What is Your Long Term Plan with Poultry?

Wondering what everyone's goals are with their birds? Where do you see yourself heading with this hobby/business? What will you have accomplished in 10 years?

My personal goals are always to breed as close to the Standard as I can while maintaining all the vigour, fertility and productivity the breeds I have chosen are know for.
When starting out with a new breed, usually developing my own line that meets those things takes about 10 years!
I think it will be tougher here as there doesn't seem to be as much of a demand for heritage layer hens that bring decent money. Everyone wants chicks and if I sell all my chicks I will not be able to make any headway.
Great question, I look forward to hearing everyones responces. I am sure they will be very different and varied!

To have a freezer full of homegrown chickens that are delicious and as organic as I can be, to feed me and my loved ones. Hey I already have that! Thanks for the perspective! Ok I also want to have a beautiful line of BLRWs without freek'n telescoping combs. Hopefully it won't take 10 years!

To continue with my breeding program and eventually create my Galliform army and take over THE WORL...

ahem...

I mean, to grow nice wholesome food in my backyard.

Idealy it would be to create a Houdan flock that is not inbred, that is healthy without defect and to weight standard. To also keep and raise healthy polish as I do have concerns that this breed may also end up like Houdans as it does seem that fewer people want to raise pure polish here in our colder climiate.

However, the reality is I don't know if I wil be able to as I have personal issues within my family that are currently difficult for me and Bruce to deal with that involve caring for an elderly parent. Then there are health issues that I have to deal with. Then there is simply the daily, everyday things one has to deal with.

I hope to have my head on straight on and down to two breeds that I will invest all my time into. I can to a quick realization that it is not possible to raise 20 breeds up to the proper standards.

I hope that in 10 years I will have some nice heavy bodied Speckled Sussex that are healthy, genetically diverse, strong birds, with proper meat and egg traits,and that might do well in a few shows.

I would also like to see my Buff Chantecler flock expand and improve. These are amazing birds that are truley under rated. Would also like to see this breed become recognised but that may be a strech.

I also hope that Alberta will have a growing Poultry Exhibiting world and to see more Quality Heritage birds competiting in the shows that will hopefully start to pop back up...

10 years from now I hope to have MUCH better type back ino the BLRW's. Going to take some outcrossing to different varieties of wyandotte, and many hatches and lots of culling. Shall be worth it in the end! Would be nice if in that 10 years, we could work up enough long term breeders and apply for the variety to be recognised by the APA.

I am also trying to decide which other breed or breeds I would like to pursue long term. I am becoming very interested in the Buttercups, just as there are SO FEW of them left in the world, let alone any with the proper traits (closed combs). Would be nice to be able to help bring back a breeds popularity so it doesnt disapear off the earth.

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My long term plans include continuing to learn as much as possible about different breeds of poultry and waterfowl as that is essential to staying a good APA/ABA judge. Continuing to help as many people as possible aquire and breed poultry to the standard and that includes the economic properties.
As for my birds I hope to continue enjoying my birds as much as I do most days and keep striving to get my birds no matter what breed as close to the SOP as possible and hope upon hope that my health holds up. And hoping last if not least that will will have achieved the goal of no more building pens etc.

Heather.

LOL Fowler. Sounds like Pinky and the Brain have some competition.


Cool question! I hope to turn my passion for chickens (and certain breeds I’m smitten with) from a simple backyard hobby into something a little more serious and committed.

With the Ameraucana breed, my personal goal is to achieve the best SOP birds I can without sacrificing egg colour, size, and production. I’d really love to see improvements made on the blue eggshell colour the breed is so popular for. Down with the green! lol So far I have acquired some good foundation stock and will be adding more as time/space/funds permit.

With the Plymouth Barred Rocks, my goal will be to achieve the best dual-purpose SOP birds I can without sacrificing size and productivity. I’ve always loved the look of the Plymouth Rock and would like to do my part to increase the population of this stunning dual-purpose bird. I hope to acquire some good foundation stock by next spring/summer.

Hopefully by the time another decade is up, I’ll be on my way to making my project goal(s) a reality. Or at least getting closer!

Good question Liz.

My goals are....

To continue to learn and apply that learning to growing productive chickens as close to the breed standard as possible.

To still enjoy poultry as much as I do today.

My goal, in 10 years, is to be sitting back in my rocking chair, knowing that I have made some improvements to my lines of Chanteclers, and that the breed is secure, because there are a large number of dedicated people also breeding them. The ultimate is to be able to create, my own lines that will meet the standard of perfection, and have all the qualities necessary to make them great dual purpose birds, as they were originally designed to be.

~in the next 10 years i would like to get my salmon faverolles, and silkies up to the standard of perfection as best as i can, and have a nice sized flock of both!! i would also like to enter and get involved in more and more poultry shows in Alberta!

In 10 years I hope to finally be able to sex young white Chanteclers accurately!

Seriously, it brings me joy to read about all the enthusiastic people on here who are so dedicated to their favorite breed. I especially love the way Coyote Acres said it and I completely agree.

As a long term poultry plan, there is nothing that would be more satisfying to me than looking back in ten year's time and seeing that I have made a real difference in the overall quality of my chosen breeds. To know that I had a hand in preserving that piece of our heritage for future generations to enjoy. Wow! Now that is time well spent!

What a like minded group we are.
I too want to take my two chosen breeds the speckled sussex and the salmon faverolle to SOP show quality standard chickens. I want to show birds and and to keep a medium sized flock of both my breeds.
I will also always keep an assortment of other birds as eye candy.
I can see that I takes a lot of dedication to bring a heritage breed up to standard. Sadly a few breeds may not get a wide assortment of devoted breeders specializing in them but hopefully enough to ensure their continuation.
I am glad to see so many of us don't question whether or not we will still be into chickens but where they will be with their projects in ten years. I am also glad to see so many people choose uncommon breeds that need some attention.

Hmm, it does seem that we are rather likeminded on this site.

I too have chosen two breeds to concentrate on - the Light Sussex and the Speckled Sussex. I would like to bring the Light Sussex back to it's original purpose, which was primarily a faster growing meat bird In England. There are few commercial utility types of the bird left. As well, I would like to breed proper Lights for exhibition. The standard now is to have outcrossed Orpington into the mix at some point to get the size back. This does however change the feathering, slow egg production and the growth rate. Yup, 10 years.

I would also like to bring a line of Speckled back to the SOP while still maintaining vigour and dual purpose qualities.

To help these breeds, I think that it is necessary to show them and to bring them back into the public eye. That way perhaps the numbers will go up and as Coyote said so well the breed will be more secure.

10 years - well, time flies when you are having fun!

Well my plans aren't really serious but here is what I am hoping.
Hoping that in the next few years we own our on acerage, and I will have a nice big barn or barns and make a few pens and runs inside and out, and have some nice laying hens( I am trying cochins right now), some batams (I have silkies and Du uccles),guineas and hopefully a few different pairs of peacocks.(and my rabbits, cats, Horses)
What I really want is my kids to enjoy living on the farm, having some chores and responsiblities, and some of the love and respect of animals that I have.
And what I really really want is to win the lottery cause then I would have all sorts of birds and animals.

10 years well I am ten years plus 3 and more, were am I going, no one knows not even me. so here I am hatched way to many chicks this year 3 sportsman runing full time and I would like to know were I will be in 10 years.

I hope to continue enjoying my chickens and turkeys. I hope to narrow it down to a couple of my favorite breeds and hope to have some Show Quality Silkies .

Not sure where I will be in 10 years. I do hope I can settle into fewer breeds and work on them of course. Help encourage the girls into their favorite breed (s) and gradually let them take over with their interests. Life is so up in the air right now hopefully I can continue along the path I am on, but only time will tell.

I think poultry is something that is easy to get into too hard too fast, at least for me it was...I started with a few chickens for eggs, then got some silkies to sit, then got some incubators, then had to build pens like crazy and a new chicken house, then felt I had to "pay" for all my improvements so drove around selling chicks in far away places...
My oldest son got involved with the chickens too which was kind of nice as he didn't have a whole lot of hobbies...
My two oldest and I just finished hauling wheat home bucket by bucket from a neighbour's grain bin, just about had to store it in the bathtub...it is great to get all that wheat in for the winter supply but made me realize how many mouths I am feeding these days.

I want to keep breeding Dominiques, to see if I can create my own strain, I would like to raise some Barred Rocks that are close to the weight and type and color they used to be so they can be more of a true dual purpose bird that are beautiful to look at.

I would like to see all my kids own and raise poultry or waterfowl for all the great benefits it provides but ultimately I want my chickens to be a hobby again where I can please myself and not be another full time job for me...