New, heritage chickens?

Date sort Score sort
welcome-byc.gif
Glad you joined us!
 
Welcome to BYC!
frow.gif
We're glad to have you.

You've received some excellent information and advice already!
 
I have been showing birds for 50 years and I have never brought a disease home. I also do not vaccinate nor do I medicate my birds. I show all over the US and show in at least 12 shows a year. I am a California Poultry Health Inspector. Disease outbreaks start in commercial operations not in backyard flocks.

Walt
 
The American Poultry Association is including the economic qualities of pure bred poultry back into the APA Standard. There is a lot of misinformation online about poultry in general and poultry shows in particular. Most of it comes from people that have no experience with Standard bred poultry.

Walt
 
I think the term "heritage" is the problem here...it's become a bit muddied or muddled. There are breeds that are considered "heritage" because they have remained a specific breed since the time they were developed long ago. No matter where you find this bird breed, be it hatchery or on a breeder's farm, it will still be considered or labeled "heritage" simply because it was a breed developed a hundred(s) of years previously.

Fred had a more apt term for these same heritage breeds that have been preserved to their standard by selective, intensive breeding over many years and through many breeders...he refers to them as "heirloom" birds. I like this term and wish it would catch on, because it tends to denote something that is cherished, passed down from generation to generation, and has great worth~be it sentimental or functional~simply because its original form and integrity has been preserved all down the years.

You will not find an heirloom from a hatchery strain...the breeding is too generic and has no particular focus other than turning out birds that are healthy, resemble the right breed color and general shape, and that will lay eggs. One can obtain a flock from these strains and breed them all they want but they will not exactly be preserving that breed. They will be preserving~somewhat~ muddied genetics and a poor, moon cast shadow of the original breed. They will be preserving something with the name, but not the actual traits, of the breed and haven't preserved or saved much.

An heirloom is a work of great craftsmanship, a thing of beauty and function, with a strong resemblance to the original birds in that breed and it's been preserved by those who adhere strictly to that standard of the breed in all ways, or else they have ruined the bird and it can no longer truly be called by its breed name. Each breed has a standard that dictates what that breed was originally intended to show~be that the right color, the average weight, the height, the width, the feather quality, the body type, wing placement, comb points, eye color even, and even how it stands.

Here's an excellent illustration of that difference and it can be seen in just two pictures....the bird on the left has been preserved true to her breed and the standards that tell what this breed is supposed to resemble. The bird on the right is the hatchery's idea of the same breed. One is worth the preserving of her genetics to represent the Black Australorp breed...she represents the heritage breed of Australorp correctly. The other one can give you some eggs and you can eat her when you are done.

 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. If you are wanting to preserve the characteristics of a particular breed, then I would suggest researching the various breeds to determine which breeds you think you would enjoy raising the most, and then purchasing those breeds from the best breeding stock that you can reasonably afford. Above all else, raising chickens should be fun. No hobby or endeavor is worth pursuing if you do not enjoy the journey. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your heritage breeds.
 
The true challenge in any heritage heirloom breed/bird is to return it or maintain its original traits that you cannot see....those of hardiness, vigor, good laying, good social skills within the flock, good foraging, good mothering and survival skills out on the land....and to do all that without relying on medications, heated buildings, continuous feeding or feeding highly supplemented feeds. The beauty of these old breeds was that they were as hardy and thrifty as the tough people who developed the breeds. They lived rough and they were culled hard, by nature or by the breeder, to leave behind a self sufficient bird that didn't cost an arm and a leg to raise and maintain.

If a person puts in the time to accomplish all these things, I think they can truly say they have a "heritage" flock of birds.
 
Maybe this question may clear some things up for me. Before apa was created and before farmers started to breed certain chickens to produce better egg layers are meat chickens, did farmers just breed a RIR with another RIR or were farmers always performing this heritage balancing act?
 
Before the APA the successful farmers did not let their birds randomly mate. You don't have to belong to any Club to understand that breeding of any farm animal should not be willy nilly. It can be and many do but that is wasting money.

Walt
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom