Old and Rare Breeds

[saladin]

Talking Shamos:

Julia, Shamolady, doesn't even like to name her colors at all; especially in the female. Yes, you will see her color name the cocks, but seldom will she do so with the hens.

Here's the problem with that (as she and I have talked about so many times before):

Our Standard, unlike the British Standard, in reference to Orientals does give color varieties: plain and simple. Yes, I can still show any variety of Asil or Shamo I want whether in the Standard or not, but if I want a chance to display my bird on Championship Row then it has to be a color variety that is in the Standard.

 

[saladin]

Talking Breeding:

Here's a breeding technique many of you have never heard of:



Hound-Dog Breeding
1. Have a pen of related hens. They can be full sisters, half sisters, or cousins. It doesn't matter so long as they are related. They can also be every color of the rainbow.
2. Rotate cocks through the pen every 7 to 10 days. Cocks should not be related to closely to the hens. Cocks can be any color in the book.


This method will give you enormous variation in color, but it will also give you a really good genetic base. The colors that do come out right will many times be excellent.


This method works well with breeds where color is NOT what you are breeding for such as Orientals.

By the way, I know of top breeders from the past that bred exactly this way.

This post is NOT a joke.

 

[saladin]

The One Cock Phenomena

Other writers in the past 20 years have touched on this periodically, but I've not seen it mentioned here. Hopefully, this will be of some help to folks.

One of the major reasons for the decline in genetic diversity and in degeneration is the keeping and use of one cock only. Whether it is a matter of feeding or smaller backyards or a general lack of knowledge I do not know.

But, one thing is for sure: You cannot breed and improve birds by keeping only one cock! This is also why a breeding trio, even if unrelated, is not genetically deep enough and will eventually fail: you started with only one cock. It has never worked in the past and it will not work in the future.

 

[buffalogal]

Quote:
I don't know anything about Shamos; are they all natural beeders, or is AI commonly used to insure fertile eggs? If you had Shamos running loose on your farm, would the hens hide and hatch and raise a clutch of eggs on their own?

 

[gallorojo]

Very good point!! I always try to keep 3 males at least of anything I want to improve. An older one, a younger one, and a "backup" or 2. ( things happen!) Additionally, I have been very glad I've kept more males than" needed", as, some times, it's helpful to be able go back to another male to try to fix something that's lacking.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Which is why I said there are colors and they do breed true. Yes, I've heard of a lot of odd colors popping up, in fact most people will admit even Wheaten can throw some random Dark Shamos, but in general it does breed true most of the time. My Shamo pair came out 100% Wheaten along with the other hatch mates from the breeder's pair, which were also Wheaten (and barred Wheaten) and I'm pretty sure mine too will throw even more Wheatens and Barred Wheatens.

Agreed 100% that Barring is not naturally a Shamo color though.

Also agreed that color doesn't matter that much. With just about any gamefowl, it is the behavior that takes importance over anything else. Next is simply the bloodlines, especially with American Gamefowl.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Quote:
La Fleche are, indeed, very reliable layers.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Quote:

I'm not sure if the question as to where to find Brabanters is answered later in the thread (I"m reading a lot here to catch up), but Ideal offers both varieties. Now, are they authentique or re-creations? Who knows.

 

[K9Carrie]

It maybe called lurking....however I prefer quietly learning!

I love this thread so glad it is back

 

[DTchickens]

Quote:
Even the cocks sometimes she doesn't like colors attached to, it's really interesting. When I saw her henny I was just slightly curious, so I asked the question "I know color's on Shamo aren't important, but what color would you call that?" I received the reply somewhere along the lines of "Honestly, I have never even thought of what color it would be. But I guess you could call it a Wheaten." Then she went into explaining why colors do not matter etc on Shamo

.


To this day I still think it is interesting how she can have a bird and not think for even a second what color he may be. Everyone I know, even if you didn't breed for colors a lot of the time can answer upon what color you would probably call it. Like my Shamos I received from PC/FF, I'd probably call Wheaten, and probably dark red.. But I'm expecting more colors to pop out, and will probably breed along the lines of miss Julia focusing on type/temperament mainly.

-Daniel