Breeding has improved so much from when I was a kid. Part of the reason why is because good fowl were harder to obtain back then. We were forced into getting what we could from friends – a little of this and a little of that, blending them together in the hopes that we might develop something that was competitive. Pure blood was relatively nonexistent. We had to make our own pure lines.
Ep63 – Interview with John Anthony Marks
In this episode, we are talking with Master Breeder and teacher, John Anthony Marks, from Palestine, Texas. He is well-known for his Mark’s Mugs. John shares with us how he obtained his fowl, and finetuned them into a high-quality strain. He even walks us through his selection process. I know you will find this very informative.
WANNABE BREEDER OR TRUE BREEDER – Which one are you?
Many believe they are breeders, but don’t know the first thing about breeding: Its funny, but I see this all the time, online, especially in the forums. Those with very little experience and knowledge acting like breeding experts. The truth is, only a small percentage of those who breed fowl know what they are doing. To make matters worse, the percentage drops considerably when you include Master Breeders. With such a discrepancy, as to who the real breeders are, there is no wonder we have confusion within our ranks.
Ep62 – Our Favorite Chicken Books
A question I get often from our members is, as a breeder, what books are best, and which books should I get first? In this episode, we are going to share some of our favorite books on chickens and chicken breeding. Although we have thousands of books in our library, there’s a handful of books that are considered our go-to-books. These are the books we check out first, and are the most valuable in our collection.
CULLING COMMON DEFECTS
The practice of culling should be from the day they hatch to their eventual death. Birds are culled for a variety of reasons, but in order to cull properly you must first understand what a cull is.