Breda Fowl thread

[gardengoats11]

I have 10 Breda chicks about 9 weeks old. I hadn't paid much attention to their toes, but I am pretty sure they have 5 toes. Is that correct? I just read through all the posts and didn't see any info about the number of toes.

I would also like to identify the birds. Any suggestions for bandette size for them?

 

[gardengoats11]

Just checked to be sure about the toes. I was mistaken. They all have 4 toes.

 

[familypendragon]

I am so excited! I have been wanting Bredas and just won some hatching eggs on ebay from Rare Feathers Ranch - I hope USPS is gentle on them!

 

[GaryDean26]

Where is Rare Feather's Ranch?

Do you know anything about their flock?

I hope they are sending you a lot of eggs and you get some really good Breda from the hatch. There were a few Texas working witht he breed, but it has been dwindling since it seemed to be a side project for everyone and no one was really learning the standard or hatching a lot of chicks.

 

[familypendragon]

Where is Rare Feather's Ranch? 

Do you know anything about their flock? 

I hope they are sending you a lot of eggs and you get some really good Breda from the hatch.  There were a few Texas working witht he breed, but it has been dwindling since it seemed to be a side project for everyone and no one was really learning the standard or hatching a lot of chicks.

I hope so too It was too good a deal to pass up, LOL! I totally didn't think I'd win it for such a steal. Here is the listing http://www.ebay.com/itm/321177995074?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 And the seller responded to my packaging request positively and also added that

"Yes I can do that. I will send you as many extra as I can. Shipping is really hard on eggs most of the time when they have to go across country. If you have any issues with hatch, let me know and I can usually have another batch available for shipping cost only. Sometimes folks get almost all to vein up and pip, other times only 2-3 to hatch. Here my Breda eggs are my most successful in the incubator with hatch rates in the 80s and 90%s. Best of luck!"

So seems like a very good seller.

 

[GaryDean26]

I like their photos and eagerness to advance the breed. Those are the kind of breeder I look to buy from.

 

[familypendragon]

I like their photos and eagerness to advance the breed.  Those are the kind of breeder I look to buy from.

Ideally I guess one would try to acquire stock from as many different breeders as possible to add genetic variety right? I am brand new to all this but really like the looks of this "funky chicken"

 

[Flaming Chicken]

I like their photos and eagerness to advance the breed. Those are the kind of breeder I look to buy from.

I bought eggs from Poway last year. I had 2 roosters and 2 hens from them. I had one chick that was missing toes and had leg problems. I realized that I probably didn't want to breed from that stock. I culled that one very early. Very few eggs from one hen and none from the other. I rehomed the boys earlier this month. The Rare Feathers Ranch stock are nicer. I have 2 hens and 2 roos from that batch. They are still not terribly friendly but I like the body types much better. They just seem healthier. I was interested this year in Rare Feathers and Mullins. As for now, I am devoting my space to the cream Legbars. The Breda fowl are a secondary interest.

 

[angelobutter]

I had a nice trio of breda fowl from greenfire farms, one blue female one black female and one black male but we just lost my male. I am so sad. I will have to locate a boy somehow - or start from scratch agin next year. maybe if I order eggs from somewhere now I will have time to hatch before it gets too cold outside for new chicks...

 

[GaryDean26]

Hmm....unrelated blood. Traditionally, before the days of commercial hatcheries to supply laying/meat stock, poultry farms had to build self sufficient flocks in order to be success. They would usually start with stock from two lines and cross them so that their flock would start with out any inbreeding. They then would line breed to select the best breeding stock and maintain a healthy line by only breeding the top 10% of everything they hatch. By only breeding the top 10% they would get the healthiest, most vigorous, and most hardy stock breeding forward. That would help counter the effect of in breeding.

The effects of inbreeding are low disease resistance, low fertility, low hatchability, birth defects (missing toes is the most common), low vigor (this is seen by sunken eye, under weight birds, low activity during the day, etc.).

If you are line breeding for color or show points then your line will decrease is vigor very rapidly. Line breeding only works if you are selecting your top 10% based on health and vigor. You will know your most vigorous birds because they will be the first off the perch in the morning and the last to roost at night. The vigorous cockerels will always walk on the ends of his toes in a cocky strut. The most vigorous will the top of the pecking and crowing order, etc.

So...do you need to start will unrelated blood? It depends on how inbreed your original stock is and what type of breeding program you are going to set up. Healthy stock should be able take 3-5 generations of inbreeding with out showing any ill signs of inbreeding. If you are seeing signs of inbreeding in your first generation, then your original stock was oviously already inbred. Also, are you going to breed one pen, two pen, three pens, more? If you rotation breeding stock systematically with multiple pens you can breed a lot longer with out showing signs of inbreeding than if you just keep one. I recently ready a paper on line breeding white Plymouth Rocks and it said with line breeding one pen you will run out of gene pool in 5 year, two pens in 8 years, three pens was something like 17 year (time?) and four pens was something like 25 years (time). That was assuming that your start with out any inbreeding.

If you have strong stock you can start without getting stock from multiple sources. If not you will need to find another source to cross lines. If you are planning on one pen plan on bringing in new blood in 3-5 years. If you are setting up multipl pens you can start you own breeding. Most line breeding with 3+ pens still bring in new blood about every 8 years.