A Barbezieux Thread.

[StephWind]

Just in the last few days I have had 2 of the boys come after me. They have no spurs yet, but I worry about when they DO grow them in! <sigh> No other breed that I've ever had produced a roo that would attack people. These are beautiful birds, but I won't tolerate being attacked. I have 5 5+ month old boys, 4 of which are getting processed on Saturday morning. The last one stays with his girls for now, but WILL get processed the next time if he doesn't learn to behave. I have 19 more chicks that are 2 weeks old (won an auction from GFF), so I can always keep one of them to replace this guy, or even one that I hatch in the fall. I just need to be able to hatch some in the spring for meat next year....

 

[StephWind]

Also, only one of the hens has a floppy comb right now, but they are just 5 months old. I have to say that I am extremely discouraged that my keeper roo has gotten aggressive to me. If I continue to have issues with the boys, then I'm afraid that this will end up being a breed that I don't keep. That would suck since they are such beautiful birds!

 

[Cody A]

^ Yea, that's what I've started thinking also but didn't want to say anything just yet. The aggressiveness combined with the extreme flightiness takes the pleasure out of keeping chickens. When I culled last week I had to go in the coop at night to pull some of them off the roosts and put them in a smaller pen so they'd be accessible the next morning. If the cockerel I placed with the females comes at me again I'll swap him out with one that hasn't shown aggressiveness yet.

 

[Cody A]

Yeah I was also going to comment on those hen combs.. they flop over on all of mine too.

but also they look overall different.. short tails, maybe chunkier bodies? The tail on my roo is big with very long sickles

Kev. I'm shooting for birds that look like the picture Madriver posted in post #60.

 

[Kev]

mine did not show any aggression.. they were flighty but calming down a bit.

 

[StephWind]

mine did not show any aggression.. they were flighty but calming down a bit.

How old are yours Kev?

 

[Kev]

How old are yours Kev?

if I remember right, they will be one year old this month.

by the way I'm of the opinion if a cockerel attacks people more than three times it will be not be trust worthy rest of its life. I won't stand them either.. mainly because it is a hobby for me so aggressive roosters simply are not a necessity and I choose not to tolerate them at all.

I suspect your birds are of a different stock/line/different sort of genetic mix. My birds are remarkably uniform in appearance- the only real difference was height. Yours look uniform also but with a different type.

 

[Kev]

Kev. I'm shooting for birds that look like the picture Madriver posted in post #60.

Yeah those were what I kind of expected to see.. mine look very much like those but the bodies are not as deep/heavier looking. Strongly of a Mediterranean type rather than the heavier look of bresse.

 

[StephWind]

Well, I have to admit that I am hugely disappointed in the SIZE of the roosters that I processed yesterday. I was planning on processing 4 birds - 1 that was free-ranging with my EE hens, and 4 larger birds that I had isolated (together) in a large breeder box for the last week. They had been free ranging prior to that. The smaller bird with the girls I found dead and stiff in the coop in the morning! The other 3 tried to attack us as we took them out of the box. They had very narrow chest openings, were difficult to clean, and weighed out at about 3 1/2 pounds each processed weight. I don't see that it is worth feeding them for an extra 5 months to get a 6 pound bird at processing.

All of that said, I haven't actually tasted them yet, so if they are just phenomenal in taste, I might decide to maintain a roo for breeding. Otherwise I will just keep some of the girls in my egg-layer flock. They ARE beautiful birds, but I am really concerned about maintaining a roo with those huge wattles and comb here in the winter, so maybe this is for the best...? <sigh>

 

[cutipatooti]

I just noticed crooked toe on one of my pullets. I only have 4 pullets so I'm disappointed. I will have to take a closer look at them tomorrow.