Heritage Breeding

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Quote:
This is how we want to go at our house as well. It seems to me if a breed is not producing something useful (meat, eggs) and/or is not able to do it inexpensively (free-ranging skill, brooding/caring for their own chicks, mating without artificial help, no fertility issues, robust and hardy, adaptable to a variety of conditions, domestic easy-going temperment) then there is a reason the breed will lose popularity and die out.

Of course the popularity of bantams, silkies, showgirls and other breeds that seem to exist expressly for exhibition and pets shows that people have different priorities than they once did. I see many of these among the 4-Hers we work with and they are rightfully very happy with them and proud of their work, but fancy-only breeds are just not for us.

We really want birds that look very close to what they are supposed to but still have the heritage dual-purpose usefullness. Are some breeds already more in line with this than others?

I would love to meet more heritage breeders. Is it unlikely that we will see some of these folks at poultry exhibitions? Where does one find Heritage Breeders?

 

[speckledhen]

I think that Delawares are probably close to the top of the list. They were originally bred as a meat bird, not so much today, but the good males that are close to the standard are good quality for meat, the hens are good layers and will brood, they forage well, etc. You really have to get them from good lines and cull for body type, etc. Not many of the hatchery Dels are great quality and many were outcrossed to Columbian Rock, but the true heritage Delawares fit the bill all-round.
To find heritage breeders, you can join the breed club or network on BYC or other forums devoted to certain breeds.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
I think that it is less a breed thing than a line thing. You might find what you are looking for in certain lines of Buckeyes, Delawares, New Hampshires, Plymouth Rocks and a few others, but the typical bird from any of those breeds won't have the "heritage dual-purpose usefulness" that you have in mind. Most of them will tend toward the egg-production side and not have great meat or mothering qualities. (Because the Cornish crosses are so much better from a commercial meat production standpoint -- even for the small farmer/individual chicken raiser -- and from an economic perspective broodiness is not a desirable trait in an egg layer.)

 

[cybercat]

Joann there are a few of us here on BYC but the real good resource is the ALBC here is the link to it. http://www.albc-usa.org/heritagechicken/index.html

Most people raising chickens either do pet, show or just raise for money. In order for breeder to be a breeder and not just a producer one must have a plan and goal they are working on. Show people do but as you said at the cost of egg laying. The probelm comes with the heritage that one could have had a certain breed forever and produced it but not working on a goal or a plan.

Many homesteaders or farmers who have had chickens passed down to them, might have old stock line but no one ever work with them and records were never kept. Today things are much different and everyone wants to know this and that and so forth.

Working on heritage has come down too meaning following the SOP plus building a strong disease resistant chicken that lays well and can live off the land. Most of todays hatchery chickens can lay but are weak on resisitance and agaisnt their SOP. Most can not forge well either anymore.

Luckily it does not take much to bring it all back but again alot depends on the breed. Certain breeds were never meant to be free ranging chickens or self producing. In otherwords non broody. These breeds one would stay away from if you goal was heritage for oneself. One reason I choose my breed was it met all of my requirments for me. It was not the only one that did but I narrowed down to a very specfic list of what I was after. I detail all that in my blog under the title The Search.

I tend to be a bit stricter than some on my definition on heritage. To me if one must use a incubator to hatch eggs, then it is not a heritage chicken. If the chicken can not free range and survive it is not heritage. If it is not before a certain date the breed was made it is not heritage. I would go so far to say if you can not use it for both meat and eggs it is not heritage. All chickens should be able to be eaten even if they are just egg layers now. Just remember in the old days and other countries they were no just egg layer or just meat chickens. They were just chickens that layed and you ate.

 

[Dirt Road]

I fear can not completely agree with some of the other posters.
First, on the matter of hatcheries. I do NOT have any affiliation with any hatchery, but I do grow weary of reading the incessant slams they endure. It seems that any breeder who crosses different varieties of chicken is working on a"project", whereas if a hatchery does the exact same cross they are committing a grave sin of some sort. As far as hatchery birds not being able to free range, I strongly disagree. It will depend entirely on the breed and even the strain of birds. Some clarification of the term "free range" might be in order. If one means birds which are allowed out to capture whatever part of their diet they can, while having access to a well stocked feeder in the coop, then nearly all chickens will qualify. If at the other extreme one is referring to birds which can find their own safe spot to roost, with only their wits to defend against predators while obtaining the vast majority of their food on their own, that is a bird of a different feather, and very few varieties would survive for long. Virtually all breeds heritage or otherwise, evolved with human intervention. They were "culled", either by nature or their owners with an eye towards certain qualities. While the selection process may have been a bit inexact, it never-the-less was pretty much constant, even if it amounted only to eating the ones which didn't perform as hoped.
While we can set any arbitrary date, as being pre-heritage, or post-heritage, we need to understand that such date is in fact arbitrary and of use only to the individual who establishes said date. People are constantly working on new color varieties of heritage chickens. Does that then mean that only birds of a color recognized before a specific date are heritage, and those of the same breed but of "newer" colors are not heritage? Delawares are in fact one of the newest breeds commonly referred to as heritage. As we all know they were developed within the last 50 years or so, and were the result of a simple cross perfected by an individual, but then propagated in huge numbers by hatcheries. The breed was not established by a handful of individuals working with a few birds in their back yard.
Sorry for the long winded rant.

Jim

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

With the domesticated easy-going temperment, I expected to have to protect them from predators and offer them shelter. If I wanted it to survive completely on its own, I couldn't really expect it to conveniently show up when I want meat or eggs, could I? I respect that there are two sides to the contract (of sorts).

We currently have 42 young birds on pasture protected by electronet and sheltered in two 6X8 hoop houses with wire-and-tarp covers and open bottoms. They are locked up in the shelters at night in case the fece goes down, to give them a few minutes more security from whatever critter is after them.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how little feed the Welsummers/Speckled Sussex/Delaware/Ameraucanas ate once they were on pasture. The few Corn/Rock crosses we have still sit at the feeder and do little else. I would like to have more of the former type of bird, as pasture is cheap for us even if they are on it longer.

The Speckled Sussex are hatchery birds, and do not look at all the right color, but the personality and body shape seem to be a match. They are certainly performing like their instincts are in the right place and are very curious and friendly. It is too early to tell on the other breeds whether Their appearance is even close to standard, but they foraging well. I am hoping to find birds that "look close to right" and have a capacity to produce reasonably (not expecting egg-machine / meat-machine results). To me the breeding has to reflect usefullness as well as confirmation.

Another BYC member commented that if I spend a good bit to get an exhibition quality bird, it is unlikely that I will allow them to free-range because to the predator danger. I am looking for a breed/strain that I can at least pasture and will do well there if I protect them from predators.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
Sort of like how old an object has to be before it is considered an antique. Still, just because it is arbitrary does not mean that the word has no use even if a firm date is not selected.

Delawares are in fact one of the newest breeds commonly referred to as heritage. As we all know they were developed within the last 50 years or so, and were the result of a simple cross perfected by an individual, but then propagated in huge numbers by hatcheries. The breed was not established by a handful of individuals working with a few birds in their back yard.

Delawares were developed in the early 1940s, so probably over 60 years ago. But, it does amuse me that Delawares are often considered a "heritage" or "old" breed.

And, it was mostly the work of one person, George Ellis, wasn't it? What are now Delawares were an off-colored sport of a cross between a Barred Rock and a New Hampshire. So, I presume originated from a few birds -- the sport cannot be controlled and repeated.

Tim​

 

[spotsplus]

On a very small scale I decided to raise Russian Orloffs, Appenzellar Spitzenhouzens and Crevacoeurs. Orloff and Crevs are old breeds. I am not sure on the Spitz as I've just started some research on them. Crevs actually were one of the basis of todays popular Langshans. I only have younger stock now so have to wait till next spring for babies.