Proper selection has made this Buff Laced Brahma cockerel a great fit for Wisconsin's harsh climate and the Powell's free-range style of management and homesteading way of life.

At One Earth Farm we have become famous for our "fancy chickens." Indeed, at first glance it might appear that we are merely all about pretty chickens, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that our bantam Hamburgs and Sebrights are decked out in hues of citron and lavender, and our large fowl Brahmas appear to have raided the closet of the beloved Buff Laced Polish. But look a little closer and you"ll notice tiny, bright-eyed Campine bantams scratching around their unheated coop on a subzero January afternoon and 14-pound Brahma roosters contentedly perching overhead in the barn on a summer's night. Come into the kitchen and you'll notice that the refrigerator is brimming with a surplus of Brahma eggs and that the freezer is filled with meaty Chantecler culls. Peer into the incubator and you'll see rows of fertile Sebright eggs and step into the pen of bantam Hamburg breeders and you'll find you soon have a little buddy perched on your shoulder. It is true that our birds weigh in very heavily on the "fancy scale," but as we place so much emphasis on traits like disease resistance, longevity, fecundity, utility and temperament, our birds are just as famous for their productivity and hardiness as they are for being pretty.

Friendly and calm, these white Chantecler hens investigate the camera. Such easygoing birds as these make daily evaluations of flock health both gratifying and more accurate.

Selection for disease resistance, hardiness and longevity all go hand in hand and should be the first selection tools for which any breeder reaches. Before any selection for type or coloration can even begin we must first have laid a firm foundation upon which to build. A bird that must be coddled through winter or guarded from every passerby for fear it might catch its death before the next breeding season will soon lose its fascination and will ultimately disappoint. Selection for longevity is perhaps one of the easiest traits for which to select, and by doing so traits like cold hardiness and disease resistance are boosted as well. Simply by breeding from birds that have been allowed to mature into their second breeding season, breeders set the "selection" wheels in motion. Birds that were unable to endure the cold for two winters will not find their way into the breeding pen, nor will the rooster that nearly dropped over dead from a heart attack after being rushed by the neighbor's Pekinese, nor will the hen whose oviduct prolapsed at the end of her first laying season. Birds that have survived the barrage of pathogens and calamities that are endemic in the environment will be what fill the breeding pens after a simple two year wait. They will pass on their survivability and will infuse the flock with their vigor and street smarts. A hen that is still shelling out eggs after four years and a rooster that keeps the brooder full at the spry age of five is what selection for longevity is all about. It is the simplest and most important form of selection, but quite often in the haste to win that next ribbon or the quest to create that new variety it gets overlooked. Without it we breeders have no canvas upon which to paint.

At the end of a long cold Wisconsin winter spent in an unheated coop this little Citron Spangled Hamburg bantam pullet is vibrant and healthy and ready for her first breeding season.

Like the aforementioned, selection for fecundity and utility should also be "joined at the hip"—though extreme interpretations of breed standards can sometimes put these two at odds. Pullets that lay only a handful of eggs and roosters that don't breed naturally are often the result of a breeder applying selection pressure in the opposite direction of fecundity. Some breeds are notorious "poor performers" and usually inbreeding depression or genetic drift are the proclaimed culprits in these gene pools. As a breeder of Brahmas I am all too familiar with the gigantic, show-quality rooster that thinks breeding is something best accomplished with a massage and a syringe. So too I have known many glorious, owlish-looking Brahma hens that have mistook "nest box" to mean "rest box." This breed is a perfect example of how selection for traits as outlined by the breed standard can—if interpreted incorrectly or taken to the extreme—create a bit of a genetic dead-end. I'm pretty sure that no eggs or clear eggs was not the goal of the good folks who drew up the Brahma breed standard. Yet, selection for massive frames and gentle dispositions seems to have put certain lines within this breed on collision courses with extinction. I do not want to pick on the Brahma, as I am one of the breed's biggest fans, but it is also a perfect example of a breed that has lost so much utility over the years that few homesteads bother keeping them for any reason beyond sheer eye candy. Indeed, this once popular roasting fowl has been relegated to the simple, feed-consuming life once reserved for the "strictly ornamental fowl." Without proper selection for fecundity and utility breeders can inadvertently saddle a once useful and trouble-free breed with a bad reputation—and in the words of my grandmother, "Bad reputations come a lot easier than they go."

Ongoing selection of healthy breeding stock is essential in the creation of vibrant birds like this young Buff Laced Brahma cockerel and his colorful mixed flock of laying hens.

With "fancy breeds," temperament is not as often overlooked as traits like longevity and utility, but its contribution to a healthy productive flock is greatly underestimated. A bird that is calm and easily handled undergoes much less stress than one that is a nervous wreck every time a breeder enters the coop. Stress impedes weight gain, reduces fecundity and suppresses the immune system—opening the bird up to all sorts of pathogens that it could otherwise hold at bay. A flock that has been selectively bred for a calm disposition is a flock whose immune system has the advantage when disease comes knocking. Furthermore, a flock that is calm and friendly invites more attention from the breeder and is more likely to behave normally in his presence—making early detection of injury and disease much more likely.

I love chickens: beautiful, friendly, tasty chickens. It is always my goal as a breeder to impart characteristics that will draw other people to the industry, to the fancy, to the breed, and to the variety. Breeds are not cut in stone, but rather are fluid, elastic, ever-changing populations upon which we breeders hone our craft. As such I urge other breeders to not discount their role as stewards of their breed, and to remember the importance of disease resistance, longevity, fecundity, utility and temperament when they set up their breeding pens.

Daniel Powell has been actively breeding poultry for over 30 years. While much of his technical training in genetics was obtained while pursuing his Bachelor's in Genetics and Cell Biology, he credits his lifelong hobby and study of breed development and preservation for the bulk of his understanding. Many of the rare breeds and varieties of poultry kept at his farm were developed by him and can be viewed on his website at www.oneearthfarm.com. Readers can contact Dan by e-mailing him at .