Langshan Thread!!!

[thorleif]

Hi, and as our dear and respected friend Petrock said, welcome to the clan. They are beautiful as a mixed flock, but you should not let them breed as that. Just make a couple of pens, take one black cock and a few (2-3-4) of your nicest hens, and the same for the whites, let them live enclosed for a couple of weeks, and then start collecting the eggs and put them in the incubator or under a broody. They will then breed true, and you will be able to build up a flock. Read this book (the last 1/3rd of the book tells you about Langshans), it gives you a good introduction to the breed. It is best if you download the PDF to your computer, it loads much quicker every time you want to read. http://openlibrary.org/works/OL16513859W/The_Asiatics
When you have read that, you can also read this book, at the end of the bit about Langshans, i tells you how to create your own blues. You will find it a lot harder to keep a good lacing on them than with the Andalucians, but ask for advise, and you will get there. http://openlibrary.org/works/OL13541903W/Wright's_book_of_poultry
They are old books, but that makes no difference. Enjoy reading!

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Thanks Thorleif, another good read.

 

[langshan44]

Hi,
Just reading your thread,and thought I could give some input on video,s,,The Australian langshan is a small bird,It has good Quality,s.but small bird,The UK,croad langshan club, had an article,on Australia situation regarding croad langshans, in it stateing there were no pure croads left in Australia,and this is incorrect,as there are 2 lines of pure croads left in Australia at moment,
The UK published the thoughts of a person(australian) who did not do his home work,and yes there are a lot of croad X austrolorps,In Australia,people trying to improve on what is already perfect,It never works...and further back,If you type australian langshan into google then hit images,you will see,small birds with nothing in comparison to a croad.,,DO IT ,..And here is the good news we have croads arriveing in Australia,that are proven 30 years pure, from UK next month,blacks and whites,eggs only,,It has taken a lot of effort to get through quarantine.but it is all about to arrive at our king island quarantine station,and we have use of there incubaters,The black birds in The Mckenna Youtube video are pure,and as stated most hens are close to the 9 or 10 pounds,I do remember produceing 200 chicks in 1 breeding season,,6 years ago only to keep 2 pullets,big and with great type,and a back that would hold 2 bricks,sideways,from these 2, I produced 10 very large pullets the following year,and 2 seasons later ,What a year I have had, 43 of the best pullets you will see any where,The blues are a different project,but kept completley apart,at the breeding season,I would like to put out a challenge,if you have good croads,show us on you tube,we want to see size and type.hens and roosters in there natural state.and an explanation as to the quality,s you see in your birds,,why not,,?,,this breed deserves every thing ,we humans throw at them.
cheers.
Tony Mckenna.
Australia.

 

[thorleif]

Hi Tony! Welcome to our meetingplace. I am glad you have joined, and your input is very valued. However, I think you have a long way to go to make proper Croads, or Langshans (US) from the stock in your videos on Youtube. Yes, the birds in your 10 minutelong Video 4, are better than the first ones, nice chickens, but not Croads. They lack the stamp. Their tails are very under-developed, and their headgear are too large. Especially the wattles on that slightly chunky cockerell, they are way to long. But, headgear can be rectified in a few years, so breed from type, once that is back, the rest will fall in place. I only breed whites myself, and I dont show mine. I breed for type and utilituqualities, but I will not use individuals with too large combs or wattles. But I have not worked enough to get perfect headgear, as long as it is not to large, I think it will be easy to make the comb to show-quality in time. I have read that the Croad Langshan was so low in numbers in Australia in the 1950's, so they used some Australorps to rescue the breed. It worked, but the type is not totally right.
This video is of some of my old hens, and mainly young growing stock, but you can see the difference i type?

 

[199787]

What beautiful whites Thorleif!! I am impressed, I usually dont like them as much as blacks.

Lisa

 

[thorleif]

Hi, young Ms Miller. I am glad you like them. I used to breed them in quite big numbers, and people just loved them. Now, old and disabled, I only keep 2 hens and a boyo, and I actually only breed from one of the hens, to make sure that line keeps going. My line of whites are extremely good layers, but that is not because they are white. It is because they do origin from a flock nearly 100 years ago, that were good layers, and, fortunatly people that has owned this line must have bred especially to keep the production up. The whites are a lot easier to breed than the blacks, as white on white, makes white. The breed is so old, the genes are so strong, so they all look nice, and by breeding only from the best layers, they keep on producing that important thing..........Eggs.
The Langshans on the American continent are not called Croad, but they have been bred to the similar standards over the years, they are virtually the same bird. I love them.In the 1920's and 30's there were a lot of chickens crossing the Atlantic, but nowadays, with rules and regulations on both sides, it is just not happening. But what a gene-bank-reserve both sides of that water has. There is a huge (state-owned) Langshan hatchery/farm/factory in China
(just google "Langshanji", but they have been breeding away the feathered legs. Whether that is deliberat or not, I do not know, but I will find out, and then I will let you all know. The farm was started by the Mao Tse Tung-regime in the 1950's to preserve this national breed, but it is now a massive meat and egg factory. They breed 100's of thousands chickens every year, and it looks bigger than Pentagon. Langshan meat is a massive delicatessen in the Shanghai-region of China.

 

[youngchooklover]

Cool

 

[langshan44]

Love

...

Went out and snapped a couple. They go where they will so catching a decent pic is challenging, lol. The ladies don't want to come up for air...its a bit windy outside so they are a little ruffled. As you can see they are all black/green sheen. Very nice birds.i like your hens.

 

[Dontlickthechicks]

Our new 4/5 wk old Langshan chicks. The one in the middle I think is a Roo...? so I took him back to the breeder and she swapped him out

This one with the darker face is the one she gave me, the comb is smaller and not as pink as the other, but like the other the tail is smaller then the other two. Any thoughts?

 

[PetRock]

Mikaela, Are you okay? I'm praying that you do not live anywhere near where the tornados hit! It is so sad to see the devastation in Oklahoma.