I asked my Facebook Friends a Question “If I could get breeders like Don Schrider and Danny Feathers on a Roundtable, what would you like to ask them?” I quickly received numerous questions.
Many of these questions came from our members of the Breeders Academy, facebook friends and emails. The questions that were similar, we combined to make one. We tried to get to every question, but were able to get to half. Hopefully we can get to the rest at a later show. These questions are not in any order.
Roundtable Participants:
- Kenny Troiano,
- with Don Schrider
- and Danny Feathers
- Moderated by Nancy Troiano
Kenny Troiano – from Ramona California
- Master Breeder of American Games
- Judge for the “American Gamefowl Society”
- Writer for “The Poultry Press” and “The Gamecock Magazine”
- Author of the “Gamefowl Breeders Manuals”
- Teacher at “The Breeders Academy”
- Host of the “Bred to Perfection” podcast
Danny Feathers – from Oklahoma
- He’s an ABA Judge
- Master Breeder
- Guest of Bred to Perfection – Episode 48
Don Schrider – from West Virginia
- Master Breeder – of dark brown leghorns
- Writer of various Publications, such as The Poultry Press
- Author of the Story’s Guide to Raising Turkeys
- Livestock Conservancy
- Buckeye Project
- Guest of Bred to Perfection – episodes 30, 31, 33
- Upcoming episode about the Buckeye Project coming soon.
The Topics of Discussion:
- How were you first introduced to chickens?
- When Clan Breeding, which would be better, all of them be distant related or closer related? And how many pens would they recommend?
- If you are looking to acquire hens for egg production (eggs sales), what qualities and traits would you select for?
- What’s more important, the hen or the rooster?
- If A x B = AB – AB x C and AB x D.Can I cross ABC x ABD?
- Do you ever experience “cock years” and “hen years?” Every other year – one sex is better than the other?
- What do you think about oats?
- What’s the importance of carriage and leg length?
- Where do most breeders fail?
- What are the most common defects?
- What do you think about hatcheries? Are they good or bad?
- Is there such a thing as a pure strain?
- Where is the line drawn between breeder and bloodlines?
- Why is it important to test the progeny?
- I’ve heard you talk about “Recumbent Reciprocal Selection” on past shows, can you talk more about this method?
- Can you talk more about your Plus-Minus method?
- For hatching – do you prefer using a setting hen or incubator? If so, is there a process to clean the eggs before placing in the incubator?
- How important is variation in the improvement of your strain?
- What do they look for in selecting a brood cock and hen?
- What’s the best age to select for different traits?
- How much emphasis do you place on culling? How many chickens do you really have – compared to the number of chickens you told your wife you have? Have you ever come home from work to find that your wife has cooked your favorite chicken?
- This is for Danny – How do you view the future of the American Game as a recognized show bird?
- Where do you find the Standard for American gamefowl?
- What’s the one thing that made you say – “what the hell?”
