman01]

I'll have to get my babes to stand up on a table, but they look very much like that chickadoo. They are of course, only 11 weeks old, too. BUT they look pretty amazing to me so far, considering I could have gotten low-slung, totally messed up birds LOL! I NEED to work with them more. ATM they love to just leap-flap-run if i try to stand them up (or alternatively they crouch in a really ugly position)

More work... must work with youngsters... *writes self a memo*

I didn't realize they were still young. You can train them with meal worms and they will stretch to get them. The neck should be the same length as the legs.

Here is a profile you can use to show you the ideal profile of a modern game. This is a trophy I made for the Modern Game Club way back in the day.



A pen of my young Red Pyle Moderns.



The Modern Game large fowl was admitted to the APA in 1874 so it should fit into the Heritage catagory.

Walt