Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Vulpes vulpes]

"non-commercial flocks belong to the so-called Icelandic Chicken Landrace, a genetically diverse breed that was saved from near extinction in the 1980s... Until recent years, however, the Icelandic Chicken Landrace was often believed to be a special old breed that had been isolated in Iceland since the settlement period more than 1100 years ago. At present this is not considered to be correct: recent studies suggest that the present non-commercial poultry population in Iceland is descended from different breeds imported from Europe into Iceland in recent decades and centuries, birds that then mixed with the old landrace population (Pálsdóttir & Hallsson 2016)."
https://opinvisindi.is/items/0b4deb71-b627-4427-b8c2-a5f51a8e437e

That 2016 reference is in Icelandic; maybe Google translate can help you out with it if you want to pursue it. Note that any breed 'saved from extinction' has gone through a genetic bottleneck and is usually weaker for it, not stronger.

Makes plenty of sense to me. I read the AVIANDIV page on Icelandics a few days ago and that's what it looked like. It said that other breeds were introduced to the population between 1900 and 1950, which lines up with the fact that they observed the occasional trait that should not be present in "pure" icelandics, such as beards and brown eggs. The lines imported to the US are, according to conservationists, descendants of the only pure remaining flocks, though that's unverifiable to my knowledge. This definitely makes me feel less guilty about my plans to mix them with other breeds, corrupting this rare genetic treasure
They're still good flock candidates in my book, the local populations are more diverse than either fayoumis or sumatras, which are both praised for their strong genetics.

Another thing that SYNBREED taught me is how much of a mess sebrights are, they're kind of just little bundles of recessive traits in the vague shape of chickens. It kind of makes sense; they're one of the earliest officially standardized breeds, so they've been linebred for a very long time.

 

[LaurenRitz]

This definitely makes me feel less guilty about my plans to mix them with other breeds, corrupting this rare genetic treasure

From my perspective, if I am paying for a rare breed I am, by my financial support, contributing to its continued survival. I feel no guilt at doing whatever I want with the birds. If I didn’t buy the chicks, they would get no support from me at all.

It would be a different matter if I planned to sell purebred chicks.

 

[Shadrach]

Makes plenty of sense to me. I read the AVIANDIV page on Icelandics a few days ago and that's what it looked like. It said that other breeds were introduced to the population between 1900 and 1950, which lines up with the fact that they observed the occasional trait that should not be present in "pure" icelandics, such as beards and brown eggs. The lines imported to the US are, according to conservationists, descendants of the only pure remaining flocks, though that's unverifiable to my knowledge. This definitely makes me feel less guilty about my plans to mix them with other breeds, corrupting this rare genetic treasure
They're still good flock candidates in my book, the local populations are more diverse than either fayoumis or sumatras, which are both praised for their strong genetics.

Another thing that SYNBREED taught me is how much of a mess sebrights are, they're kind of just little bundles of recessive traits in the vague shape of chickens. It kind of makes sense; they're one of the earliest officially standardized breeds, so they've been linebred for a very long time.

I had a friend in Catalonia who kept Fayoumis. He bought his in Egypt from a village breeder. They are incredibly fast on the ground and very difficult to find in the trees. I've always liked Fayoumis and but they are not will kitted out to deal with colder climates and they need a lot of room because they like to fly and are pretty good at it for a chicken.

I think I saw three or four of my friends Fayoumis free ranging in ten years.
Most of the broodies used the various nest boxes he had set up on the property and these one could get to see. They were pretty much untouchable on their nests according to my friend who had the scars to prove it.

Interesting birds.

 

[fluffycrow]

I had a friend in Catalonia who kept Fayoumis. He bought his in Egypt from a village breeder. They are incredibly fast on the ground and very difficult to find in the trees. I've always liked Fayoumis and but they are not will kitted out to deal with colder climates and they need a lot of room because they like to fly and are pretty good at it for a chicken.

I think I saw three or four of my friends Fayoumis free ranging in ten years.
Most of the broodies used the various nest boxes he had set up on the property and these one could get to see. They were pretty much untouchable on their nests according to my friend who had the scars to prove it.

Interesting birds.

They definitely are. They’re like the Basenjis of the chicken world, at least in my eyes. Hopefully Perris will be able to give us even more information on this breed as her Fayoumis mature.
I think it was No Coop No Problem who had a very negative experience with them.
I’ve also read very conflicting claims regarding their broodiness, ranging from not broody, to broody, to broody after two or three years old. I suppose that’s the case with every breed, but some maintain a more consistent reputation. Maybe they were not as inbred, and as such different lines across the world have different characteristics

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Seriously, it's toxic to pets, and humans.

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departm...green-algae-poisoning-cyanobacteria-toxicosis

Screenshot in case you can't access the website:

View attachment 4211191

You had me at "slime". I don't think I'll ever be hungry enough to eat something called slime. And I like kale.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Maybe they should just prescribe Taco Bell as prep instead of drinking that awful Gatorade mix and those evil little pills. It would be much more fun.

Pretty sure it would work as well

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Perris and I are in contact via PM. I have no idea what went wrong with the earlier attempt.
Perris has made an exceptionally kind offer and after this weekend we will attempt to sort out the details. I can't write much more about the arrangements without consulting Perris regarding how much detail I can post in this thread. What I can write is it looks like we are going ahead with getting one of the cockerels Perris has offered to the field.

This is all new territory for me. In the past the chickens have sorted out all this without my interference.

There won't be any quarantine period. While not impossible to arrange, under the field constraints it's not a realistic option. Keeping new arrivals separate is just about doable, but ensuring the new arrival gets fed properly would mean a system much like what I'm currently using where I leave food in the coop overnight and an auto door that lets them out into the coop run a couple of hours after dawn. That would require a new coop with an auto pop door and a dust screen around the large wire enclosure you will have seen in the pictures I've posted. Anything less isn't really effective quarantine.
While I could arrange to be there in the mornings for a couple of days by staying at my eldest overnight, the four weeks recommended quarantine period isn't doable.
That's the reality of the situation.

Yesssss! Incoming rooster!

 

[Shadrach]

Light rain by the time I got to the field. It blew over after half an hour. I went late because of the rain so two hours today.

I'm going to go for Glais if that's okay @Perris. I think he's a good looking bird and hopefully Mow and Sylph will agree. He's a little older than I would have liked but hopefully when the hormones bite he will have learnt enough with you to back up and be polite.

One concern is moult for Sylph and Mow can't be far away. It will be Sylph's first and Mow had a rough time with her first moult and it remains to be seen how she copes with her second. Glais will probably want to mate by that time.

I'll PM you to make arrangements.

 

[Molpet]

One concern is moult for Sylph and Mow can't be far away. It will be Sylph's first and Mow had a rough time with her first moult and it remains to be seen how she copes with her second. Glais will probably want to mate by that time.

Could you all wait until molt is done?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Just a somewhat random comment about bringing back rare breeds. Someone else posted a similar comment, and I read back a bit on this thread and didn’t see it, so apologies if I’m reposting.

A huge problem with rescuing a species or sub-species from near-extinction is that we generally wait too long. When there are few individuals left to restart the breed, we are looking at a genetic bottleneck: where after a natural disaster or some other event, there are very few individuals left to breed from.

Unless these individuals are scattered around the world, the chances are that they are closely related to one another (inbred), and using them as breeding stock increases the likelihood of concentrating lethal and other harmful genetic defects in their offspring.

If we want to maintain their specific genetic contribution to chickendom, a strong argument can be made for cross-breeding them with other breeds (subspecies), rather than trying to keep the line “pure,” which just continues to weaken the bloodline.

@Perris ‘s breeding program with the aim of increasing genetic diversity is far more important than trying to preserve unique individuals of a traditional but fading breed, sad as it is to say.