You might want to read this, Up date go down to new topic.

[Jake Levi]

Re the book, The Call of the Hen,

it has NOTHING to do with showing, it has everything to do with teaching people how to handle their birds and what to do in evaluating them for production and breeding potential.It is a very old book, in reprint.

Frankly if more people knew what the book teaches there would be far less need to have a judge evaluate their birds at a show other then entering your best for the show win. The breeder would KNOW who was their best bird. After that it would simply be comparing them to others best birds. As a show should be.

If, you arent handling your birds you cannot really know them.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Things have gotten off track here, but I will say that I have been to more than a few show. Judges are not that easy to get the ear of and pick their brains. In fact it was difficult to get the information for the NYS fair. Seems to me some judges are really not that interested. Sad but that's the way I see things.

Now as I stated before my reason for starting this post was not to start a debate over who's op is right but to share ideas of poultry keeping.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

You have spoken something I've stood for for a long time: Stewardship. If everybody breeds the identical copies (the standard) of everyone else's birds, and completely useless in utiliy none the less, were's the fecundity of diversity in that?! We as farmers and poultrymen (and women) are stewards of our animals. If we all breed what someone tells (who is certainly not knowledgeable of our unique situations) us to, and everybody else as well, not only are we losing precious diversity and utility, but vitality as well: Selecting the best looking (boy that's shallow) birds is not at all like selecting the smartest Rooster, or the most Maternal hen, or the toughest chicks. It's selecting birds that, are often, actually quite poor in quality. And people think mutts are the bad ones! Good job and keep at it.