Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[finnfur]

They had a lot more knowledge and gadgets than we give them credit for "back then". There are sketches in the books that I read of incubators heated with kerosene just like a lamp.

They still make them and are also used in undeveloped countries ;
Here is example
https://www.lehmans.com/p-1273-kerosene-powered-chicken-egg-incubator.aspx

 

[Arielle]

A breed has no hope or future without a recognized Standard.

You can breed productive birds without a Standard.

Some people that breed birds for exhibition have small concern for production qualities.

A breed's purpose, and it's "economical qualities", is very important to some people that breed and exhibit their birds.

If not for a Standard, and poultry shows, we would have a lot less than we do now.

While I agree with you in theory, there is an effect of showing that is not always intented.

For example, one breed of sheep registry does not permit showing. Primarily the purpose is to maintian the functionality of that particular breed and not let the factors of showing alter the intended purpose. THere is a breed description and list of traits the beed is noted for. Can't remember now, been so many years, perhaps the cotswold or another C breed.

I'm finding this discussion to be . . . interesting.

 

[bnjrob]

They still make them and are also used in undeveloped countries ;
Here is example
https://www.lehmans.com/p-1273-kerosene-powered-chicken-egg-incubator.aspx

Cool. I love Lehmans. Have never looked for non-electric incubators on their site though.

 

[gjensen]

While I agree with you in theory, there is an effect of showing that is not always intented.

For example, one breed of sheep registry does not permit showing. Primarily the purpose is to maintian the functionality of that particular breed and not let the factors of showing alter the intended purpose. THere is a breed description and list of traits the beed is noted for. Can't remember now, been so many years, perhaps the cotswold or another C breed.

I'm finding this discussion to be . . . interesting.

I get what you are saying. I mis stated one of my points, but the correction would not clear up what I am trying to communicate.
Just consider this. The non standard this group has is a standard itself. There is still a standard. So the logic behind criticizing an "official" standard is faulty, when there is always some sort of standard or nothing at all.
Many old cockers refuse to breed for color or show. There is nothing wrong with that, but they still have a standard if that standard is performance. As a result they have a type standard that facilitates style and performance.
There is always a standard, or chaos and no direction. An official standard gets us all on the same page. It is up to individuals to prioritize performance.
A standard is an enabler of preservation.

 

[Arielle]

When I was in college taking animal science and breeding classes, the focus was understandably using animals for food production.

Often outside/ new breeds were introduced to enhance a local breed, combing them to get the best of both. LIke brahma cattlein the sw.

However, this could not happen unless the original breeds had been selected sufficiently to set those genes in to a recognizable breed. In ENgland for example , animals stayed with their farms, and genes didn't move around much as the "native" animals were adapted to the particular environment, and specifically to an indiviaula farm. APparently when farms were sold , the animals stayed as they, the flocks of sheep in particular, know the terrain and where to find food and shelter,e tc. This resulted in breeds developing locally, and the breeds of sheep are named for the shires in which they developed. Border LEiceter, hampshires,oxford, sullfolk, etc.

Fast forward in time, and the immigrants out of ENgland and france and Spain brought their native sheep. ANd in the new world the breeds were mixed in various combinations. ANd new breeds developed that were adapted to new areas to meet the current needs. ie Targhee in the US , In Australian the corriedale.

Ultimately, hybrid vigor starts to fade, and growth rates depress in the pure breds . In an effort to create profits from a marektable product ( lamb) the breeds are cross bred to produce a faster growitng, thriftier lamb. number of poulds weaned per ewe exposed is the goal. sullfolk x ( dorset x Finn)

THe same premise works in all the species of domestic animals. Seems like local farmers used the same ideas on their flocks of chickens. Here in the US and in England as well. At some point the English birds were influenced by the import of the asian breeds and the Medditeraean breeds of chickens, to make the "purebreds" of England like the sussex.

IMO breeds existed before 1900, some as birds with written standards, others more loosely organized by local need. IMO haveing a writeen standard and the organization of people to create it and fulfill it indicated that we have more free time on our hands and were able to pursue these dreasms. HOrses are the only farm animal I know with breeding records back into the 1700s . . . . and even these animals were selected for jobs and had breeds added to improve the performance.

Cross breds grow faster.Heavily selected cross b reds grow even faster ( cornish cross) However which breed used should be picked based on its traits. and those traits are based on a pure bred animal that is carefuly bred to meet a standard.


IMO purebreds were developed because of isolation, or purposeful breeding. Or both. TO meet local needs.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Wow! So much thought.

The difficulty is that there's so much to know, and it is always hard to resist drawing hasty conclusions or not thinking things through. Let's try to break things down.

1. Before the mid-19th century, no bird received so much attention in breeding as the OEG. The OEG was the end all be all of chickens. One book I like to read from the 1600's which addresses the respectable hobbies of the country gentleman goes into great length in describing the care of the game cock. Indeed, for a post-fight game cock, his instructions are very specific: Suck the puss out of the head wounds with one's mouth; once wounds are clean, seal them from the elements with butter; give them no food and naught but your own fresh urine to drink; put them in a wicker basket and place them in a low oven for a sweat. If he's still alive in the morning, repeat process. What's weird about this is that, with reflection, all of it is pretty sensible from a pre-science point of view. Point over point, he's close (but no cigar).
2. The first modern bird that really reigns for a mass-produced, farming-focused, dual-purpose fowl is the Dorking. Strong documentation exists through the 1700's. The dominant color was white and a color referred to as "partridge" which is a cocker term for BBR pattern(s). There are other breeds that hold strong presence throughout this time period in the Western European world: the Spanish, Hamburg, Polish, La Fleche, and Crevecoeur are the extra-Dorking breeds most praised. Thoughts on this time period: Strong poultry keeping is definitely localized. There are areas of good production. There are areas of absolutely horrible production. There is no universally read instructive literature concerning poultry that informs the industry; thus, poultry and the husbandry thereof were not consistent across the board. In most regions, poultry was of dismal quality and highly unproductive by any current standard.
3. In the mid-1800's onward, new and published scientific understandings lead to a new interest in genetics and the possibility of animal improvement. This does not only happen in poultry but in all aspects of animal husbandry. At the beginning of this time period, most breeds of anything are mediocre producers at best. There is much pressure rising from a very quickly increasing human population for an increase in protein production. University extension services are on the rise, the need for a more systematized food production is felt. Transportation improvements, as well as improvements in commodity grain production, allow for more imaginative and expansive moves by food producers. Among university agricultural and extension publications the clear superiority of pure-bred stock is established for both egg and meat production both in North America and in Europe. Breed registers are established and quickly rise in importance. The APA becomes the centrifugal force of poultry production in North America.
4. During this time period, a hen that lays 150 eggs a year is a boon, remembering that 80 +/- eggs had been the reigning average. The SOP and the rise in (trade) shows leads to the highest level of form and feather production ever to have existed in poultry production. Shows provide a highly publicized venue for peer-review and the establishment of reputation for quality. The nature of agriculture and habits/modes of transportation encourage localized production of stock and reputable breeders of SOP quality purebred fowl are able to sell stock in strong number and earn a considerable income. Some make it as a sole income; others use it as a strong augment to other incomes.
5. From the late 1800's to the early 1900's several breeds come to the fore, four have the greatest impact: the Leghorn, the Plymouth Rock, the RIR, and the NH. Breeds such as Orpingtons, Wyandottes, Sussex and Minorcas are also significant. The dynamic stories of these breeds are great to study very carefully as they really do a lot to help one develop an understanding of the nature of the rise of purebred poultry as the heart of poultry production. The story of the "Danish" Brown Leghorn is very telling and indicative of the transformation of poultry production as a marriage of Extension/Academia and farmers for the goal of food production. The emergence of the RI Red is a fantastic tale. The Plymouth Rock redefines farm poultry. The Leghorn quickly becomes the early star of mass egg-production, replacing the Hamburg if not for volume than for egg-size, and the NH is the first meat chicken qua meat chicken developed since the Dorking. The 100 years between 1850 and 1950 mark an absolute transformation in food production throughout the industrialized world, and standard-bred poultry and livestock are at the heart of it as well as the contemporaneous developments in the scientific understanding of how animal systems actually work such that one might capitalize on production. Insofar as family farms were the core of food production, there was room for multiple breeds and varieties to hold influence and opportunity to shine on a local/regional level.
6. Crosses are of very little importance before WWII and really before the 60's. The single most important market for hybrid broilers was for early broilers, i.e. broilers that were going to be dressed out between January and May. They tended to be produced by crossing a fast growing breed, i.e. Leghorn on a slower growing, bulkier female, Brahma, Rock, etc... In 1940, 40% of all poultry in NH were NHs. In New England there was a very sizable poultry industry up through WWII and even into the 70's numbering in the millions of birds. New England over-wintered a lot of chickens The old poultry barns still dot the landscape, but most folks don't know what they're looking at. Poultry was one of New England's most significant products. NHs, RIRs, and White Rocks, which emerge onto the scene in Maine dominate the landscape.
7. Many biases emerge throughout the first half of the 20th century which are to the advantage of some breeds and varieties and to the disadvantage of others. Most of them were of no actual farming value, i.e. white or yellow skin, white or brown shelled eggs, etc.... Nevertheless, these biases shaped much of what was developed breed-wise.
8. The breeds that emerged supreme did so because they were the unique focus a many farms which did a lot to increase the general quality of the breed because selection to the Standard could be an industrial-sized mass effort. Eventually the productive qualities of certain breeds came to consistently outshine others.
9. Just about WWII and the decade or so that followed, a general shift happened in the ability of refrigeration to allow for larger production and longer product retention, medical improvements allowed for larger-scale production, and contemporaneously instituted government food-safety, etc regulations forced producers to higher levels of food-safety professionalism. Those who had the funds and knowledge could make the jump, those who didn't could not. Continued expansion and ever stricter regulations made it more and more difficult for any one individual to break into the market in a profitable way. The overhead was more and more threatening. In the fifties and sixties, certain producers began to buy out the most renowned strains of productive standard-bred fowl. The Delaware was the swan song of standard-bred poultry in industry.
10. In 1982, the invention of McDonald's chicken nugget blew the demand for chicken sky-high and the world of poultry production utterly transformed.
11. Thus, although standard-bred poultry is not currently the vital core of the poultry industry, it was for almost 100 years, and the American Poultry Association and the Standard of Perfection demarcate clearly the critical link between backyard, mongrel scrub fowl and modern industry. The scientific understanding needed to support the current poultry industry was slowly gleaned and developed with cooperation between extension services and small-scale APA-based farmers. Without this essential time period of study and growth the poultry industry of today would not exist.
12. It is also essential to understand that there was no old-time poultry industry of any size or national importance before the 1800's save a certain localized productions that fed the London and Parisian markets. Germany was a desert; Italy and Spain were disorganized. Six foundational breeds ran the show for food production, and the Game cock was king.
13. The single most valuable work I know to give anyone a clear understanding of the standard-bred, which was the only, poultry industry 100 years ago, is John Henry Robinson's work the Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. Read it from cover to cover. It takes a lot of reading and research to begin to form a clear idea of poultry history. The current notion of food-fowl versus fancy fowl really only dates from the 40's. Nevertheless, insofar as the poultry industry, born of the 1850's and afterward, was always changing and new breeds were always being introduced or developed, several breeds, which originally held strong productive importance, did become more relegated to folks committed to them for nostalgia or because their markets were more limited and controlled. Leghorns and Minorcas replaced Hamburgs, Polish, and Spanish, and eventually the Leghorn took the bag. Rocks replaced Dorkings. Wyandottes almost made it, but White Rocks cut them off. The RIR eventually took over the brown egg market, and the NH reigned in meat for a good few decades.
14. The credit that any high quality specimens of any single breed and variety of poultry exist today is due exclusively and unequivocally to APA breeders who are grounded in the SOP. Without the SOP and without poultry shows, there would be nothing but industrial stock, because nothing of quality is produced at all outside of APA or industrial breeders.
15. The reason that SOP stock is not always as productive as it could be is that a relatively few fanciers are sustaining a mammoth sum of breeds and varieties. The vast majority of people with chickens get them from hatcheries and are genetic dead-ends. They know nothing of good poultry culture. In order for standard-bred poultry to reach high levels of production, specialization is necessary, and outstandingly few people are willing to limit the number of breeds and varieties they raise. Almost without exception folks with whom I speak are trying to figure how to raise two or more breeds with two or three small coops and a capacity for 30 chicks a year. Nothing will ever come of this, and if I try to tell them, they're full of excuses and bla-bla, but one is not above the rules of the game.
16. If one wants to produce fowl of quality both for the table and for exhibition, one must first and foremost remember that this used to be a profession and not a hobby, and these breeds were developed by poultry professionals not a hand-full of folks looking for amusement on the weekends. If you want professional quality birds, you must run your set-up professionally. If you can only raise 100 chicks a year, then you can raise one breed well. "Well" implies selecting for meat, egg and fancy points. If you try to do more than one breed and variety, you will fail to maintain all of these qualities; that is all. It's not a matter of how you "feel" about it; it's a question of the exigencies of the profession. The best breeders in the country run their spaces in a professional manner. Many fanciers are in it because they love the shapes, sizes and colors. They keep more breeds than they should if there goal were for production. However, they do maintain their breeds in much better form than any hatchery, and anyone willing to specialize can procure stock and then begin a specialized program of selection.
17. If you haven't done this, you don't really know what you're talking about. If you haven't done this, i.e. raised out a minimum of 100 birds per annum over the course of several years, you don't really know what improvement is or how it is had. If you are not working with large fowl on this scale as a minimum, you don't really know what it means to select for production. I don't say this to insult, it's just the facts of poultry life. If you want to improve a truly rare breed and increase its production think of 150 to 200 birds raised a year. If you want to raise under 100, raise only one breed. If you want to raise under 50, raise one variety of one breed that is in relatively good condition.
18. Maintaining #17 over a period of multiple years, showing as actively as possible, and conversing with and learning from those who have gone before is the number one way, and perhaps the only way, of becoming a breeder of high quality fowl.

 

[Arielle]

Well said Joseph-- your concepts solidified or confirmed many ideas about breeding chickens that I have been mulling over for the last 6-9 months.

 

[NanaKat]

Just for fun...
I have some Columbian Wyandotte pullets that won't be selected for the CW breeding pens because of their color, but will make great layers and broody mothers.
As an example, this is Dottie who hatched in February, has lovely type and has been laying for several months. She is now broody and instead of eggs, she is sitting on a golf ball that was put in the nest boxes for the POL girls. I moved her off her nest today for exercise and to redress the boxes with fresh hay. When I put her golf ball on the ground, she immediately covered it and puffed up screaming at me. She was not going to let me have it.....lol.
After she did her business, ate and drank a little, she settled back in on her golf ball talking to it the whole time.
Gotta love a determined broody.

 

[finnfur]

Well said Joseph-- your concepts solidified or confirmed many ideas about breeding chickens that I have been mulling over for the last 6-9 months.

X2 - great post with lot of thought

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Just for fun...
I have some Columbian Wyandotte pullets that won't be selected for the CW breeding pens because of their color, but will make great layers and broody mothers.
As an example, this is Dottie who hatched in February, has lovely type and has been laying for several months. She is now broody and instead of eggs, she is sitting on a golf ball that was put in the nest boxes for the POL girls. I moved her off her nest today for exercise and to redress the boxes with fresh hay. When I put her golf ball on the ground, she immediately covered it and puffed up screaming at me. She was not going to let me have it.....lol.
After she did her business, ate and drank a little, she settled back in on her golf ball talking to it the whole time.
Gotta love a determined broody.

My difficulty wit broodies has been getting them to do it in February, March, and April, when I actually want chicks.