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Messages - Don

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31
Breeding / Breeding priorities from a historic perspective
« on: July 11, 2020, 01:49:16 PM »
There often is a discussion about selecting for one trait over another, if we should be interested in just the "show attributes" or about the total bird.  While AMs are not a historic breed, I think we can still learn from this article about breeding mindsets, evaluations and being progressing the Breed as a whole. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AmericanPoultryAssociation/permalink/10158716301588767/?__tn__=K-R

32
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: Bird prep and what not
« on: July 10, 2020, 11:39:28 PM »
Steve there are numerous threads in the forum that discuss several individual approaches to show conditioning and prep, and there should be one in the breeder's handbook in your membership package. In addition take a look at some of the various articles available at the PSC site on the link below. They are very simple but will give you a place to start and then practice what works for you. And feel free to ask questions. Even when you are at the shows most people are happy to answer questions about their birds and how they get ready for the shows. The washing routine with three buckets of water has been used for generations. The soaps and other additives vary per color and personal taste. Just give it a try and see what tweeks work best for you, your variety and your family. 
     https://www.poultryshowcentral.com/Fancy_101.html

In one of the older handbooks there was an article written about cage training and posing birds written by member Patty Pickard several years ago. This is a similar article she wrote for her waterfowl to give you an idea of her zeal for the hobby. Her site also has a couple articles on housing. Cage training can take place in any number of cages so don't feel like you have to buy actual show cages. But feeding treats to make the birds helps a lot, and encourages them to come forward when a person approaches. One other aspect with AMs is to keep the birds separate with wood dividers so they can't pick beards. Many males in breeding groups will be devoid of beards and muffs because of this habit.   
    http://www.faithvalleywaterfowl.com/art_of_cage_training.html

33
Breeding / Re: Breeding splash Ameraucanas
« on: July 09, 2020, 09:05:20 PM »
So what we are saying is that we can't use Blue birds to breed Splash show birds?  How else do you keep the lacing from presenting on the Blue Splashed feathers?  This would apply to either lacing or the more normal edging, right?   And just to be clear, we are talking about the lacing on the Blue feathers in the splash coloring, not the field color?   

34
Breeding / Re: Breeding splash Ameraucanas
« on: July 06, 2020, 11:00:09 PM »
From what I've read, none of the Splash descriptions refer to the Lacing in the Blue portions of the "Splashed" feathers. Rather they refer to "Blue" where the description is detailed. The lacing is carried over if the Blues you use for breeding meet the Blue standard, either in edging or in true Blue lacing. This happens in the Splash birds that I've seen in Andalusians, Ameraucanas and Sumatras. I will have a look at some of the other breeds that are shown in Splash next time I am a show. Cochins are accepted and I am aware that Old English are shown in Splash from time to time also. I would be curious how the Standard Committee suggests that this may be written into the standard, or if it is just understood to be accepted by the judges. Alternately you'll have people creating a subpar Blue line without lacing to make the unusual splashes. This is also true in the leg colors of the Splash descriptions. The colors are all written with solid leg colors, ie Blue, slate, etc.  The leg colors of the splash carry over the Splash pattern also.  At the very least it might be helpful to have the Standard description written such that the leg color variation and Splash lacing are not considered a fault in the target Standard for judging.   

35
Ameraucana Marketplace / Re: Silver Standard Description
« on: July 01, 2020, 11:59:24 PM »
This is the discussion between club members and Sam Brush before the Silver Standard Description was changed.  Maybe it can shed some background on why the Dutch color was selected over the Leghorn Silver. I don't know if Sam or any of the others involved might add some light as well.  There are color renderings of the Silver AM Large Fowl in the APA Standard that might help also.   

36
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: South East District Meets
« on: June 07, 2020, 02:08:11 PM »

Given that the restrictions will continue to be lessened and that people want to get out to show. 
These are the most popular shows and dates of fall shows that are closer to our area. I know there are others that might be closer to some of the membership. Please let me know if you have shows where you'd like to have meets placed near you.  These dates are taken from Poultry Show Central, please let me know if any of the dates need to be corrected.       Thanks!    drc


Cape Fear PC, Smithfield NC          October 24, 2020
Friendship PC, Morganton NC         October 31, 2020

OE Jamboree, China Grove            Nov 7, 2020
+Canadian Valley Mega Show          Nov 7, 2020  ABC National Norman OK.

+Virginia Poultry Breeders Club       November 21, 2020
Appalachian Classic Morehead KY    November 21, 2020
Anderson All Breed show, SC        November 21, 2020

+Forsyth Poultry Show, Winston-Salem NC   Nov 28, 2020

37
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: Poster to Promote the Club and Breed
« on: May 29, 2020, 03:38:20 PM »
Mark Fields is still calling for posters about the breeds....... IF we had something that looked slick/professional and eye catching?  I'm thinking that Jan or one of the folks that works on the APA ads could something for a small cost?    We could even use the new images of the Self Blue LF if anyone has something?   

'Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I'm still looking for (waiting) for any breed club fliers that you would like added to the APA Education and Training website. So far only Marans Chicken Club USA has provided anything."

38
Ameraucana Marketplace / Re: Ameraucana Eggs and Stock
« on: May 27, 2020, 10:55:22 PM »
We have eggs for White bantams and maybe some Wheatens.  We are almost caught up with LF Black and Blue egg orders, the other varieties are slowing down, but we are able to meet folks in our area for these eggs also. No shipping at this time.  Thanks!     drc   

39
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: Pet Carriers / Show Boxes
« on: May 23, 2020, 08:54:27 AM »
Stephan, The wood boxes are nice for bantams especially. They are compact so you can get more birds in a truck bed or deck space. One thing to consider is the weight when making them. Most of the folks that sell them use thin Luan panels and light pine. Even then when you load them with birds and stack a couple they are a strain to carry any distance. This might be easier if you could put a handle on them to carry them like a suit case to the side of your body. And you'll see some folks at the shows with all kinds of carts now too. This is especially obvious when you are talking LF. Three to four LF will weigh 20 lbs plus. -  Let me put some numbers together and I will send you an email. 

The dog carriers are much easier to carry and clean. But they are not usually sized to maximize the number of birds to be placed in a truck bed. They seem effective in bringing larger groups of sale birds together.
They can also be broken down to stack and store in less space than several of the wood boxes. The same is true of the plastic totes. If you can find a way to fix the lid, ventilate and handle those, they really are easy to empty and integrally stack in the corner of the garage.  Good Luck and let us know if you find some new options. 

40
Exhibiting & Promoting / Re: South East District Meets
« on: May 20, 2020, 04:32:02 PM »
I am sure some of the fall shows are trying to see their way clear to have shows this fall. We will see how that works out as the summer and fall firm up. I know the Virginia Poultry Breeders have a meet this fall that is planned to proceed at this point.  And I heard that the Winston Salem NC show is putting their show together, I don't think they've hired judges just yet. And this is a popular show with some in the NC and adjoining areas. That show is always the saturday after Thanksgiving. I will post this as soon as I hear back from the show staff and hope for the best. 

Most fall shows in the SE region are the weekends late Oct to the second week in Dec. Let me know If you see a show that you want to attend. We can talk about the others who might be able to bolster a meet at that location. I don't know if there are many active shows in your area besides Anderson SC. That is a bantam club but I have been told that they decided to buy LF cages which will be great for the Ameraucana breeders finally.   Take a look at the Poultry Show Central source. Always confirm dates with the show secretary especially with the unknowns we are dealing with at this time.

There is a show in Morganton NC though I've not seen more than a couple AMs shown there thru the years.

 https://www.poultryshowcentral.com/South_Carolina.html

41
Breeding / Re: How many hens to a breeding pen?
« on: May 13, 2020, 10:04:03 AM »
Penny, the four hens should be fine with one male especially after some time when they all settle in during the season. If you look at some of the commercial flocks they often will have 6-10 females to each male. The only thing to watch for is sometimes a female will hide from the male in groups more than 2 and you may start off with some infertile eggs. If you have room it's nice to be able to put two hens in two separate pens and rotate the male every couple days. Of course the Best of all worlds is one hen per cage so you can pedigree your hatches, but most of us don't have that much space especially with LF. This will also lessen the damage the males might cause a pen of hens over the season. I have a couple pens where the hens are missing feathers now and it would be great to have an extra pens to keep the males alone for several days at a time now. I've found that the fertility will maintain after several weeks even if the males are missing several days at the time. 

Hopefully some of the other members will join in here and tell you about their experiences too.

Good Luck with your season!  drc

42
Exhibiting & Promoting / Poster to Promote the Club and Breed
« on: May 08, 2020, 06:43:16 PM »
The APA is looking for Breed Posters to add to the website. We could get Ruth Caron or Jan Gies to make an nice Professional polished Poster to use at meets and for situations such as this.

43
Penny, Glad you are interested in seeing them proceed thru the acceptance milestones. The biggest issue is getting the new varieites out to the shows in numbers, both to meet the APA requirements and just to get them noticed. The more people working with them the better and the faster they will improve.

Of course all of us are probably not going to be able to make the 4 Prequalifying and Qualifying meets. I am sure that Paul will keep us updated as the first meet is finalized when things are settled down from the closures. We will be required to have min numbers of each class, Cock, Hen, cockerel and pullet. So everyone will need to carry over Old Birds in order to make this process work. 

Hopefully we will soon see some announcements come out of the   

44
We should probably start with the input from the 5 APA member/breeders to start. I know Paul, Jerry and jean had said they'd sign the affadavits. Who are the other two?

45
While everyone is home and hopefully enjoying their new grow outs for the season take a look at your Splash AMs. How would you describe the specific colors for the beaks and legs or what color standard should they be bred? The Splash color pattern is random and the skin color often shows those same patterns 

Beaks often are listed as some form of Horn color. How should the likely variation be written in a standard?

Legs in many varieties are listed as a simple color. With splash the legs sometimes show a mottled color with light/dark spots. This shouldn't be a fault in the judging. Is this something we need to list in the Standard description? 

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