PRESERVING PRODUCTION QUALITIES INTRO HOME TURKEY CHICKEN BREEDER STORY ARTICLE LINK BREEDS OF CHICKENS

By Pamela Marshall Copyright 2002
The majority of the breeds that we have were brought about by isolation and selection (both natural and man made) for birds that fit into a particular climate and the needs of the people who raised them. Along the way, folks would find a particular colour, conformation, or production quality that caught their fancy, and started breeding the fowl with those traits in mind. For the dedicated showman today, poultry breeding is a science and an art form (with some luck thrown in at times!!) - the knowledge of a good breeder about the genetics that bring about certain feather patterns, tufts, muffs, ect. would make many a college professors' head spin, and the imagination that they show when creating a new variety would have made Van Gogh proud. Unfortunately, as with a great painting, the amount of wastage that occurs to get the "perfect" specimen can be huge - who knows how many drafts Van Gogh may have thrown out before he decided that his efforts were producing just what he was striving for??? The problem is that we are working with a living being, and sadly the efforts to produce the "perfect" bird oftentimes result in the ruination of the breed. When you select for one trait, or even a couple of traits, and breed heavily for those traits, you may be breeding out many other desirable characteristics, especially fertility,	I am personally a heritage breeder - I aim to breed my birds in a manner more like those of the old farmers who originally created the birds that I work with...while I strive to keep the colour and the type close to the accepted "standard", I also place great weight on the production qualities of the birds. Ninety-nine percent of the birds that filled the farmyards of yesteryear would never have made it in a sanctioned show - but when the farmer got that "special" bird, he would have shown it off to everyone and likely have been as proud of it as his first born. The point here is that the other 99 birds in the flock would have been of use to him as production birds, and would not have had their necks wrung because they were useless for any purpose except stew-pot birds. It saddens me to see birds that are over-bred -- yes they are certainly beautiful (My breath was taken away when I saw pictures of the Frizzles in the Extraordinary Chicken. I am sure that, with our interests here, the majority of us would not put our vanity above the interests of the breed - and perhaps we could encourage folks to remember to balance the science and art sides of breeding for the sake of future generations of breeders to produce birds who retain more of their original properties. Pam Seldom Seen Farm, Amenia, NY.

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Wayne.