Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[LeslieDJoyce]

I told my son I was going to figure out how to cook chicken feet as part of our dinner instead of just using them for stock. He got this horrified look on his face and told me very bluntly he'd be eating at a friend's house that night.

Teenagers can be so much fun to mess with.

I lived in Ecuador for a while, and they always tried to hide the chicken feet from me so I wouldn't feel ill. I tried to explain, I'm cool with that! Bring it on! What Ecuador can do with both potatoes and chicken feet ... nom nom. Of course a lot of places are even more into chicken feet than Ecuador ...

Dad's doctor told him to eat glucosamine supplements. He whined about the price. I showed him the jelly-like stock I make with bones and feet, which is essentially "found food," so "free" ish, and FULL of the stuff. He's more of a fan of soup now.

I haven't tried duck feet yet, @hellbender , but duck eggs make THE BEST mayonnaise.

For hearts and gizzards, I like to make a Puerto Rican pickled green banana salad (Guineitos en Escabeche) the day ahead of processing chickens, then on processing day take the hearts and gizzards and fry them a bit and mix them in. Oh yeah, that's GOOD!

I like the livers in a cream sauce over pasta. Or a bit curried cooked in butter with spinach.

These things are a BIG part of why I wanted to start raising poultry.

 

[hellbender]

I lived in Ecuador for a while, and they always tried to hide the chicken feet from me so I wouldn't feel ill. I tried to explain, I'm cool with that! Bring it on! What Ecuador can do with both potatoes and chicken feet ... nom nom. Of course a lot of places are even more into chicken feet than Ecuador ...

Dad's doctor told him to eat glucosamine supplements. He whined about the price. I showed him the jelly-like stock I make with bones and feet, which is essentially "found food," so "free" ish, and FULL of the stuff. He's more of a fan of soup now.

I haven't tried duck feet yet, @hellbender , but duck eggs make THE BEST mayonnaise.

For hearts and gizzards, I like to make a Puerto Rican pickled green banana salad (Guineitos en Escabeche) the day ahead of processing chickens, then on processing day take the hearts and gizzards and fry them a bit and mix them in. Oh yeah, that's GOOD!

I like the livers in a cream sauce over pasta. Or a bit curried cooked in butter with spinach.

These things are a BIG part of why I wanted to start raising poultry.

Voice of experience!

 

[DesertChic]

I lived in Ecuador for a while, and they always tried to hide the chicken feet from me so I wouldn't feel ill. I tried to explain, I'm cool with that! Bring it on! What Ecuador can do with both potatoes and chicken feet ... nom nom. Of course a lot of places are even more into chicken feet than Ecuador ...

Dad's doctor told him to eat glucosamine supplements. He whined about the price. I showed him the jelly-like stock I make with bones and feet, which is essentially "found food," so "free" ish, and FULL of the stuff. He's more of a fan of soup now.

I haven't tried duck feet yet, @hellbender , but duck eggs make THE BEST mayonnaise.

For hearts and gizzards, I like to make a Puerto Rican pickled green banana salad (Guineitos en Escabeche) the day ahead of processing chickens, then on processing day take the hearts and gizzards and fry them a bit and mix them in. Oh yeah, that's GOOD!

I like the livers in a cream sauce over pasta. Or a bit curried cooked in butter with spinach.

These things are a BIG part of why I wanted to start raising poultry.

I give the hearts and livers to my dogs. Not only do they love the treat, but I found that my very arthritic dog suddenly started getting around better after being fed the raw organ meat. I'm guessing it either helped with her inflammation or boosted some kind vitamin or mineral she's deficient in.

I've never eaten gizzards, but based one what you described, I may just have to give them a try.

 

[hellbender]

Gizzards...I really like them! It's one of those things that either you like them or NOT...not much room in between.

 

[3riverschick]

Hey ya'll !

Ashlie wrote me this evening. She is wanting to figure out all the in's and out's of rotational linebreeding. I know everyone here is helpful and we have a bunch of folks experienced in this breeding program. When she signs on, as BYC : ashlieneevel , please could ya'll give her a hand on your experiences with it. She is especially wanting to know how the foundation birds should be related for best success.
Thank to all for your help.

Karen

 

[ashlieneevel]

Hey ya'll !

Ashlie wrote me this evening. She is wanting to figure out all the in's and out's of rotational linebreeding. I know everyone here is helpful and we have a bunch of folks experienced in this breeding program. When she signs on, as BYC : ashlieneevel , please could ya'll give her a hand on your experiences with it. She is especially wanting to know how the foundation birds should be related for best success.
Thank to all for your help.

Karen

Thanks Karen!

Hello everyone I have just begun looking into this breeding plan and as Karen pointed out I am interested in finding out about how the foundation birds should be related. Thanks

 

[hellbender]

Thanks Karen!

Hello everyone I have just begun looking into this breeding plan and as Karen pointed out I am interested in finding out about how the foundation birds should be related. Thanks

I don't even fully understand the 'ins and outs' of your quest but there are a few folks here who can level it right out for you...just wanted to say HOWDY and WELCOME!!!...

RON

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
From what I understand, rotational line breeding will help you maintain a breed and minimize inbreeding over time but you have to start with birds that are already close to what you want. If your birds need a lot of improvement you will probably have to set up additional matings outside of the rotation in order to correct whatever issues your birds are showing. The question is how close are the foundation birds to the Standard? Because that is likely to affect things more than how related the foundation stock is. Disclaimer: I haven't got my birds to the point where they are consistent enough for a rotational line breeding system so I have no direct experience with it, and there is no guarantee my understanding of the system is correct.

Bob Blosi (aka Blosl) made some excellent posts on this topic in the original Heritage Large Fowl thread. I thought I had saved some of those line breeding posts for future reference, but they have gone missing. If I find them I will re-post it here.

 

[MagicChicken]

P.S. Welcome, Ashlieneevel !

 

[ashlieneevel]

Thanks for your reply and the welcome

I'm fairly certain I understand the basic premise of the program, but what I am having trouble understanding specifically is the foundation stock and more specifically how many and where should they come from. Naturally I understand you want to start with good stock to begin with so thats not the question. Unless I am missing an alternative, I see only two options for foundation stock, and with both i can see pros and cons of these options.

Option 1: Get 3 sets of trios all from the same breeder/line. One Trio becomes Pen A , the next Pen B, the next Pen C. Now if these trios were of the same line but not the same clutch I could see how this would work but if they were too closely related it would seem that this style of breeding would be redundant in that scenario, but perhaps i'm wrong.

Option 2: Get 3 sets of trios from separate independent breeders where each set embodies a quality that compliments or strengthens a quality lacking or not found in another. Now I see how this could be a good thing but I also see how this could go from terrific original breeders to muddy waters very quickly.

Maybe there is some other option or variation that I am completely missing. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case because to date,i've invested a whopping 2 days into researching this thus far.

If I had to guess from my options I listed, I would guess that Option 1 was the way to go so long as their was a bit of distance between the trios and then later on down the road you could introduce other stock into the program to add for vigor and other traits. I think to go with the other option from the start, and especially by a person who wasn't particularly skilled, would just be undoing all the hard work the previous breeders had put into their birds. Again maybe I'm missing something, it wouldn't be the first time.

Past the point of the initial stock, I understand how to rotate them through and that there is the need to cull ruthlessly. i also understand that the culling part takes particular skill in identifying what needs to go or stay and also when it needs to go or stay. I am sure I can learn more about that from studying more in depth on the subject. I fully intend to start at the beginning of this thread and its predecessor and work my way forward for a deeper understanding.

Another question that I am bouncing around in my mind is if it is advisable, or at the very least acceptable, to keep the hens separated in a way that one could monitor their individual egg production but still allow them the ability to see one another and chit chat through a barrier between runs. I know that chickens are social creatures who like to be in a flock so i'm not sure if this would be considered cruel. It sounds an awful lot like solitary confinement in a jail to me but i definitely see how it could be beneficial in a breeding program from a record keeping perspective. So any comments regarding this would be greatly appreciated. It should be noted in this scenario the chickens would not be living in a northern climate but in a sub-tropical climate (West Central Florida) where the average low ranges between 41 and 65F.

Ok I think I explained all that to the best of my abilities for what I would like to know. I hope I didn't make too much of an ... out of myself lol. Everyone was new at one point or another though. Gotta start somewhere.

Thank you very much for your time.

Warm regards,

Ashlie