Heritage Breeders vs Show Breeders

[NYREDS]

Quote:
I don't think you are to picky at all. Im a purest and a traditionalist in my breeding programs. (Not limited to chickens) In the dog world we have seen every breed damaged by back yard breeders.. people that may mean well, want to breed and then with out doing thier home work do enough damage in the 3-5yr avrage they are in that breed to take years for good breeders to fix. Same has happened in horses, goats and other species..
I think wanting and as a responsible breeder.. needing these people to understand what they are doing is important. If breeders don't take responsibility for their breeds then soon we won't have them, and can't get them back in the same fashion they once existed.
PLEASE keep being picky!

What a great point! There are so many dog "breeders" near me & I suppose everywhere else that think all there is to it is to throw a male & female in together & wait 63 days.
We raise Pugs as good as any you'll find but every time we have a litter we have to hear about somebody who has them for only.......[fill in a #]. We see the results of this type of breeding all the time. They look almost like Pugs, sorta. Oh, and they're usually not very healthy.
I think you've summed up some of the frustration I was trying to express. There are far too many people breeding poultry, dogs & whatever else who approach breeding w/o bothering to learn anything about it beyond the biological basics. Then they unload their junk birds, dogs or whatever else on unsuspecting people.
I often see people here advise people to get birds from a breeder not a hatchery. That advice should be get birds from a responsible, knowledgeable breeder not someone who is simply reproducing hatchery stock.

 

[junebug7334]

I totally agree with your statement, and as far as your question-it's been answered already but again it comes back to the standard.

That's one reason I have some birds coming from a breeder and am not satisfied with the ones that came from McMurray.

 

[iajewel]

Sometimes McMurray pulls though. The below is a young Golden Polish hen from McMurray

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
To breed a bird to a "standard" that can't reproduce without A/I or to the point of low hatchabilty is crazy. The heritage breeds were bred for a reason being eggs, meat whatever.

To the show breeders go for it and do what you do to win the show and the blue ribbon

For others that raise birds for what a chicken was raised for, eggs, meat to feed a family or to make the feed bill then go for that.

Steve in NC

 

[iajewel]

I do show, love to show, and since Im old I have had enough time to learn a few things.
I have learned that You can only show so many days of the year.. That means you are feeding birds 365 days of the year you only show maybe 10 days of the year, 20 at best. If that bird isn't doing something productive on her days off.. she is of no use to me.
Point 2.. you will no matter who you are have culls.. You either better like cooking them up for your dog, or bred something that you can eat and use.
I make a great little roaster with apple stuffing for guests out of my partridge cochin bantums.. I also learned to caponize and use my LF on the table as well.
I keep track of who is laying and in the nesting boxes and who isn't. The ones that aren't, are used for dumplings, or something.. I can't afford to feed usless birds.

Whitch brings me to my useless Polish.. *grins* Ok.. they take some time st start laying.. I feed them twice as long as anything else I have before I get one egg. When they do start.. they make up for it, however.. I only keep what Im willing to put on the chicken welfare program.. and thats not many.
Maybe Im not the avrage show person, but I do think even those who show have a bottom line about how much they will tolerate before they can't just feed and get nothing in return.
I would also like to add I put my roosters through hell. Other then breeding season they have the worst conditions, get the worst feed and I do that for a reason.. I want thier offspring to be tough as nails.. and they are. By the way my roos are fat and healthy.. they just don't get heat in the winter, and don't get the table scraps the girls do. They litteraly tough things out and have to forage to make it. I hold back 1 extra of each breed a year knowing I will have winter kill. Again.. not what most people do, but my hens are foraging fools, and the chicks are viable.
Anyway.. not all show people allow thier birds to be on chicky welfare.

 

[Black Feather]

iajewel I agree. In my own coop I very rarely have trouble with fertility and hatchability. If the birds does not produce anymore it is culled from the flock. If a bird is a poor mother it is culled from the flock (I HATE hens that kill their chicks). It’s what good breeders do, they work to improve their flock and don’t blindly raise chicks year after year without a purpose. I don’t pamper my birds a whole lot, but I do make sure their environment is a good one. They have a clean, draft free coop (but not insulated) and fresh food and water daily. I give them vitamins once in a while as well as de-worm once or twice a year. They also get to run around outside as much as they like most of the years except for the middle of winter. It’s not a bad life and if a bird is too weak to handle these conditions then it is culled form the flock. I don’t want weak birds passing on their flawed genetics to the next generation.

It’s not hard to raise chickens, almost anyone can do it with a rudimentary level of knowledge. To call yourself a breeder I think you actually have to put some effort into improving you flock whether it’s for production purposes or for show.

iajewel, cute polish....but she look squirrel tailed

UC