Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[NanaKat]

More Shawnee Show photos...

There were no Faverolles, Dorkings or Dark Brahma. Did not see any Sussex. Saw only one pair of Dominiques. RIR only in the Juniors.

Ameraucana


Buckeye...three cockerels from the same breeder placed 1, 2, 3. The color was really good.


LaFlesche..same bird in both pictures...wanted his comb to show.


Plymouth Rock The first K was Best American as well as BB. He would not stand for me, but still a wonderful iridescence on the feathers. When I saw him earlier, he had the bridghtest yellow legs. There was only one hen..very nice looking too, but she was out of her cage when I was taking the photos.



New Hampshire, BB, Res American. The judge noted the great color on the cockerel.


Mottled LF Cochin... Bo Garrett is developing a nice color pattern on the LF.


White LF Cochin


Thought I'd post this photo of a pair of WFBS not shown, but delivered to the new owner. The line is originally from a Tennessee breeder.
The pair now belongs to Don Gibson. Bo Garrett's wife is working with the breed also.....both in Oklahoma.


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[NanaKat]

Some of the Bantam birds in the Shawnee Show....I did not get representative pictures of every breed....These were placers with BB, BV, RV placings....

Best of breed


Bantam Cochins


Modern Game Brown Red pullet


Old English Game Birchen hen and cockerel. She placed 1st in her group and he placed 2....same breeder.


Buff Brahma Bantams 1st in 5 cockerels. There were some lovely hens/pullets with a really broad heads, but they were out of their cages when I got back to them.

 

[hellbender]

Please excuse what might appear to be non sequitur ....I have reasonable financial resources and property enough to do what I wish but I do not think I could take on breeding chickens to the Standard of Perfection with more than one breed and expect to attain any degree of success. It baffles my mind that so many people can juggle so many breeds.

 

[3riverschick]

Please excuse what might appear to be non sequitur ....I have reasonable financial resources and property enough to do what I wish but I do not think I could take on breeding chickens to the Standard of Perfection with more than one breed and expect to attain any degree of success. It baffles my mind that so many people can juggle so many breeds.

I can't fathom it either. Mr. O. Redenbacher said, " Do one thing and do it better than anyone else".
If one looks back at the history of the great breeders, so many of them were one breed specialists.
I have my Light Sussex. Sure I am tempted and awed by the sheer variety and beauty of the other breeds.
However, Bob said, Go slow ( for me that means one breed) and "go down the middle of the road"
(for me, a breed without extremes and line breeding to the SOP from a vintage, top quality line.). I think
the SOP is the middle of the road. It is the clever combination of both fancy and utility. I miss Bob.
He had a kind way of making the complex seem so simple.
Best Regards,
Karen in wintery western PA, USA

 

[gjensen]

I agree with both of you in theory, but we are not all the same.

I have one person in mind that has a dozen projects and I am continually impressed with her progress. She has the eye, the mind, the desire, and the time. I am not impressed easily, and what she does is impressive.

I am also impressed with her creativity concerning management.

Like a lot of us, what she has was not perfected before she received them. Still, every generation is an improvement, and that is all any of us can do. Be better off than we were last year. Start with the best you can, first do no harm, and get better every generation.

 

[gjensen]

NanaKat. Thank you for sharing the pictures.

 

[BGMatt]

I agree with both of you in theory, but we are not all the same.

I have one person in mind that has a dozen projects and I am continually impressed with her progress. She has the eye, the mind, the desire, and the time. I am not impressed easily, and what she does is impressive.

I am also impressed with her creativity concerning management.

Like a lot of us, what she has was not perfected before she received them. Still, every generation is an improvement, and that is all any of us can do. Be better off than we were last year. Start with the best you can, first do no harm, and get better every generation.

A lot of it is due to space. Simply put, to really improve breeds you need numbers. It's a bit of conventional wisdom that for every 10 you hatch you'll get 1 worth using (although some say less than that), but if we take that as a minimum, and say we want to have at least four keepers (based on having one pair and a backup for each bird). That means at an absolute minimum you need to hatch at least 40 birds and raise them to an age where you can feel confident about making selections. That's an absolute minimum, yet I see "breeders" talking about hatching much less. And that's per breed and per variety. Want to do two breeds? Now you're at absolute minimum of 80. Six breeds? Now your minimum is 240. When dealing with those low of numbers progress will be slow, but steady, but you can see how fast it adds up.

Yes time and knowledge are factors too. It takes time to really know the ins and outs of a breed, and for a newbie especially to develop their eye and all that. But one thing that doesn't care about your knowledge or experience is amount of space, and economics of feed bills. I think that is truly the inhibitor barring most for being able to work successfully with multiple breeds or varieties.

 

[Beekissed]

I've got a question for you all...do heritage line birds often need artificial lighting in order to produce eggs in the winter? If so, is anyone breeding against that trait?

 

[Texasmja]

I've got a question for you all...do heritage line birds often need artificial lighting in order to produce eggs in the winter? If so, is anyone breeding against that trait?

None of my birds have any additional light, I have been collecting tons of eggs everyday. Mine seem to lay all year long for me, I do feed high protein feed and all but show birds are free ranged every day on pastures.

 

[Beekissed]

None of my birds have any additional light, I have been collecting tons of eggs everyday. Mine seem to lay all year long for me, I do feed high protein feed and all but show birds are free ranged every day on pastures.

What breed are you keeping and how long have you been keeping them? Is that a trait that comes naturally for them or is it something for which you have bred specifically?