Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[3riverschick]

Breeding pens...... Set ups, hatch goals, top three thing you plan on putting breeding pressure on and selecting for in offspring this year?

really good ideas! Thanks!
I have three breeding pens set up this year. Planning on hitting my gene pool
from all directions in staggered hatches. son to mother; father to daughter;
brother to sister; 3/4 brother to 3/4 sister; completely unrelated female to 3
different sons of my foundation cock. All but the three outcross breedings will
be close family breeding on the now deceased sire of my foundation cock,
who was a 3x APA Grand Champion. My foundation cock was very prepotent
for his sire's breed type. I am excited about the 3/4 bro to 3/4 sis breeding.
What is all this A/B/C/D gobblety-gook below? It is Percentage of Line Inheritance
info. It predicts nothing except general direction of concentration of genetic
influence for info related to the art of breeding. It does not predict any
science in breeding. It is only one tool, to be used in conjunction with
many other aids in a breeding program. This is most informative when you
know your individual birds and which traits you want to a increase or decrease
in your gene pool. It is most helpful when one is working with line-bred strains
known for consistently reproducing their traits over multiple generations.
A= my foundation cock's sire. B= his dam. C= dam of one foundation pullet.
D= dam of other foundation pullet in my foundation trio.
Thus. my foundation trio is : "Knight and Day" A/B male (spittin' image of sire A);
"May" A/C 1st pullet ( my best layer); "March" A/D 2nd pullet.(loves to be broody)
In 2013 we bred 2 breedings: A/B ex A/C and A/B ex A/D , respectively.
The chicks are 2A/B/C and 2A/B/D, respectively.
The idea here is to concentrate lineage on sire A and female A/C while lessening
broody influence in pullet A/D.
So when I breed daughter back to their sire A/B ex 2A/B/C, the chicks will be
3A/2B/C. (a good thing).
If I breed 3/4 bro to 3/4 sis : 2A/B/C ex 2A/B/D the get will be 4A/2B/C/D
Now if I breed sire A/B ex outcross hen "Sweetie" (E) , the get are A/B/E. Then breeding
best son back to dam: A/B/E ex E, The get will be 2E/A/B.
And so it goes from breeding to breeding looking for influence here or there
to complement my program.
Best,
Karen

 

[RiddleMe]

 
RiddleMe, Cackle Hatchery has White Chanteclers for sale this year (2014) for the first time -- they are Greg Oakes stock, which is why the price seems high for what might at first glance appear to be hatchery stock. I'm going to order 15 of them -- the maximum for one order -- in a few days.

And speaking of that, does anyone know what quality Cackle's Buckeyes and Hamburgs are?? I'll need to fill my order with ten more chicks, and am trying to decide what to get.

Kathleen

IF indeed the White Chanteclers are from Greg Oakes they will be good quality, if they are from Greg's line (and he has imported a big percentage of the WC's in the US, then you are depending on how the birds were bred to this point) Personally I went with a known breeder anything "hatchery" imparts a chill here.....

It is true that Cackle is offering Canteclers for 2014, they bought seed stock from Greg Oakes in 2012, as well as breeders from John Blehm in 2013. Not sure who else might have gotten birds into the mix as well. They also bought John Blehms ChickHatchery website, they have left it as kind of a dual website for now, some FowlStuff info (John's new website) and some Cackle Chanteclers info. They offered a few chicks in 2013, probably kept most to raise as breeders. So, they may have some decent blood but I'm sure will be mass/flock bred. I have kept them in mind as an absolute last resort, but wouldn't even consider them after this year.

 

[gjensen]

Breeding pens...... Set ups, hatch goals, top three thing you plan on putting breeding pressure on and selecting for in offspring this year?

I will be single mating exclusively, less a trio on the side. Feed costs too much to not know who comes from who. I have to know. I am not going to be guessing anymore. Who I will retain from the generation(s) that I have will be a lot about what they produce.

I am only going to be working with two families. I do not think that I need four. I will be running a project trio on the side, so that might be considered a third.

I am still looking, watching, and thinking about who I will pair with who. Of course I want to get the get the best I can from what I have within the limits of what I think I can hatch this year. That is my biggest challenge right now. There is a lot to consider. I have more males than I need and I am tempted to try them all. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.

This is a big year for me. I have an established flock to work with. Now it is time to see what I can do with what I have. I like these birds so I am excited about it.

I have decided not to breed from the pullets that I retained from last season for myself. I am going to see how they perform as hens. I can see myself breeding exclusively from hens as I move forward. They are going to have to prove themselves.

I will be looking at a lot with the coming generation. Vigor, size, and fleshing will be the first thing that I will be selecting for. Then I will be looking at what I have and decide from there. I have many improvements that I would like to see made. If I have to hatch more, then I will.

 

[Zanna]

These are Kathyinmos F'4 Delawares hatched early April. I will be crossing this cockeral and one other over these two pullets (when they decide to start laying!!!). The cockeral pictured is very large and wide from tail to shoulders. Hoping he will still widen some more up high between the legs. One of his pics shows a much exaggerated stance, natural pose is not nearly so bad and I could not get him to stand normally. Do not know if I am working with brother/sisters or not. Goal this year with these are to get as many on the ground as possible (thinking 100 plus) to choose for next years breeders and hope for no surprises as these are still in the project stage. Sold a trio to another local gal and hope to do some trading in the future to help things move in the right direction and keep genetic diversity.

 

[ronniewayne]

wow look at those pullets! very nice happy hatching . merry Christmas to all!

 

[Zanna]

wow look at those pullets! very nice happy hatching . merry Christmas to all!

Yes, Merry Christmas and many thanks to the late Bob Blosl and all for this great thread!!!

 

[Apdeb]

Merry Christmas to all my fellow bycers!!
Hope to meet more of you in 2014!!!

 

[Freeholder]

It is true that Cackle is offering Canteclers for 2014, they bought seed stock from Greg Oakes in 2012, as well as breeders from John Blehm in 2013. Not sure who else might have gotten birds into the mix as well. They also bought John Blehms ChickHatchery website, they have left it as kind of a dual website for now, some FowlStuff info (John's new website) and some Cackle Chanteclers info. They offered a few chicks in 2013, probably kept most to raise as breeders. So, they may have some decent blood but I'm sure will be mass/flock bred. I have kept them in mind as an absolute last resort, but wouldn't even consider them after this year.

Well, I'll try to do this one without making so many posts, LOL!

I'm hoping/planning to get some hatching eggs from good breeders this year, but I've never done shipped eggs before (will be my first time using an incubator, in fact, though I plan to put some cross-bred eggs through it before I get the expensive ones), so I'm not holding out any high hopes for getting birds by that route.

I have had a couple of bad experiences with mail-order chicks here -- one box of 25 all dead, and one box with only three survivors. So obviously I can't trust the P.O. to get that right, and am exceedingly reluctant to spend a huge amount of money on shipped chicks. I might be willing to try shipping older birds, if I could find someone not too far away to get them from. Can't see trying to send them clear across the country.

The Buckeye eggs I hope to be getting will be coming from Washington, so not too far -- I may talk to him and see if I could get a pair of young birds later in the year, too.

I figure, with the chicks from Cackle (the White Chanteclers) I ought to get enough decent birds for a good start, at least -- according to what I've been told, they did get at least some of their breeders directly from Greg Oakes. But if anyone has any ideas on any other half-way decent stock that Cackle has, preferably something that doesn't have a huge comb (not good in our area), I'd appreciate it, as I will have to add ten chicks to my order and I'd rather choose them than let Cackle select packing peanuts for me. I'll probably sell the extras anyway.

Thanks,

Kathleen

 

[brahmabreeder]

I got a decent egg from pen number 1 today. That is the pen that was/is having problems. I'm hoping they have been fixed now.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I got a decent egg from pen number 1 today. That is the pen that was/is having problems. I'm hoping they have been fixed now.

I understand the feeling. I got a good for incubating egg today from my breeding pen. I had been getting quite a few double yolks. It feels good to get one for the incubator.