German New Hampshire

[gjensen]

Jeff, I haven't noticed any ruffled feathers. Not mine anyways. I am not that sensitive. I was just sharing thoughts, and asking others. Sometimes, I should think things through before I speak. I am not a good communicator. There is usually more in my head, than comes out my mouth. I wouldn't take me too seriously.
I have read through the Good Shepard thread. I have just read something contrary to the no new blood being added. I am wondering which is correct. I really like the birds regardless of the details of their past. I am not concerned with which is right.
I merely wonder what my limitations are. As I build pens etc. I wonder how many is enough. In the case of the New Hampshires, I have set up a house and yard plus three breeding houses with runs. I am planning three families, each consisting of eight hens and a cock. I wonder how far that will take me. I don't necessarily need an answer, because I think I will see the need when/if it comes.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
But I do take you "seriously", 'cause you're working with something I'm also interested in Mr. Jensen

and I have no doubt that you know what you are doing too

Jeff

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
I knew Ralph Sturgeon well. He is really the person who kept the Ringlet strain going. I got barred Rocks from him in the late 70's and I have yet to see barreds the size he had then in these times. There is no doubt that the good ones around today are Thompson/Sturgeon birds. They supplied the originals of what we see today. Line breeding means a lot of different things to people, but in poultry it generally means father to daughter, mother to son. When you do this you have two lines going. A father/daughter and a mother/ son. Those are the lines you bring back to each other to keep good vigor without going back to someone else. If you go to someone else ...make sure that they have the same strain...... I believe all exhibition barred Rocks came from E. B. Thompson originally. Sturgeon was still selling birds in the 80's so IMO he is really the one who kept them together and pure up to that time.

I don't believe that anyone still alive now got their birds from Thompson, since he was long gone. Sturgeon should be given that credit for keeping that line going until his death in his late 90's.

Line breeding is as close to cloning as one can get. Meticulous records must be taken and all birds need to be toe punched or otherwise permanently marked to prevent errors. There is a lot of info around about how to line breed.

Walt

Walt

 

[Shireshome]

Thank you Walt for explaining line breeding. I've raised chickens most of my life but I am very new to breeding birds to continue desired traits/standards and I would like to understand exactly how to do it without messing things up. If I wanted to break things up into two groups like you said, daughters to fathers and sons to mothers AND I wanted to take one group and perfect it for roosters and the other for hens; does it matter which group I use? I hope I made that sentence make sense.

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
It does not matter which group you use, but you will see one group producing better males or females in the two groups. That is called double mating. (Breeding for one trait/color/sex with two lines that are related).
It will take a while to figure out which side of the family is producing what you want. I have a line of Sebrights and I can't get any good males, but I could If I wanted to spend the time to double mate them, but it would take a couple years and I don't have the space at the moment. so I just show females.

Walt

 

[Barred Rocker]

Quote:
I agree Matt that shipped eggs are always a gamble. But comparatively speaking I've had pretty decent luck with shipped eggs otherwise. As I speak RIR's are hatching in my bator now that I got from luckypickens. On day 10, 22 out of 24 were developing, only 2 out of 10 were developing with the NH's. Also 6 out of 6 of my Delawares are developing as well. I still wouldn't mind trying to hatch some more german line eggs but I think if I'm able to get a few chicks from Kathy this spring I'll be better off. I'm really excited about this line and can't wait to get a nice flock going. As far as I know, no one in my area is raising them. I was suspicious but wasn't certain that my line was hatchery stock. Kathy pretty much confirmed that in an earlier post. So I'm in agreement with most you that keeping the german line pure is the way to go.
Merry Christmas everyone
Ben

 

[banjoejoe4783]

hi all i see a lot of talk about me on this thread so i post in and say HI

my german line hamps are from kathy and i just love them
here are some pics

and some pics of winings

cris herzt- so glad to hear you had a great hatch

BARRED ROCKER- i do not know what you are saying

i have NO TROBLE HATCHING EGGS HERE and not shure what you mean by porus eggs ??? i have verry good egg quality . however i do have a hen that lays off shape eggs they are larger on the small end but hatch great i will take pics of eggs i have in my bator now to show you if you have repeet bad luck why did you not just PM me ?????? i have chicks and started birds i can ship whenever youmay have whanted

oh well im off to go take some pics be back in a jiff

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Have you seen this, Walt? If I ever get a chance to go here (USDA National Agricultural Library - The National Agricultural Library's Abraham Lincoln Building is located in Beltsville, Maryland, 15 miles northeast of Washington, DC) I would LOVE to go through this stuff! Hey, you wanna fund me a vacation to go there?

http://riley.nal.usda.gov/nal_displ...vel4_id=10916&level5_id=0&placement_default=0

 

[banjoejoe4783]

kathy how is your progect birds doing last i heard you where fixing to breed the F1s

 

[banjoejoe4783]

here is a pin with some young hamps and susexs

and some 2 1/2 weel olds

and a pic of a hamp egg that was loaded sunday

sorry not clear but my candiler brooke and i have to use a flashlite