Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[MagicChicken]

Quote:



Yep. I'm a big advocate for the cull..it's the basis of my livestock management and temperament is one of those things for which I cull. But a rooster is a rooster and when he is young he may try a thing or two that he wouldn't when he is more mature. I don't kill them for that, not without giving them a chance to learn the rules of the coop.

Yep, give them a chance to learn the rules of the coop. And eat them if they refuse to learn.

 

[gjensen]

There are young males, coming into their own, that will try. They can usually be "put in their place", and all is well. they grow out of it. These seams more common where multiple cockerels are competing and the competition drive is high.

A bird that becomes a problem is useless. It is not intelligent breeding to perpetuate this characteristic. I will go as far to say that it is irresponsible. Who wants to walk their yard and have to watch their backs?

 

[Beekissed]

That's no way to live. So far I've had some pretty smart birds and none with a need for additional lessons, but if I did they would definitely meet the cull system. I won't tolerate a stupid dog, stupid cat nor a stupid bird on my place. They either learn or they die. Dogs have died, cats have died, but so far no roosters have died for the lack of smarts. Maybe I just haven't lived long enough...

 

[NYREDS]

I've never culled for so-called "behavior". Never have, never will. I've had some aggressive males over the years & often they were some of my most productive breeders. I can recall one Rhode Island Red Bantam who was so aggressive that when I was away all he got to eat was cracked corn thrown through the cage wire. My wife wouldn't open his door. Most every cockerel out of him was the same way. He made at least 10 trips to Champion Row & many of his offspring did as well; for me & people I sold them to.
When I Judge I ask to do the AOSB class because I like handling the big Games. Almost always end up bleeding. I'm suspicious about a Game male that's timid & I know other Judges that feel the same way.
Seriously, how bad can a 5 pound chicken hurt you? I'm a 200 pound with a black belt. I'd feel silly being run off by a chicken.

 

[Beekissed]

I think that's a case of priorities. For some of us, we won't be showing, so keeping an overly aggressive bird on hand isn't in the cards. It's all in how you like your life to go...I don't like anything biting the hand that feeds it at my place. I'm a woman and I'm not scared of a 2 ft. animal without teeth...but I'm also not prepared to have a stupid bird on hand.

I have a 79 yr old mother whose skin tears if she bumps it on a door frame, so I'm thinking she would like to walk on her own land without getting the skin removed on her legs by a feather duster with a Napoleon complex. Some people have scars from roosters, so I'm thinking the hurt can be inflicted.

As there are plenty of good breeders that don't attack humans in the breed I like to work with, I'll never have to put up with getting attacked when I am near the flock...it's not a trait that is desirable in the breed.

If games are the breed of choice I'm guessing there has to be some leeway on that issue.

 

[Vamvakas]

I've never culled for so-called "behavior". Never have, never will. I've had some aggressive males over the years & often they were some of my most productive breeders. I can recall one Rhode Island Red Bantam who was so aggressive that when I was away all he got to eat was cracked corn thrown through the cage wire. My wife wouldn't open his door. Most every cockerel out of him was the same way. He made at least 10 trips to Champion Row & many of his offspring did as well; for me & people I sold them to.
When I Judge I ask to do the AOSB class because I like handling the big Games. Almost always end up bleeding. I'm suspicious about a Game male that's timid & I know other Judges that feel the same way.
Seriously, how bad can a 5 pound chicken hurt you? I'm a 200 pound with a black belt. I'd feel silly being run off by a chicken.

You ever put a naked neck on champions row?

 

[thedragonlady]

You forgot to mention Godzilla..

That's where my Gorilla comes in...LOL!

 

[chickadoodles]

I had one BL that would wait till I was filling the feeders and he would jump on my leg from behind me. I had jeans on and he was a young cockerel abt. 7 or 8 months old. Three times he did it and I would pick up a stick and whop him good and chase him. The third time I called DH and told him he either had to put him in the freezer or I would feed him to Biscuit our pit bull.
DH put him in freezer camp.

 

[thedragonlady]

So, Baybrio, in a nutshell, this thread is about APA/ABA poultry. In this culture, breed is defined by shape as put forth by the Standard of Perfection. Although we do recognize that there are some bona fide breeds not yet recognized by the APA/ABA for mere reasons that they have not been popularized sufficiently here and have yet to go through the necessary process for APA/ABA recognition, we also recognize that, along side the emergent culture of neo-chicken-philes, there is also a culture of introducing the "next best thing" that very frequently is naught but a scam. An easy half or more of the newly imported fads (which incidently are only popular among non-APA/ABA folks because you couldn't get one of us to fall for that bologna to save your life) are nothing more than early stage color projects, easily recreated here in one or two season with a little genetic knowledge: the silly "Orpingtons " and "Brahmas" for example. Others are regional landraces brought in from Europe that are more or less the "Barnyard Bantams" of my youth: Swedish Flower Hens, Icelandics, etc... one look at them shows them to be unrefined and genetically unstable--what we would consider certainly unworthy of being called a breed. Whatever these "Legacy" birds are, they're not a breed and they're certainly not old. Either they're the backyard project of a neophyte who's overly enthusiastic about their project, and posting them because of sheer, if under-informed, excitement, OR, in the event that they're trying to sell them and make money off of them, they're a scam, and folks should know that they're being duped.

One of the great advantages to this thread on BYC is that people can come here and get some fairly substantiated and defensible information; so that they don't fall into the trap of the newest fad that leads to nowhere and does nothing to advance poultry or the owners knowledge thereof. In short, if we laugh, it is so that we do not cry.

Edited to add: One of the several advantages to the Standard is that it protects buyers. Using the Standard, a buyer can guage quality of stock and know whether or not he/she is receiving stock of quality or if they're receiving junk. Incidentally, the entire hatchery industry is based on selling birds of a certain color as opposed to a certain shape. As a result, very little effort needs to be put into selecting for breed-typical qualities, because they've convinced an uninformed populace that it is "color" that makes the breed. Consequently, they make money with birds of ridiculously poor quality. If folks were more concerned with the "Orpington-ness" of their birds rather than their "Buff-ness" hatcheries would have to step up and produce something worth owning, but because people are content to buy a cheap bird of low breeding with an approximated pattern to run around their garden, the result is a boom of birds of pessimal quality all around the country that do absolutely nothing to preserve or promote real specimens of the breed.

Now Joseph, I dearly love your posts . but when you make fun of good Buff Orps , the Dragon Lady will come out. I will put my flock up against any other breed,as dual purpose birds.Please do not lump the serious SOP buff breeders with the 'color of the month' Orp chick factories !

 

[NYREDS]

You ever put a naked neck on champions row?

No, neither as a Judge nor as an exhibitor. I've never owned them, though I don't know why as I like them. As to placing them as a Judge I don't see many in this region & the few I do all came from McMurray.
Sam Brush sent me some bantam Naked Neck eggs last year but the ride from Texas must have been too much for them, they didn't hatch.