Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry
- Thread starter Yellow House Farm
- Start date
Quote:
http://www.pathfindersfarm.com/
They have good Buckeyes and sell chicks.
Laura at Pathfinders doesn't have anything for sale right now but Buckeye Dave does:
http://www.buckeyechickens.com
The Club may seem like they are only concerned with showing but they are breeding for that original Buckeye type, which includes what you are looking for in a homestead chicken. They are a fantastic group of people who will go out of their way to help and answer questions.
http://www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com/
Kim
http://www.pathfindersfarm.com/
They have good Buckeyes and sell chicks.
Laura at Pathfinders doesn't have anything for sale right now but Buckeye Dave does:
http://www.buckeyechickens.com
The Club may seem like they are only concerned with showing but they are breeding for that original Buckeye type, which includes what you are looking for in a homestead chicken. They are a fantastic group of people who will go out of their way to help and answer questions.
http://www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com/
Kim
Quote:
Im in western Virginia in the mountains. I had thought about corn, but I wasnt really sure what to do with it. Would you use sweet corn or dent corn? Dry it on the cob or as kernels?
Quote:
The RIR has a great reputation. How is their temperament? What are the RCs you refer to? Red Caps? Rock Cornish? Thanks!
Quote:
Thank you for clarifying. This is a very good point of key importance to a new homesteader. This sort of seasonal/yearly variation would affect egg production as well, correct?
Quote:
Quote:
Thank you both. When you say Bob, should I assume you mean Robert Blosl? Thank you for the referral. Ill be looking Mr. Albrittion up
(Edited to include gratuitous animation)
Im in western Virginia in the mountains. I had thought about corn, but I wasnt really sure what to do with it. Would you use sweet corn or dent corn? Dry it on the cob or as kernels?
Quote:
The RIR has a great reputation. How is their temperament? What are the RCs you refer to? Red Caps? Rock Cornish? Thanks!
Quote:
Thank you for clarifying. This is a very good point of key importance to a new homesteader. This sort of seasonal/yearly variation would affect egg production as well, correct?
Quote:
Quote:
Thank you both. When you say Bob, should I assume you mean Robert Blosl? Thank you for the referral. Ill be looking Mr. Albrittion up
(Edited to include gratuitous animation)
Last edited:
- Jul 21, 2010
- 3,788
- 15
- 181
Quote:
http://www.pathfindersfarm.com/
They have good Buckeyes and sell chicks.
Laura at Pathfinders doesn't have anything for sale right now but Buckeye Dave does:
http://www.buckeyechickens.com
The Club may seem like they are only concerned with showing but they are breeding for that original Buckeye type, which includes what you are looking for in a homestead chicken. They are a fantastic group of people who will go out of their way to help and answer questions.
http://www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com/
Kim
Yes, Dave has very nice buckeyes. He is a great source of this great heritage breed.
http://www.pathfindersfarm.com/
They have good Buckeyes and sell chicks.
Laura at Pathfinders doesn't have anything for sale right now but Buckeye Dave does:
http://www.buckeyechickens.com
The Club may seem like they are only concerned with showing but they are breeding for that original Buckeye type, which includes what you are looking for in a homestead chicken. They are a fantastic group of people who will go out of their way to help and answer questions.
http://www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com/
Kim
Yes, Dave has very nice buckeyes. He is a great source of this great heritage breed.
- Jul 21, 2010
- 3,788
- 15
- 181
Quote:
The RIR has a great reputation. How is their temperament? What are the RCs you refer to? Red Caps? Rock Cornish? Thanks!
He means the rose comb variety of the RIR.
The RIR has a great reputation. How is their temperament? What are the RCs you refer to? Red Caps? Rock Cornish? Thanks!
He means the rose comb variety of the RIR.
Quote:
Im in western Virginia in the mountains. I had thought about corn, but I wasnt really sure what to do with it. Would you use sweet corn or dent corn? Dry it on the cob or as kernels?
I'm sure chickens would love a nice juicy ear of Silver Queen but what you want to store is a hard dent corn.
My folks ate the same corn they fed to the stock. It was just a white field corn that had been saved in the family since eternity. In the summer they ate it as roasting ears and maybe canned some into soup mix. After it was matured, it fed the stock, made grits, corn meal and hominy. Foolish youth has led me not to have any of it now. I'm going to plant Hickory King in my garden this year because it is about the closest commercially available seed I can find to my memory of the family corn.
What you don't eat for yourself when it is fresh, you leave on the stalk until it is dried out. Pull the ears off the stalks and store them in a place with some ventilation and hopefully where the rats can't get to it.
A homestead chicken will know what to do with it. Fancy chickens might need to have it made into polenta. : )
Another use for corn:
My dad has told me that he had never heard of nor seen toilet paper until he moved to the City. The men used the cobs and the ladies used last years Sears Roebuck catalog.
Im in western Virginia in the mountains. I had thought about corn, but I wasnt really sure what to do with it. Would you use sweet corn or dent corn? Dry it on the cob or as kernels?
I'm sure chickens would love a nice juicy ear of Silver Queen but what you want to store is a hard dent corn.
My folks ate the same corn they fed to the stock. It was just a white field corn that had been saved in the family since eternity. In the summer they ate it as roasting ears and maybe canned some into soup mix. After it was matured, it fed the stock, made grits, corn meal and hominy. Foolish youth has led me not to have any of it now. I'm going to plant Hickory King in my garden this year because it is about the closest commercially available seed I can find to my memory of the family corn.
What you don't eat for yourself when it is fresh, you leave on the stalk until it is dried out. Pull the ears off the stalks and store them in a place with some ventilation and hopefully where the rats can't get to it.
A homestead chicken will know what to do with it. Fancy chickens might need to have it made into polenta. : )
Another use for corn:
My dad has told me that he had never heard of nor seen toilet paper until he moved to the City. The men used the cobs and the ladies used last years Sears Roebuck catalog.
Quote:
Thanks! (I apologize if that was a silly question. I've never grown anything but sweet corn.
)
I appreciate the explanation. I will certainly try that! (But maybe not for toilet paper...
) I love heirloom plants. I usually grow Country Gentleman, a sweet corn, but this may give me the excuse to try something more colorful like Bloody Butcher or Blue Hopi.... Thanks again!
Thanks! (I apologize if that was a silly question. I've never grown anything but sweet corn.
I appreciate the explanation. I will certainly try that! (But maybe not for toilet paper...
Yellow House Farm and WallTEnters--10 x thank you!
This is the real info to be able to breed! I'm more interested in production traits as a priority with feather, etc second. I will check out some of the buckeye breeders listed.
My flock: I picked what seemed to be very good egg layers; picked from a hatchery because as a newbie, I didn't anywhere else to buy chicks.
I will plan the crosses based on what roos I have from this first 25 chicks. One roo is small and very feisty. Another is large and very quiet. I'm not sure which temperment would survive best on my farm. I may have to see how bad the hawks are.
The purpose of crossing is to create hybrid vigor, so "mutts" do have a purpose. For example, the black sexlink is a "mutt". A three way or 4 way cross gains even more hybrid vigor.These are only hatchery birds not good stock from a breeder. I'm not really sure of the real traits that these birds have only what the hatchery advertized them to be; realize the hatchery also puts in a little disclaimer as well.
This is the real info to be able to breed! I'm more interested in production traits as a priority with feather, etc second. I will check out some of the buckeye breeders listed.
My flock: I picked what seemed to be very good egg layers; picked from a hatchery because as a newbie, I didn't anywhere else to buy chicks.
I will plan the crosses based on what roos I have from this first 25 chicks. One roo is small and very feisty. Another is large and very quiet. I'm not sure which temperment would survive best on my farm. I may have to see how bad the hawks are.
The purpose of crossing is to create hybrid vigor, so "mutts" do have a purpose. For example, the black sexlink is a "mutt". A three way or 4 way cross gains even more hybrid vigor.These are only hatchery birds not good stock from a breeder. I'm not really sure of the real traits that these birds have only what the hatchery advertized them to be; realize the hatchery also puts in a little disclaimer as well.
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I googled the Speckled Sussex reference and found Tony Albritton. He's in Washington state and sells hatching eggs and started birds.
There is actually a whole BYC thread about him, "Feather Hills Farm - Heritage Hatchery," from 12/23/2010:
Quote:
There's a picture of his 2009 "Reserve Champion English Speckled Sussex" at http://washingtonfeatherfanciers.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=65367349.
(Just in case anyone else was interested.
)
There is actually a whole BYC thread about him, "Feather Hills Farm - Heritage Hatchery," from 12/23/2010:
Quote:
There's a picture of his 2009 "Reserve Champion English Speckled Sussex" at http://washingtonfeatherfanciers.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=65367349.
(Just in case anyone else was interested.
- Thread starter
- #360
Quote:
Mutts do have a purpose for heterosis, or hybrid vigor, and this can get you somewhere for meat concerns, if for no other reason that if you can kill it you can eat it. However, laying, like dairy, is distinctly linked to the genetics of the breed and is maintained carefully through controlled in-breeding within the breed. Certain crosses are productive in the first generation, especially, and specifically, if you use a cock from a high egg production strain, but this is only good for one generation. You will have to maintain the two parent lines to a high degree of productive perfection in order to continue creating the F1 hybrids which will produce for you.
In the rise of science and mass food production, it was very quickly accepted that purebred fowl are far better producers. Now we know precisely why. Before the rise of the APA, APA-sponsored egg tests, and standardized breeding for productive qualities, egg yields were much lower than what came to be the expected norm of purebred fowl.
Some people think it might be nice to start their own breed, but this is MUCH easier said than done and requires a profound understanding of genetic potential and breeding trends. Without serious study and record keeping failure is practically guaranteed.
I don't write this to be harsh, by all means. The great thing about one's homestead is that one can do what ever one pleases and, as a homestead, it doesn't really matter. As a working small-scale farm, which has a different set of demands, you would lose your shirt with a plan like that, hands down. Remember, milk and eggs in stable, predictable sums, are directly linked to the carefully managed in-breeding of pure-bred farm animals.
Best of luck!
Mutts do have a purpose for heterosis, or hybrid vigor, and this can get you somewhere for meat concerns, if for no other reason that if you can kill it you can eat it. However, laying, like dairy, is distinctly linked to the genetics of the breed and is maintained carefully through controlled in-breeding within the breed. Certain crosses are productive in the first generation, especially, and specifically, if you use a cock from a high egg production strain, but this is only good for one generation. You will have to maintain the two parent lines to a high degree of productive perfection in order to continue creating the F1 hybrids which will produce for you.
In the rise of science and mass food production, it was very quickly accepted that purebred fowl are far better producers. Now we know precisely why. Before the rise of the APA, APA-sponsored egg tests, and standardized breeding for productive qualities, egg yields were much lower than what came to be the expected norm of purebred fowl.
Some people think it might be nice to start their own breed, but this is MUCH easier said than done and requires a profound understanding of genetic potential and breeding trends. Without serious study and record keeping failure is practically guaranteed.
I don't write this to be harsh, by all means. The great thing about one's homestead is that one can do what ever one pleases and, as a homestead, it doesn't really matter. As a working small-scale farm, which has a different set of demands, you would lose your shirt with a plan like that, hands down. Remember, milk and eggs in stable, predictable sums, are directly linked to the carefully managed in-breeding of pure-bred farm animals.
Best of luck!
Last edited:
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