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

[Fred's Hens]

Male or Female?

While perhaps interesting for some to know who's who, I suppose, I've never considered it important. Flock husbandry has been the domain of my matriarchal women folk since they got off the boat in the mid-1800's. Most everything I know about chickens I learned from my mother and especially my grandmother who kept flocks.

 

[CSisley]

Hatcheries hatch birds. Some of them don't even have grown birds on their property. Probably the last thing they care about is behavior. There are hatcheries, back yard chicken folk and serious breeders. Serious breeders are in the minority and the only ones that care about chicken behavior and know how to correct it. I raise Oriental breeds. They have been bred to kill other chickens for centuries, but mine never kick or bite me. The ones that exhibited that behavior are long gone. I can't have a 16lb Shamo stalking me when I'm in the yard and one is exercising. They actually like being handled because that is how I bred them.
If you count every hybrid RIR as a real RIR I guess you could say it is common to the breed....but hatchery birds aren't RIR's. The hatcheries don't purposely select for meanness, they just reproduce what they have and don't care about behavior.

It is strain specific.

Walt

Tomayto, Tomotto scenario from two different people from different chicken backgrounds. Serious breeder vs. backyard hobbyist. From my perspective hatchery birds are poor representatives of their breeds but I don't believe that makes them "not real" because really, who decides what is "real?" I never said it wasn't "strain specific" so I don't know why you are making that point again.

 

[fowlman01]

Tomayto, Tomotto scenario from two different people from different chicken backgrounds. Serious breeder vs. backyard hobbyist. From my perspective hatchery birds are poor representatives of their breeds but I don't believe that makes them "not real" because really, who decides what is "real?" I never said it wasn't "strain specific" so I don't know why you are making that point again.

That's not to say that every flock of of RIR, Production Red, NH Red etc. will have this genetic characteristic but I believe it's safe to say it's fairly common occurrence.

It seems as if you are talking about breeds rather than strains. Most people in this thread seem to know what a "real" RIR is and I suppose by definition the APA decides that by the description they put forward.. You don't have to do a DNA sampling to see that hatchery RIR's are really not the same as SOP RIR's. The bottom line though is that real breeders eliminate mean bird and hatcheries don't.

Walt

 

[CSisley]

"Breed" and "Strain" are almost synonymous but "strain" just refers to a specific lineage with the same or similar physiological characteristics. Therefore you can have many strains under the same breed. So you're saying that all of your birds fit the exact definition of the APA's SOP, because by your definition they aren't "real" if they don't. Hatchery birds may not fit the SOP but that doesn't mean they aren't part of a specific breed.

"You don't have to do a DNA sampling to see that hatchery RIR's are really not the same as SOP RIR's." I agree but I bet you would see they have some genetic similarities because hatcheries certainly didn't start from scratch to make their own version of the RIR.

 

[fowlman01]

"Breed" and "Strain" are almost synonymous but "strain" just refers to a specific lineage with the same or similar physiological characteristics. Therefore you can have many strains under the same breed. So you're saying that all of your birds fit the exact definition of the APA's SOP, because by your definition they aren't "real" if they don't. Hatchery birds may not fit the SOP but that doesn't mean they aren't part of a specific breed.

"You don't have to do a DNA sampling to see that hatchery RIR's are really not the same as SOP RIR's." I agree but I bet you would see they have some genetic similarities because hatcheries certainly didn't start from scratch to make their own version of the RIR.

Talk about misreading something. I didn't say anything about any bird I raise. They do however meet the SOP descriptions for the breed or they end up planted in the garden....... and none of them have names.

Walt

 

[Beekissed]

I love your individual enthusiasm for your husbandry/breeding views and it is all very informative!

Please don't hesitate to keep active here and keep the info coming if you have the years to back it up as time tested in your yard. We all have different styles and opinions on this whole chicken thing.

edited by staff

 

[HappyHenMama]

Bob, no apologies needed. I always enjoy your wonderful posts. It matters not.

Temperament. Some of you know we've been breeding sex links now for 3 or 4 generations. Sure, we consider the feathering, egg laying and appearance to be key, but honestly, I cannot take a hen that is not confident and hasn't much need to bully around the yard. Give me quiet, confident birds any day. A hen with a bad attitude just doesn't make to our breeding pens. I have two brothers, down in Kentucky, and their birds came from me. We've got a line of production reds, a line of production barred rocks and our sex link experimental line. One brother has also kept Spotted Sussex and Australorps.

No mean rooster gets anywhere with us. There's 16 kids in those two families down there, and from about age 8 on, they all know how to take out bird, pluck it and have in the pot for dinner. That's is what such birds are for. No bird, no matter how pretty, male or female, is worth it if they have a bad attitude. I concur with those that say temperament is inherited.

I often start with a laying group of say 20 mature pullets. After three weeks? I've usually pared that down to 8 or 9, based almost completely on temperament. It is that important to me. I don't care if she's a good layer. We've got lots and lots of good layers and I won't keep a bully hen nor a mean rooster.

I can't tell you how helpful it is for us newbies to be reading the posts from ALL of the OT's. Thank you to all of you out there for your honest, forthwright opinions and experience. Very interesting reading and I'll tell you this much...I wish I had been on this forum before I got my last 8 birds. However, I did end up with a few hens that I think I'm going to be very happy with. So, you live and you learn, right? Thanks again Old Timers and keep em coming!

 

[fowlman01]

I can't tell you how helpful it is for us newbies to be reading the posts from ALL of the OT's. Thank you to all of you out there for your honest, forthwright opinions and experience. Very interesting reading and I'll tell you this much...I wish I had been on this forum before I got my last 8 birds. However, I did end up with a few hens that I think I'm going to be very happy with. So, you live and you learn, right? Thanks again Old Timers and keep em coming!

It is hard to not just jump in when you see some of the wonderful birds that are available. It's all part of learning and deciding what kinds of birds you want and what you want to do with them. I have about 5 breeds too many here, but it keeps me out of taverns and I don't have to go to a shrink. When it stops being fun I will do something else, but I don't expect that to happen at this age. In the old days feed only came in 100lb sacks...sure glad that they provide it in 50's now. I feed 50# a day, so toting 100# sacks would be doing me in.

Walt

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I'm grateful for the 50# bags too!! THe 100#ers were always too much for me to move more than a couple feet! Now 25 years later, 50#ers are a peice of cake.

Thanks all for sharing, even Bob, I have learned a lot in my first year of owning chickens. I've made mistakes and hopefully learned from them. I started with cheap hatchery chicks and quickly added other fowl, and learned that each type of bird has unique needs. I still have a lifetime to learn.

 

[JoshU]

I am no OT. I can say that I have learned some things on this thread I probably would have never learned. I may also agree with a person on one thing they do but totally disagree with something else they may do. That is the beauty of life. You can take what you want and leave what you dont. Think of it this way. My grandma likes the toilet paper to come from under. My grampa likes it over. They just do it their way when they change it. They are still together after 68 years. We are all raising chickens. If they are alive then it just proves that there is more than one way to raise a chicken. Thank you all for your input and life experience you have shared with us. I for one am very grateful and so are my birds.