Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[BlindLemonChicken]

Something respiratory is going through my flock right now. Mostly sneezing but a few raspy breathers and one eye bubble chicken who has already recovered from what I can tell. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I have had something similar years back that actually was very rough and involved green snot. It would flare up in one of the infected birds later during times of stress but the other (there were only two) never had any further symptoms. I can’t remember what I finally decided it was but this appears similar albeit milder for now.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Something respiratory is going through my flock right now. Mostly sneezing but a few raspy breathers and one eye bubble chicken who has already recovered from what I can tell. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I have had something similar years back that actually was very rough and involved green snot. It would flare up in one of the infected birds later during times of stress but the other (there were only two) never had any further symptoms. I can’t remember what I finally decided it was but this appears similar albeit milder for now.

Full and fast recovery to your flock!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

This morning I noticed that the flock was divided in two. One group with the mature rooster was down at one of the feeders per the alerts on my phone, the other in my yard seemingly lead by the next oldest rooster, who is only a stag and not quite a year old. They were pecking at the non-frosted grass where my wife’s vehicle was parked.

I will have to pay more attention to see whether the flock is permanently dividing in two or whether today was just a fluke. It is not unusual for the flock to disperse and not stay together a different times of the day. Today was the first time it seemed like perhaps the black stag was forming his own group.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'll bet a cup of (inexpensive) coffee that they are splitting, based on my own experience. But I've been wrong, often.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

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This morning I noticed that the flock was divided in two. One group with the mature rooster was down at one of the feeders per the alerts on my phone, the other in my yard seemingly lead by the next oldest rooster, who is only a stag and not quite a year old. They were pecking at the non-frosted grass where my wife’s vehicle was parked.

I will have to pay more attention to see whether the flock is permanently dividing in two or whether today was just a fluke. It is not unusual for the flock to disperse and not stay together a different times of the day. Today was the first time it seemed like perhaps the black stag was forming his own group.

That bulldog I’m sure he’s not licking his lips and looking at a chicken dinner on the move. Even if he is I still want to squeeze him

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

That bulldog I’m sure he’s not licking his lips and looking at a chicken dinner on the move. Even if he is I still want to squeeze him

He’s a sweetheart with the chickens.

The problem are his three puppies we kept off the last litter. I’ve had to keep his 2 sons and daughter in an electrified paddock to keep them from eating chickens. I estimate they killed and ate around 50 in 2025.

See some missing tail feathers? One of the sons has an eye injury so I separated him from the pack for it to heal and I’ve been letting him run unsupervised for an hour or so at a time. Day before yesterday he caught the last white hen left. I got her away from him but she died that night. I think the other hens with plucked tail feathers are his victims from the last couple of days.

The chickens left are the fastest of the fast. I know people don’t think of bulldogs as being nimble, but mine are bred to be athletic.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

This is the son that killed the white hen a couple of days ago.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I know people don’t think of bulldogs as being nimble, but mine are bred to be athletic.

I believe it! We had a Johnson American bulldog for a while. Athletic is an understatement. That dog was a beast! He bent a light post in the front yard chasing the mail man along the fence. He hit the post and kept going like it wasn’t even there. My husband wants to get another bulldog (not an American, probably and old english) soon but I’m not ready haha

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I believe it! We had a Johnson American bulldog for a while. Athletic is an understatement. That dog was a beast! He bent a light post in the front yard chasing the mail man along the fence. He hit the post and kept going like it wasn’t even there. My husband wants to get another bulldog (not an American, probably and old english) soon but I’m not ready haha

The line between “Johnson” Americans and “Old English” isn’t clear cut. The two men who made both original lines interchanged bulldogs. Johnsons and Leavitt-line Old English from the 70s and 80s are basically just larger and smaller versions of each other, sharing many common ancestors.

Mine are technically more “Old English” but I mix a little of this and that into the lines to keep them spry. David Leavitt still breeds in south Florida and he does the same, although he has given his lines a more boxer look in the last decade.

This female is going to be my next gen breeder, Lord willing.

Patches, the male on the left in each shot with the double patches on his face, is the speed demon. All three are healthy and athletic, but he’s the one that can run down a cottontail or the fastest chicken. His muzzle is a bit longer than the other two which means of all three, he breaths the more free. I don’t consider him a breeder simply because he looks a bit more like a standard American. And Winston, the one on the right, carries DV2 the gene that gives English bulldogs their squished heads but also their screw tails and fused vertebrae. If I bred him, it would need to be to an outside line that’s more American or pit than English.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I also breed to deaden their catch drive. I won’t have a high-octane bulldog with a true bulldog’s prey drive as a family pet.

This business about them eating chickens is more puppyhood drama than it is them being bulldogs. I’ve raised many non-bulldog puppies that like to catch chickens until their second or third year of life. Then they become flock protectors in their maturity. I think these will be the same.