Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[bnjrob]

Isn't it legal to transport a dozen "eating" eggs from Canada when visiting?

Eta. Just checked, looks like the answer is no.

I haven't found anyone that could answer that, because I have come in contact with some people in Canada looking for Javas and didn't know how to help them get any across the border. If someone has done it, it would be great to know. Were they able to send eggs via the post office or what?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Is't there ia big breedin in Cnada that comes down for the show, in OH perhaps. I think there is something about driving over the borders versus flying. I'm pretty sure you cn drive the eggs over the border. ( I am repeating what I have read on BYC, i've not done it nor talked to anyone who has done it.)

 

[Fred's Hens]

Bob, your posts make a lot of sense, to me anyhow. I've never fussed with the fancy colored or obscure breeds in 60 years of keeping chickens and have no interest in it now. For those who do, more power to you and best wishes.

I've always had an agricultural bent to my thoughts and my lifestyle. Grew up on farms and homesteads and still live on one. Grew up with Leghorns and Rocks in the 1950's and have seen the landscape change dramatically over the last half century. Back in the day, folks kept Leghorns for fryers and maybe some kept them for eggs as time went along. Most of us kept White Rocks for true dual purpose birds. There were lots of Reds and Barred Rocks around the area. Shoot, I didn't even know about 3/4 of these breeds/varieties we hear of today and only saw bantams at the county fair.

There were no Tractor Supply Company or other places all holding "Chick Daze". We never heard of a Tera Tint, Cinnamon Queen or any of other hundred hybrid stuff being sold today. They didn't exist.

My interest in "Heritage" birds was renewed five years when I honestly got sick and tired of all these modern birds. To me, they all looked the same. There was a homogeneous look to all of them, just different colors, sort of. In black and white silhouette, you couldn't hardly tell them apart.

I teach young people agriculture and husbandry and began to see that the modern birds were more to agriculture like McDonalds was to food. Neither pleased me. The stuff sold at TSC or by the modern, internet based hatcheries was McDonalds. I wanted good old fashioned, cooked from scratch the way my grandmother did, birds. Hah!!! Who knew they were virtually extinct? I had to get myself educated so that I could help the young folks I mentor.

Slowly finding out that the true, bona fide, homestead birds of a 50 years ago could still be had was an enlightening experience. It brought a joy, a purpose and a mission to this old man's life. I wish I had the last 30 years to do over. LOL
Now sharing "heritage" birds with all this younger folks, they are stunned and amazed at the difference. They love them. They see their value, their beauty, strength, size, intelligence, calmness, and other traditional personality traits that are sorely lacking in the birds from the feed store that merely pose as those breeds but have very little of the breed's true attributes.

Bob Blosl, YHF, Walt, and so many others have made contribution far beyond the world of competitive showing of birds. The homesteader, those who strive for authenticity in a self sufficient rural lifestyle have bought into these (H) fowl. There is a reason why interest is so high. It was these folks who pushed the Buckeye back from the brink. It is perhaps an off shoot of the competitive show world, but agriculture and small holders was the end result of E B Thompson and Ralph H. Sturgeon breeding in their day too. They sent a lot of great birds to the farm oriented community.

Homesteaders, small holders, and agricultural people, at least the ones I work with, absolutely DO want better birds.

 

[Arielle]

 

[Shellz]

Well said Fred! I feel the same way. I respect all who have made strides in their chosen breed(s) with all their experience. Like you, I'm very disappointed with the McD versions of birds that never seem to live up to expectations. They were all I knew, until I logged onto a local poultry forum. Now I know better & won't waste my time. I do have a couple of back-up plans, should the Malines not work out for some reason. I've discovered a couple of good breeders of white Chantecler in my region or folks who are willing to ship hatching eggs. Bred for our cold winters up here.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I've always had an agricultural bent to my thoughts and my lifestyle. Grew up on farms and homesteads and still live on one.

Homesteaders, small holders, and agricultural people, at least the ones I work with, absolutely DO want better birds.

Really well said, Fred. "Homesteaders, small holders, and agricultural people" who can see through the glitz to the real have amazing potential. Moreover, the grandeur of the birds of which you speak is not just in the way we emote over them but in the fact that they are imposing, outstanding birds, that have true, self-evident class. The difficulty with color patterns is that, of themselves, they are chinsy and don't make a bird. This is why type, including correct feather quality, actually sets the breed, and these breeds have class, something they've inherited from untold years of culture. It's in their type.


"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm"--Winston Churchill.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I didn't know this thread existed til someone mentioned it on another thread. I'll be visiting and trying to read all the posts to date.

 

[NanaKat]

Hmmm....I'd offer some different ideas.  Outcrossing is actually very hard to see through to completion.  It takes major dedication, very high numbers, and ruthless on-going culling.  There's actually nothing easy there.

If you keep enough breeders and manage your program, keeping strict records, wing-banding, toe-punching, maintaining multiple cocks, you don't need to bring in new blood as long as you began well.  With rare breeds, if one is really intending to work with them, one needs to maintain either alone or with other equally long-term committed breeders a large enough program to be self-containing, or one will be forced to bring in other blood which will likely be a step down.

@Shellz: Being the bearer if hard tidings isn't easy, but Malines were a difficult choice for beginning.  They are not in the SOP.  There is no established bloodlines surrounding them in North America.  You won't have a standard to breed to or mentors to support you save this fellow who has them.  I totally--100%--applaud your move to settle on one breed, but before you open Pandora's box and lose another season or two,, I'd honestly--politely--but honestly recommend recycling the eggs, and getting an SOP standardized bird.  On many levels, Malines are  dead end.  I know this falls as a disappointment, but in the long-run you're going to find yourself fairly alone with your Malines.  There's so much fun community to be had otherwise.

Best,

Joseph

While I do not yet have Malines, what I have gleaned from picking breeder brains and what info I have been able to find on the breed:' Malines are of Belgian origin bred for their meat. The gourmet bird has fat distributed throughout the meat rather than in pockets around the carcass making it a wonderful roasting bird. There is a standard for the breed and a Belgian Maline Club in Europe. There are several breeders in Canada as well as Flanders. Both varieties are noted for their show history and their meat production. There are difficulties with the breed because of its size and heat tolerance. Where Brahma do well, Malines will thrive. Eggs are "ginormous" thus the issues with incubation. Because of their size, the birds do not fly,

 

[Extra Java]

Canadians show their birds in the US.

Wouldn't this be the best legal way to import Canadian breeds? I'm sure anything crossing the border would be expensive and also needs to come with a health certificate of some kind but this would be a way to start with live birds rather than scrambled hatching eggs.

I wish you luck NanaKat & others interested in the Malines. Do keep us posted.

I hear of this and that breed being the best for the table but show me what it looks like on a platter and maybe we'll see who has a good heritage meat bird. Well...taste and texture can't be captured but anything grown at home would be better than store bought. Perhaps a taste test is in order as well?

It's too bad more people aren't raising their own chickens for food, then maybe their fine utility qualities wouldn't have been diminished in the "Grand Old Breeds."

I've said it once and I'll say it again, "remove a birds feathers and you'll see what you have." This is why you want to build on a the "frame" of the bird as a foundation.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

I hear of this and that breed being the best for the table but show me what it looks like on a platter and maybe we'll see who has a good heritage meat bird. Well...taste and texture can't be captured but anything grown at home would be better than store bought. Perhaps a taste test is in order as well?

It's too bad more people aren't raising their own chickens for food, then maybe their fine utility qualities wouldn't have been diminished in the "Grand Old Breeds."

I've said it once and I'll say it again, "remove a birds feathers and you'll see what you have." This is why you want to build on a the "frame" of the bird as a foundation.

The quality of fat marbling throughout the flesh and fineness of grain is a general attribute of all good strains of traditional European meat chickens, of whom the Dorking is king. It has been our experience that selecting for proper utility qualities goes hand in hand with vigor. However, these qualities should not be separated from the other qualities of aesthetic. If one doesn't try to raise too many varieties, one can be attentive to all the aspects of one's breed(s) of choice.

This year's crop of cockerels, although they're all still feathered, are looking great. Here's a photo from the past.