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Cubalaya

The ancestry stock of the Cubalaya originated in the Philippines, and was brought into Cuba in...

General Information

Breed Purpose
Ornamental
Comb
Pea
Broodiness
Average
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Medium
Egg Color
Light Brown
Breed Temperament
Friendly,Easily handled,Calm
Breed Colors/Varieties
The American Poultry Association recognizes Black Breasted Red, White, and Black.
Breed Size
Large Fowl
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The Cubalaya breed derives from Sumatra and Malay birds brought to Cuba from the Philippines in the 1800s, where they were bred as a triple-purpose breed, for meat, eggs and sport. With careful selection and breeding, the Cubalaya was developed as a breed. It was exported to the USA, where the breed standard was first approved in 1935 by the American Poultry Association, with the breed name "Cubalaya" in honor of Cuba, from where the breed originated. They were first exhibited in the US in 1939, at the International Poultry Show in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cubalaya have a very nice white meat, lay an average of 4 to– 5 eggs per week during their peak egg-laying season, and serve as a duel purpose breed in Cuba. Within the United States, they are typically kept for ornamental and exhibition purposes. They have a friendly, curious disposition, are very heat tolerant and make excellent foragers when allowed to free range. The hens are good broodies and mothers.
The breed has been developed in standard and bantam size birds, standard-sized cocks weighing on average 5.3 and hens 3.3lb. Bantam cocks weigh around 1.6lb and hens about 1.3lb.
Three colors were allowed by the original Cuban standard: black, black-breasted red and white, though many others were bred in Cuba at the time. The same three colors are accepted by both the APA and the ABA.

It is the only chicken breed with official recognition from the Asociación Nacional de Avicultura, the Cuban national poultry association.

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Cubalaya eggs

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Cubalaya chick

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Cubalaya juveniles

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Cubalaya hen

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Cubalaya rooster

For more information on this breed and their owners' and breeders' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-cubalaya.1063950/
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Latest reviews

Pros: Hardy, heat-tolerant, adaptable, friendly, curious, thrifty, good rangers
Cons: Hard to find stock; some variations in stock; breed is very rare.
This breed fits our farm environment very well. We have hot weather, we do not need high egg production, we want the benefits of potentially good meat production if culling is necessary, and we want birds that may forage efficiently on range.

The Cubalaya breed fits these requirements very well. They are also quite friendly and curious, and have great chicken "personalities".

We're hoping that this breed will become more popular as it is very rare.

(Note: there is a Brown Leghorn in the picture with two Cubes, through the pop door).
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Pros: Dont get frightened easily, tame, friendly, do well with children, pretty
Cons: Flighty, very slow growers, roosters are aggressive with other roosters
I got 4 Cubalayas, 2 hens and 2 roosters from Urch Turnland Poultry. They are very beautiful and friendly. However, they do need to be handled a lot or they will not let you pick them up (1 rooster that was not handled) My Cubalayas are picked up at least once a day since the time they were babies by young children and myself. Now they do very well with people, definatly the most friendly breed I've raised (I have raised Orpingtons, Brahmas, Frizzles, Dominiques, Cochins, and a few mixed breeds) For showing in the county fair they are not the best because they do take very long to mature. The 5 month olds I have now are still quite small. The roosters are aggressive with other roosters, my two Cubalaya roosters are separated currently. One of them is better with people than other roosters, and the other one is in with 3 others (the bottom of the pecking order because of his size) so he doesn't dare attack any
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The rooster I have handled the most (Carlos) is very friendly and even crows when I'm holding him
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When he was younger he got sick and stayed indoors with me, and would fall asleep on me, eat dinner with me (ocassianly stealing a pasta noodle) and cuddle under my arm.
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Now that he's older he is not as cuddly as before but still tolerates me putting him in my sweatshirt
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Friendliest rooster ive had. Crusty and Chloe (chloe died, sadly, the cause was unknown) are the hens. Chloe was my little sister's favorite, and she would do dance routines with her, Chloe was the calmest of all of them and was a wonderful canidate for poultry showmanship. Crusty likes perching on my hand and arm more than being held, and likes to sleep when i am holding her. Both are very sweet hens. Craig, the rooster that was not handled, doesn't like to be picked up. He does eat out of my hand when I'm in the coop feeding him, since its difficult for him to get to food.

If you are thinking about getting Cubalayas it is important to handle them a lot. The more you do handle them, the friendlier they will be !
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Love This breed and highly reccomend to people looking for pets/older show birds
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Pros: Beautiful, GREAT foragers, non-aggressive to birds or people, very friendly, hardy
Cons: A little too fearless. Also, eggs are quite small.
Want a huge personality in a little package? A little bird that can run with the big birds? A super friendly long-tailed friend? Get a Cubalaya.

They're great birds, even in mixed flocks. They can (and will) take up for themselves, but aren't bird aggressive. They're SUPER friendly with people, extremely personable, and have huge personalities. They're great free-rangers and economical eaters. Very hardy in cold or heat!

They have few downsides - one, the eggs are small (like them) and two - they're downright fearless. This seems like a good thing at first, but a little hen I had once killed herself - my father was out in the backyard, sawing up wood - she flew up to perch on him, nearly landing on the running chainsaw! They're crazy little buggers, but they'll make you smile. I miss my girl terribly and I'd love to have another one day.
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Comments

Where are you? At the time of your post, Ideal and Stromberg's had hatch dates available. There aren't many breeders, but if you give us a region we can probably point you to someone
 
What color (doesn't really matter, just curious)? My inlaws will be coming this way right before Thanksgiving.
 
Can a Cubalaya rooster have dark legs? I have a rooster that looks almost identical but with dark grayish black legs.
 

Item information

Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
Super Admin
Views
20,961
Watchers
3
Comments
6
Reviews
11
Last update
Rating
4.64 star(s) 11 ratings

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