A Barbezieux Thread.

[piminuse]

We ended up roasting a 3.5# bird for the Thanksgiving table. Used this recipe with a few minor adjustments (no bacon, reduced brine due to size of bird, no roast carrot/potatoes underneath--just thinly slice onion to turn into gravy. The breast was nice and tender and the skin was sooo yellow and crispy! There was only one chewy bit on a portion of each drum, but overall the flavor was good.

I used the carcass today to make some soup. The leftovers were fairly picked clean and I only had the torso to work with, but I got 3.5qt of deeply fragrant, golden broth.

Huckleberry made for some good eating. Not as mind blowing as I was hoping for, but I learned a lot that should make for better birds next batch.

 

[CNJ]

I ended up with 3 cockerels and 3 pullets. The rooster combs are dark red and larger than the hens at this stage. They started fighting each other and I hear them trying to crow when I let them out to play in the am. The Bresse chicks will come into my hand when I tap the pvc in the evening, but the Barbeziuex chicks are hesitant, maybe only one or two will come to me to be put back in the brooder. I have to go inside the small coop to catch the rest.

I have been feeding them papaya and banana leaves. They already ate all the Tahitian taro leaves from my plants. They seem to eat more greens than other heritage breeds.

 

[CNJ]

I haven't processed any (and don't intend to) but they did take a long time to fill out; more like 6 months for the hen, and a year for the cock though he was set back badly by a fox attack.

I just placed an order for 10 cornish roasters and 5 white plymouth rocks from McMurray Hatchery, I should get it sometime in April. Right now the Barbeziuex males sound like baby crows, but its beginning to worry me. Its game over for me if the neighbors get annoyed.

I will have to process them before April to make room for my meat birds. I am going to try and mate the cornish roaster with a white plymouth rock, and white Bresse and then mate the babies from the two different pairs.

The cornish male roasters grow to 9 pounds in 12 weeks, without the leg problems associated with cornish x crosses, so they out perform the Barbezieux for meat.

 

[chickengr]

I was thinking about crossing a dark cornish with the Barbeziuex, not sure what would be born.

I am afraid to think what you might get - elephants with stork legs

to be more seroius I think the chicks from that cross might have issues. their legs might not support theit weight especially if they grow fast.

 

[Cody A]

I received my first Barb chicks on July 20.



Sept 23rd. Two months old.
By looking closely at the combs you can spot the males and females.
From two straight runs I have 10 pullets and 14 cockerels.


Oct. 29. Three months old.
Not long after the photo above I separated the cockerels and pullets to reduce stress and competition for food.

 

[chonsey]

Got my R-Com incubator and the breeder is sending me more eggs! Had 4-7 polish eggs hatch out shipped from AZ, they unzipped quickly and hatched a few days early. They marked the box do not x-ray, live embryos, keep this end up. So I'm hoping my Barbezieux eggs have smoothe & safe transit. Learning alot!

 

[chonsey]

Getting ready for lockdown - Barbezieux eggs! Hoping for a successful hatch!

 

[guzman08]

Found an egg this morning. My hens are exactly 5 months 2 days old.

 

[madriver]

I get eggs that are medium to large. I have a hard time telling them apart from Wyandotte eggs. I haven't noticed them being any more flighty than other birds (at least anything other than Cornish which are too heavy to fly even young). I keep a few other meat breeds too Dorkings, Bresse, Buckeyes, La Fleche.

I've also not had the same issue you are seeing with the feather eating and I don't have them on an high protein diet. I wonder if its a different issue? confinement? not enough space?

genetics? the gene pool for these is tiny so I had to do quite a bit of culling to create a stock I was happy with. Up until that point i saw quite a few issues with some crooked keels and leg issues. The best stock came from someone in florida selling eggs on ebay that doesn't sell anymore. I had to breed them back to what I got from other sources to get something I was happy with.

how old are yours? they are funny and very gawky as youth but grow into exceptionally nice looking birds.

 

[Kev]

22% chick starter then 16% layer often with scratch mixed in. Zero feather picking, even when they were relatively crowded in the juvenile stage before picking out the keepers and selling the rest.

They were very flighty, as breeding adults they are somewhat calmer but do get nervous fast if they think you are going to catch them.

Eggs look small-medium to me, especially from such 'big' birds.. but then my naked necks apparently lay very large eggs- person who incubates for me(and others) makes that comment now and then. So that may be a skewed bias.

Not the best layers.. kind of late to start, they do lay daily but, they often just suddenly stop for weeks. Have been getting eggs from only one hen but the others just have not been laying for couple weeks by now.