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This site is not about commercial breeds of poultry, but
focusses on the rare and/or heritage poultry breeds that
flourished on general farms around the world in the late
eighteen and early nineteen hundreds.
My wife and I live in Southwestern Ontario, near Lake
Erie. My wife has Shorthorn cattle and German Shepherd
dogs, while I keep chickens and turkeys. On this site
you will find articles by authors from many parts of the
world as well as some by myself. It is my hope that you
will find this site both informative and entertaining.
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Me with a Silkey cock named Titan.
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SOME HISTORY
When Lord Talbot first divided up my part of the world
for homesteading he separated it into one hundred acre
lots. This was considered enough land for a family to
earn a living on. The homesteader worked the land using
draft animals and in some cases humans to pull the plough.
If he had the money he would buy cows, pigs, chickens, and
maybe some turkeys, or ducks. The idea was to produce as much
as possible of what was needed for ones own family, then to sell or
trade any extra and buy those things that one could not produce
themselves.
The poultry were allowed to forage for themselves as much
as possible to reduce the amount of expensive feed they
would eat. Chickens were usually some dual-purpose breed
so that after they were done laying they could be
butchered and supply meat for the table. The fact that
these birds required more feed to produce a dozen eggs
than some specialty breed was of little consequence
because as mentioned before they foraged for most of
their food.
Although each district had it's own unique breed they all
had some common traits; They were all strong, disease
resistant birds, that could stand the rigors of climate,
and would be able to grow and lay eggs on the feed they
could forage. If a bird was unable to cope and thrive
in the diverse conditions, it was culled so the
unfavourable genes were eliminated from the gene pool of
that line and the breeds prospered as a result.
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THE CHANGES
These conditions prevailed more or less until the second
world war. After the war there were dramatic changes in
farming. Tractors became common, every farm soon had at
least one. A farmer could now work more land. With the
advent of the combine it was only necessary to make one
pass over the field to do what used to require two passes
with machinery, and long hours stooking.
At about the same time breeding programs started to
improve both crops and animals. Soon Holstein and
Hereford cattle took over from the dual purpose Shorthorn.
Now it was necessary to either produce milk or beef. Chickens made
a similar change. Soon laying stock were kept in cages.
This required a smaller bird, that would lay large eggs
every day on as little food as possible, as the food was
no longer free. Farmers started keeping broilers in large
buildings. The maximum number of birds are kept in the
least amount of space possible, and their scientifically
formulated food, is fed in a scientifically designed
building to a scientifically designed bird. These chickens
grow so fast that their cardio-vascular systems have a
hard time keeping up and many die of heart attacks before
they reach market weight. Turkeys changed from free
ranging, naturally breeding birds, into animals so large
that it is physically imposable for them to breed
naturally but needed to be artificially inseminated.
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THE RESULTS
The result of all this change has been good for the
farmers bottom line. The post war breeding programs
produced birds that would grow faster on less feed, or
produce more eggs. The down side is that the modern bird
is not as hardy as it's prewar counter part. Antibiotics
have been mixed into feed as a preventative measure. This
has resulted in germs that are immune to many of the
medications. The use of hormones in cattle, some believe,
has caused early puberty in some humans.
Some of the old breeds of fowl have disappeared, and
others are few in number. The back yard poultry
enthusiast has been saving these breeds but because they,
for the most part, are selecting for show quality the
utility characteristics have, in many cases, diminished.
Be sure to read;
PRESERVING PRODUCTION QUALITIES
By; Pamela Marshall
This is myself holding an utility type, Bard Rock pullet.
The Bard Rock was developed as a dual purpose chicken. It
was a very popular breed on General farms until the early
nineteen fifties.
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