Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Robert Blosl]

I dont know any thing about Dark Cornish but I have the black and white pictures and I can read the words and it is just a guide as I will learn it takes at least three years to figure out what you are looking for. If you are a carpenter you can not build a house or put a add on a house with out blue prints. What most people do is wing it on thier own. Even the people who show only a third of them have a standard. It is up to the beginner. They can go that route what ever which way they want but in three to five years if you have so so birds have you done the breed any good and no one is going to recomend your birds to get started with.

Its a lot of pride to have someone tell you you have one of the top three or five strains in the USA.

Very few people can do this it takes passion and a lot of dedicated record keeping.

Just a warning to the beginner. However if all you want is birds that look like the breed you want and you want them for meat or eggs only that is different.

I am talking about hard core Heritage Breeders. bob

 

[punky rooster]

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Didn't want to post your entire post ..... but, just wanted to comment....

I totally agree with what you say. Great post!

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

Breeding a heritage fowl to the SOP is breeding a bird to be strong, healthy and vibrant. No future with out it. If I am working with a heritage fowl that has survived in this country for 350 years, the standard of that fowl was written from its past. If the bird survived that long I want to keep those traits there. Bob to answer your question the Doms on the spit where just under 6 lbs at 16 weeks. BR! John

 

[punky rooster]

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awesome to see this! very nice post!
a very nice weight too, are you by any chance, using the ALBC method of breeding?

 

[buffalogal]

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You keep the birds locked in "tractors" that consist of a piece of tin on two sides and the top for a windbreak and then you fault the chicken for not being "tuff" if it gets frostbite in 6 degree weather?

 

[WallTenters]

I didn't mean to offend anyone with my post, and "garbage" was probably a very bad word for it. No animal is garbage, each life is precious and I didn't mean it in that way. Again, a bad word to describe "poor quality", I apologize.

My breeding partner and I cull any hens out that don't have breed traits, but that are good layers, and put them in the "egg laying pen". She sells eggs so likes different colors, so there are several breeds of hens in there. But if a hen shows narrowness or has less production, they get invited to dinner. But these birds will not reproduce. They live out their lives happily and even have their own rooster in their to protect his "ladies" but don't hatch any eggs.

We are working with Dominiques. If there is a heritage American breed at all, the Dominique is it. A true dual-purpose bird. The breed neared extinction and many representatives now in back yards are pinched-tailed, course and nothing at all like the standard. They aren't as good of mothers as they should be, the roosters never grow in their beautiful tail feathers, the hens lay small eggs and not very often. Their combs are so coarse that even though they are a rose comb, they can be frost-bitten, thus eliminating the cold-hardiness of the breed.

A true SOP female should have a well spread tail, be proud in her carriage, be a prolific layer of medium eggs, be an excellent mother that will be moderately broody. The male should have a full tail, stand tall and be watchful of predators. He too should have width throughout. Cockerels butchered at 16-20 weeks yield a nice carcass for the table. They should have a nice rose comb that is very cold hardy.

If the SOP birds lay twice as much, butcher out to yield more, look better, last longer and protect their chicks better - why on earth would that not fit in perfectly with a homestead flock?

I guess my point was... even if you're not planning on showing, the SOP was written to be the ideal bird for that breed - a hen with a well spread tail will lay bigger and more eggs than a pinched hen. A cockerel with width in his base and throughout will butcher out more meat than one that is narrow. Because our breed is dual-purpose, it must have a combination of both qualities, and that's what we're breeding for. I want to be able to show my chickens and tell those passing by that we get beautiful pinkish eggs every day and that we raise out extra cockerels to process for Sunday dinners.

 

[X2Farm]

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Very well stated! That is a GREAT reason to breed towards the SOP. Its not just "looks" like some state

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

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You keep the birds locked in "tractors" that consist of a piece of tin on two sides and the top for a windbreak and then you fault the chicken for not being "tuff" if it gets frostbite in 6 degree weather?

lol... my point was that some birds had worse frostbite than others y??? and it does not normally get this cold last year i had no frostbite at all under the same conditions... this years weather has been weird we are in a severe drought here not much precipitation at all this winter... i hope we get more rain before spring or we are gonna be in trouble come summer...

 

[X2Farm]

This is chock full of good reading. Thought yall might enjoy it!

Building Plans for Poultrymen and Practical Methods of Poultry Raising

http://books.google.com/books?id=UD...AEwAg#v=onepage&q=semi monitor poultry&f=true

 

[spartacus_63]

I too am raising a homestead flock and I do use a SOP (1905) as a guide, but there are other guides out there as well. There is lots of good literature on what poultry body structure needs to look like to be most productive. There is less concern over comb points or shade of color. It is my understanding that the APA SOP is a book of standards for the recognized breeds within the club. It is mostly used for judges to grade birds at shows and for breeders to have an accepted standard to breed towards.

My goals are to raise dual purpose self sufficient, vigorous birds with emphasis on egg production followed closely by table weight. I also am interested in good broody mothers and longer production of large and xtra large eggs. I selectively breed my birds according to my goals. I do not cull a producing bird because it would not score a 92 at a show. If I have an off standard hen that meets or exceeds weight and is producing a high number of eggs or shows exceptional broody characteristics, then she remains on the breeding list. I do not consider this a degradation to the breed. In MHO, I would be hurting the breed (and certainly my flock) if I culled these genetically superior birds because they did not meet some artificial standard.

As for marketing my birds, no one will come looking for birds from me that has the show ring champion ribbon as their primary goal, nor one who expects to have one of the top strains in the country. The folks who want my birds are like minded with me. They are folks looking for good quality, dual purpose, self sufficient, vigorous birds that tend to be good broody mothers, or raise chickens for a more specific goal and are not interested or able to breed their own and want replacements. A reputation is only as good as the market it represents. If the market yearns for production quality, the customer will seek out birds that produce. If one is in the market for SQ birds, they will shop in that market. Neither market is better than the other, they serve different customers with different goals.

I am on my fourth generation in one breed and the third generation in another. My birds are living up to my expectations so far, but it is still early. I do not raise hundreds of chicks each year so my breeding has to be specific and my results have to be equal to or greater than the previous generation to be considered a success. By the end of this season, I will know if I am headed in the right direction or if I was just lucky to this point.

I do agree with Bob in that you need to know where you are and where you want to go before you start. A map is always helpful, but there is more than one map and usually more than one route.