Glenn Drowns, a listed member at Seed Savers since 1980, picked his way through 31 Black Jersey Giants to take home for breeding. Winter’s coming and our birds are looking for homes.
Glenn, the chicken whisperer, scooped up a bird, calming it as if it to say, “Don’t worry, you’re going to a better place.” He was looking for birds with the best traits for the variety: yellow feet, taller posture, combs without sprigs, size, and black coloring. He ended up with 11 chickens. This might not seem like much, but these are the biggest chickens you can get, weighing in at an average of 13 pounds a piece. Glenn laughed when he first saw our giants, “Have you been feeding them lead weights?!”
BELOW: Glenn Drowns, The Chicken Whisperer. Glenn and his wife Linda call themselves, “genetic preservationists who are in this for the genetic diversity of this planet we all call home.”
The Seed Savers’ board of directors voted last December to create this exhibit because heritage poultry, like heirloom seeds, are endangered reminders of our cultural and historical food origins. And we believe that it is important to tell the story of genetic preservation to the visiting public at Heritage Farm. So this past spring Glenn brought us six different poultry varieties from his Sandhill Preservation near Clinton, Iowa, to Heritage Farm for our poultry exhibit:
Grey Pomeranian Saddleback Geese
Khaki Campbell ducks
Buff-laced Polish chickens
Buckeye chickens
Black Jersey Giant chickens
Chocolate turkeys
No sooner had the birds arrived than they became a favorite part of the farm; staff, visitors, and members alike flocked (pun intended) to take a gander at the poultry scratch and cluck their way around their new home. At our annual conference in July, Glenn’s 20 minute presentation on this year’s breeds was followed up by two hours worth of questions. Obviously, there is great interest in heirloom fowl.
This past week, with the days getting shorter by the minute each day, it was time to close the poultry house and harvest our birds, most of whom had gained a considerable amount of weight following a leisurely summer at Heritage farm.
Whoa, wait a minute, did you say, harvest!
Now, you just hold on to your socks! Before you jump to conclusions and imagine us running around like chickens with our heads cut off - we can’t keep birds on the farm over winter, harvesting simply means finding them a new home. Our poultry exhibit has morphed into an adoption program for heritage poultry - a “bird pound” if you will.
The first birds to find a home (and the luckiest) went back to whence they came, the Sandhill Preservation Center. Glenn picked out the best specimens to take back for his breeding program. He took all 6 Chocolate turkeys, which are a critically listed breed with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (meaning there are fewer than 500 breeding birds in the United States).
Curious what it takes to qualify as a heritage turkey? The three criteria are (1) naturally mating, (2) long productive outdoor lifespan, and (3) a slow growth rate. All three of these standards are compromised in the US in order to meet the current demand for commercial turkeys - efficiently produced breast meat at the lowest cost.
After picking out a few more birds, and a comment from Linda, “you’d think 3,000 birds would be enough!” the Drowns and their new flock of caged poultry headed south.
Although 28 birds were headed to a better place, that still left 55 soon-to-be homeless birds, wondering about their winter fate. So, staff members were given the opportunity to adopt-a-bird, and the preservationists among us were willing to take their work home with them. The poultry were divided and now there are 5 new breeding flocks of rare and endangered heritage poultry in Northeast Iowa.
Glenn will bring a new set of poultry for our display next year, and the next year, and, well, you get the idea. In fact, Glenn maintains enough different varieties of poultry that it will be 15 years before Seed Savers ever sees the same variety twice. So, be sure you all come back and see us again next year!
Click here to learn more about the Glenn’s amazing projects at Sandhill Preservation.
BELOW: Facilities crew helping Glenn move Chocolate Turkeys
BELOW: Chocolate Turkeys heading to the Sandhill Preservation
BELOW: Seed Savers Staff helping move Buff Lace Polish chickens
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