Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm eating more eggs lately. I'm feeling SO much better!! This is no small thing for me. Not perfect, but way more functional.

I think if it were legal for me to sell my egg salad, I could get rich. I only learned to make it a few weeks ago. My best friend kept telling me to boil my eggs ... I kept resisting. Dumb of me. Nom nom.

Some hard-core paleo people say chicken isn't paleo because the omega 3 to omega 6 balance is off. I read a report that said pastured soy-free poultry is about what grass-fed beef is, though. Unfortunately, the hard-core paleo people don't really understand what "pastured poultry" means and sometimes suggest it means the chickens eat nothing but bugs and grass, so sometimes that's what customers ask for.

 

[hellbender]

@LeslieDJoyce , my educated guess is that coyote might taste a great deal like dog...that I HAVE eaten but didn't really enjoy. Too much fat and stringy was my portion. An older pup might be ok....hope I never have to try the dog again, much less a mangy coyote.

 

[Beekissed]

Going to wash some chickens today.

Fred had mentioned using laundry blueing in the water for whitening, so I priced the whitening dog shampoo vs. the blueing and the blueing won hands down and twice on Sunday. AND I can use it for something else, as this is likely the only time I'll ever wash a chicken in my life and I never wash a dog...not good for them to get bathed.

Anyhoo, was looking at and handling my birds and, to say the least, I am totally unprepared to be showing any chickens with any level of competency....these birds have been out on range and foraging far and wide as the bugs are not plentiful yet....meaning, the birds are looking~and quite appropriately, I guess~rangey. They always do this time of year after being a little sedentary through the winter snows and then getting out there and exercising so much with very little protein rewards for their efforts. Should have started earlier to get them ready for show, breeding, etc. if I had really wanted to make a good showing by separating the cockerel earlier~Fred had warned me to do so but I had my spare pen all torn out and was revamping it, fattening these birds up for a sleek, fat presentation and neat feathering, etc. As it is, they are completely muscled, hard and compact and their lines show true without the extra covering of fat and slack muscle tissue.

So, in conclusion, they are what they are going into this show and I can't really fix all my mistakes right now, but I can put some lipstick on the pig, so to speak and take it to the show.

Live and learn. I'll probably get many a snickers when they look at my rawboned and ragged pair, but these are working birds and have been working hard. Should be fun anyway...

Got a question for you show folks....is a person allowed to fix a opaque plastic sheet between the cages of our birds and the other, as long as it attached to our bird's cage and doesn't interfere with anything to do with the show or birds? I'd really like to put something between this cockerel and the next one in case he gets bloodied trying to fight through the cage wires. Do people do that?

 

[MagicChicken]

Going to wash some chickens today.

Fred had mentioned using laundry blueing in the water for whitening, so I priced the whitening dog shampoo vs. the blueing and the blueing won hands down and twice on Sunday. AND I can use it for something else, as this is likely the only time I'll ever wash a chicken in my life and I never wash a dog...not good for them to get bathed.

Anyhoo, was looking at and handling my birds and, to say the least, I am totally unprepared to be showing any chickens with any level of competency....these birds have been out on range and foraging far and wide as the bugs are not plentiful yet....meaning, the birds are looking~and quite appropriately, I guess~rangey. They always do this time of year after being a little sedentary through the winter snows and then getting out there and exercising so much with very little protein rewards for their efforts. Should have started earlier to get them ready for show, breeding, etc. if I had really wanted to make a good showing by separating the cockerel earlier~Fred had warned me to do so but I had my spare pen all torn out and was revamping it, fattening these birds up for a sleek, fat presentation and neat feathering, etc. As it is, they are completely muscled, hard and compact and their lines show true without the extra covering of fat and slack muscle tissue.

So, in conclusion, they are what they are going into this show and I can't really fix all my mistakes right now, but I can put some lipstick on the pig, so to speak and take it to the show.

Live and learn. I'll probably get many a snickers when they look at my rawboned and ragged pair, but these are working birds and have been working hard. Should be fun anyway...

Got a question for you show folks....is a person allowed to fix a opaque plastic sheet between the cages of our birds and the other, as long as it attached to our bird's cage and doesn't interfere with anything to do with the show or birds? I'd really like to put something between this cockerel and the next one in case he gets bloodied trying to fight through the cage wires. Do people do that?

It's a spring show, Bee. You won't be the only one there with rangey-looking birds. No worries.

At our local shows people sometimes slip cardboard between the cages to prevent fights. Should be okay, but you might want to check with the folks running the show first.

Hope you got a video of the chicken washing!

Let us know how they do. You might be surprised.

 

[Wisher1000]

Relax, Bee, it will be fun, and it will be okay if they don't win the whole shebang, right?

 

[Beekissed]

It's a spring show, Bee. You won't be the only one there with rangey-looking birds. No worries.

At our local shows people sometimes slip cardboard between the cages to prevent fights. Should be okay, but you might want to check with the folks running the show first.

Hope you got a video of the chicken washing!

Let us know how they do. You might be surprised.

Thank you!! That gives me some peace of mind about it....just don't know how this big boy will react to other males as he's not been around any for awhile and not since he's become flock sire, ruler over all he surveys. And I'm glad there may be other birds there that look a bit rangey....my birds are heavy and all, but probably not as rounded as most others would be that are living in a coop and run right now.

I didn't get to the washing today, so will be doing that in the morning...will be enlisting the help of my 81 yr old Ma, who seems most intrigued by all of this hoohaw.

I think she feels she has lived a long and adventurous life and can die peacefully, going to her grave knowing she has now truly seen everything there is to see.....

Relax, Bee, it will be fun, and it will be okay if they don't win the whole shebang, right?

Win??? I don't expect to win!

I just don't want to be too ashamed in front of all the real breeders and show folks.

I'm cool...no worries. This is really fun adventure for me, something I can say I did and I like wracking up such things to my credit, like the whitewater rafting I did a few years back. Quirky things, like washing chickens and putting satin granny panties on them so they won't get messy before their show....

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote:
Win??? I don't expect to win!

I just don't want to be too ashamed in front of all the real breeders and show folks.

I'm cool...no worries. This is really fun adventure for me, something I can say I did and I like wracking up such things to my credit, like the whitewater rafting I did a few years back. Quirky things, like washing chickens and putting satin granny panties on them so they won't get messy before their show....

My first show was when a breeder brought five birds that I had bought and paid for sight unseen. I asked about a place to house them during the show and he suggested that I just enter them under my name and keep them in the show cages. I called the show secretary and asked if that would violate any rules or make anyone mad and he laughed at me. He said that is done, often. We both drove a great distance to the show and the birds went into the show pens with my exhibitor number on them. Those were the nastiest, most lice/mite ridden, ratty looking birds I had ever seen. I was mortified!

The only comments I got from breeders and exhibitors were suggestions for improvement and encouragement to keep at it. Even those who are prone to be brutally honest tempered their criticism to get the point across in a kind manner.

Now, I take my birds to lots of shows and although they are far from where they need to be, I am proud of the progress I have made. I guess the only person, besides myself, that saw the before and after, is YellowHouseFarm. I am always excited to have him look at my birds, he has been a lot of help to me. He lives up in the north east and I live in the deep south. The only show we both attend (so far) is the Ohio National. That's the largest show in the U.S. and this year, my little Campines will be entered for the third year in a row (it was cancelled due to AI concerns last year.)

I say all of this to try to get you not to worry......... just have fun. It is actually more fun to me because I know that my birds are just there to raise awareness and to get me in as an exhibitor. No stress at all!!

 

[Beekissed]

That's how I feel about it too....I don't really have much of a competitive bone in me and never did. But, I do like to try new things and have fun, though as of this morning I really don't find showing chickens the least bit fun.

NEVER...and I will say it again....NEVER will I wash another chicken as long as I live.

The judges are just going to have to look past how a normal chicken looks to see his lines, feathering and such because I started at 8:30am and finished at 12:30pm...and that was just two measly birds. These WRs have such thick feathering that I was blow drying each bird for over an hour and they still weren't all the way dry underneath, but I just couldn't do it any longer....my old bones wouldn't take it.

The birds, on the other hand, were docile and patient, standing unrestrained in my mother's huge garden tub while I sat and fluffed and blow dried their feathers, on and on and on and on. That poor little pullet hadn't even had any breakfast, no water(I offered and she wouldn't) and hadn't had a chance to even lay her egg this morning....and still she was just as pleasant and cooperative as can be.

That whole process just wore her OUT, I think...way too stressful, though I was being as gentle as can be, moving slowly and trying not to startle her. As soon as I put her back in the pen she went immediately to the nest to lay her egg...didn't stop for water or food. The other two hens in that pen were so stressed out by the absence of the cockerel that they had paced the fence all morning, hadn't eaten their food nor did they lay any eggs.

The cockerel was just as patient, stood patiently while I bathed him, then toweled him, then blew him dry for an hour....he too was still damp underneath when put back outside, but it's 80* and balmy out right now, so I doubt they will catch a chill.

As I'm sitting there contemplating that no chicken should have to undergo this process, losing all the valuable oils on their feathering and the dust coat to their skin, not to mention the very intimate contact with a human and being separated from the flock....I'm thinking, "I'm an idiot." Who does this to a chicken..... for fun???

Well...I can say I tried it, at least.

I didn't like it and I didn't like it for the birds, so if I ever go to a show again, they will get what us hillbillies call a "bird bath"~so aptly named in this case, but it consists of washing only the necessary and very dirty parts of the anatomy, while leaving the rest alone. They will get a butt and feet wash, maybe a quick swipe to the face and head with a damp cloth.

Maybe I'll start a revolution wherein folks just let chickens be chickens and they get judged on their form and natural beauty and not so much on their owner's ability to do a Brazilian blowout and a pedicure.

It's so simple that it just might work!

Just imagine it....a poultry fancier world where points are taken off if the chicken is too obviously groomed!

They do that when they judge Scottish Highland Cattle....they must have long, shaggy, rough coats indicating they were living out in the fields and were not barn kept, before they can be eligible to even enter the show.

I think it would benefit chickens everywhere if they were not eligible to compete unless they showed evidence of actually being outside in the fresh air and dirt, not living in a wire pen or pristine coops. All the pullets and hens should have obvious breeding tracks on their backs and all of them should look like they've had a really good dusting recently. Free the show chickens! Free the show chickens!!!!

And, in doing so, free the exhibitors from 4 hrs of fiddly, fussy primping of miserable birds on a beautiful spring day....

 

[bnjrob]

That's how I feel about it too....I don't really have much of a competitive bone in me and never did. But, I do like to try new things and have fun, though as of this morning I really don't find showing chickens the least bit fun.

NEVER...and I will say it again....NEVER will I wash another chicken as long as I live.

The judges are just going to have to look past how a normal chicken looks to see his lines, feathering and such because I started at 8:30am and finished at 12:30pm...and that was just two measly birds. These WRs have such thick feathering that I was blow drying each bird for over an hour and they still weren't all the way dry underneath, but I just couldn't do it any longer....my old bones wouldn't take it.

The birds, on the other hand, were docile and patient, standing unrestrained in my mother's huge garden tub while I sat and fluffed and blow dried their feathers, on and on and on and on. That poor little pullet hadn't even had any breakfast, no water(I offered and she wouldn't) and hadn't had a chance to even lay her egg this morning....and still she was just as pleasant and cooperative as can be.

That whole process just wore her OUT, I think...way too stressful, though I was being as gentle as can be, moving slowly and trying not to startle her. As soon as I put her back in the pen she went immediately to the nest to lay her egg...didn't stop for water or food. The other two hens in that pen were so stressed out by the absence of the cockerel that they had paced the fence all morning, hadn't eaten their food nor did they lay any eggs.

The cockerel was just as patient, stood patiently while I bathed him, then toweled him, then blew him dry for an hour....he too was still damp underneath when put back outside, but it's 80* and balmy out right now, so I doubt they will catch a chill.

As I'm sitting there contemplating that no chicken should have to undergo this process, losing all the valuable oils on their feathering and the dust coat to their skin, not to mention the very intimate contact with a human and being separated from the flock....I'm thinking, "I'm an idiot." Who does this to a chicken..... for fun???

Well...I can say I tried it, at least.

I didn't like it and I didn't like it for the birds, so if I ever go to a show again, they will get what us hillbillies call a "bird bath"~so aptly named in this case, but it consists of washing only the necessary and very dirty parts of the anatomy, while leaving the rest alone. They will get a butt and feet wash, maybe a quick swipe to the face and head with a damp cloth.

Maybe I'll start a revolution wherein folks just let chickens be chickens and they get judged on their form and natural beauty and not so much on their owner's ability to do a Brazilian blowout and a pedicure.

It's so simple that it just might work!

Just imagine it....a poultry fancier world where points are taken off if the chicken is too obviously groomed!

They do that when they judge Scottish Highland Cattle....they must have long, shaggy, rough coats indicating they were living out in the fields and were not barn kept, before they can be eligible to even enter the show.

I think it would benefit chickens everywhere if they were not eligible to compete unless they showed evidence of actually being outside in the fresh air and dirt, not living in a wire pen or pristine coops. All the pullets and hens should have obvious breeding tracks on their backs and all of them should look like they've had a really good dusting recently. Free the show chickens! Free the show chickens!!!!

And, in doing so, free the exhibitors from 4 hrs of fiddly, fussy primping of miserable birds on a beautiful spring day....

I have had to bathe chickens that were encrusted in mud and that was not pleasant. And it took forever for them to dry - I let them dry in the house because I was not going to blow dry them as long as it would have taken. Can't imagine what a pain it is to wash chickens for a show every month or so.

 

[MagicChicken]

That's how I feel about it too....I don't really have much of a competitive bone in me and never did. But, I do like to try new things and have fun, though as of this morning I really don't find showing chickens the least bit fun.

NEVER...and I will say it again....NEVER will I wash another chicken as long as I live.

The judges are just going to have to look past how a normal chicken looks to see his lines, feathering and such because I started at 8:30am and finished at 12:30pm...and that was just two measly birds. These WRs have such thick feathering that I was blow drying each bird for over an hour and they still weren't all the way dry underneath, but I just couldn't do it any longer....my old bones wouldn't take it.

The birds, on the other hand, were docile and patient, standing unrestrained in my mother's huge garden tub while I sat and fluffed and blow dried their feathers, on and on and on and on. That poor little pullet hadn't even had any breakfast, no water(I offered and she wouldn't) and hadn't had a chance to even lay her egg this morning....and still she was just as pleasant and cooperative as can be.

That whole process just wore her OUT, I think...way too stressful, though I was being as gentle as can be, moving slowly and trying not to startle her. As soon as I put her back in the pen she went immediately to the nest to lay her egg...didn't stop for water or food. The other two hens in that pen were so stressed out by the absence of the cockerel that they had paced the fence all morning, hadn't eaten their food nor did they lay any eggs.

The cockerel was just as patient, stood patiently while I bathed him, then toweled him, then blew him dry for an hour....he too was still damp underneath when put back outside, but it's 80* and balmy out right now, so I doubt they will catch a chill.

As I'm sitting there contemplating that no chicken should have to undergo this process, losing all the valuable oils on their feathering and the dust coat to their skin, not to mention the very intimate contact with a human and being separated from the flock....I'm thinking, "I'm an idiot." Who does this to a chicken..... for fun???

Well...I can say I tried it, at least.

I didn't like it and I didn't like it for the birds, so if I ever go to a show again, they will get what us hillbillies call a "bird bath"~so aptly named in this case, but it consists of washing only the necessary and very dirty parts of the anatomy, while leaving the rest alone. They will get a butt and feet wash, maybe a quick swipe to the face and head with a damp cloth.

Maybe I'll start a revolution wherein folks just let chickens be chickens and they get judged on their form and natural beauty and not so much on their owner's ability to do a Brazilian blowout and a pedicure.

It's so simple that it just might work!

Just imagine it....a poultry fancier world where points are taken off if the chicken is too obviously groomed!

They do that when they judge Scottish Highland Cattle....they must have long, shaggy, rough coats indicating they were living out in the fields and were not barn kept, before they can be eligible to even enter the show.

I think it would benefit chickens everywhere if they were not eligible to compete unless they showed evidence of actually being outside in the fresh air and dirt, not living in a wire pen or pristine coops. All the pullets and hens should have obvious breeding tracks on their backs and all of them should look like they've had a really good dusting recently. Free the show chickens! Free the show chickens!!!!

And, in doing so, free the exhibitors from 4 hrs of fiddly, fussy primping of miserable birds on a beautiful spring day....

HaHaHaHaHa!!! Isn't chicken-washing FUN? Not.

I usually let my birds air-dry when it's warm out. They will tolerate being picked up and carried around, but they want nothing to do with blow-drying. I do my best to make them presentable (aka not filthy) and leave it at that. If I ever had a potential champion I would step up my chicken-grooming game for that bird, but if I had to do that for every bird in every show I would never show the birds.

An old-time poultry person told me one reason for washing birds before a show is to get rid of bugs they may have picked up when you weren't looking. That explanation made sense to me. Don't know if it's true but it made me feel a little better about the process.

Can't wait to hear how the show goes!