Breda Fowl thread

[Sylvester017]

I have considered selling mine. They are beautiful and I love the ones I got from rare feathers in northern california. I am concentrating on my cream legbars and am not breeding them.

What a shame. I am just discovering how wonderful the Breda is and you're selling yours! In Spring 2015 I want to get 2 Breda from Rare Feathers since they are in CA, No one in SoCal breeds them yet. I'm going to a SoCal Chicken Meetup end of this month to publicize this wonderful breed.

We almost went with CL for blue eggs but were pricey when we were looking so ordered a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana instead for blue eggs. Never realized what a kooky spooky klutzy friendly breed Ameraucanas were til we got ours. She's an egg-laying machine, very people friendly, and what is most important is that she is not political in the flock and submits to the Silkies half her size. I don't think we would've got that temperament or a lighter weight breed in a CL. We've been keeping bird weights under 5-lb around the Silkies and the temperaments seem gentler in the under 5-lb birds. Our Buff Leghorn is calmer than a White or Brown Leg and from everything we've researched the approx 4-lb Breda is ideal to mix with our gentle girls, not a broody, and beautiful eye candy to boot! Even our Ameraucana breeder was saying how excellent the Breda would be in our gentle flock.

The Silkies and LF we have are free-range savvy and gentle - not timid-docile like a Faverolles - but gentle as far as flock politics. We had to rehome a 7-lb bully Marans and White Leg who both got vicious or pushy with the Silkies beyond pecking order squabbles. We will not keep LF that do not respect the other flockmates. As pullets most heavy LF (6-lb+) are okay around the Silkies but at about 18 months to 2 years old they start getting aggressive and bully the smaller breeds just because they can so now we choose only lightweight breeds between 4-5 lbs. 3-lb breeds or under are either wilder temperament or want to fly over the fence so we stay away from most flighty bantam breeds, Campine, Braekel, Jaerhon, Fayoumi, Gull types, Buttercups, etc.

There are many breeds I love including the CLs but I'm just thankful there are some other smaller egg-layer breeds out there that mix well with our Silkies.

If you give up your Bredas I hope they go to good appreciative homes. Smiles

 

[dutchbunny83]

Here's my Brie coming to help me water the gardens. She's a loner from all the other chickens, seems to like hanging out with me

 

[DutchChicky]

Brie is beautiful! , Her feathered feet are awesome

 

[dutchbunny83]

Thanks

She does have a lot of foot feathers everytime I hold her I end up with mud and who knows what else all over my shirt from them haha. I let them free range all day so they're always getting into everything.
She's definitely my favorite out of all of them though. I feel bad for her since none of the others want to be her friend, she's at the bottom of the pecking order here and a total loner. Guess they're jealous of her awesomeness, she's the only Breda I have

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks

She does have a lot of foot feathers everytime I hold her I end up with mud and who knows what else all over my shirt from them haha. I let them free range all day so they're always getting into everything.
She's definitely my favorite out of all of them though. I feel bad for her since none of the others want to be her friend, she's at the bottom of the pecking order here and a total loner. Guess they're jealous of her awesomeness, she's the only Breda I have

The "loner" thing is why I always get gentle breeds in pullet pairs. I don't need the extra Breda but I'm going to get two if I can get a breeder that ships juvies. Breda are gentle souls like Silkies and Ameraucanas so I won't put LF breeds mixed with them. Getting gentle white egg layers was going to be between Polish, Crevecoeur, or Breda. Since I have two crested Silkies I decided the Breda with no crest or comb would be novel. Plus I love what everyone says about them. You and GaryDean and chalk have all made me comfortable with the decision. Now I just hope to get a couple sometime next year.

 

[dutchbunny83]

I bought more blue Breda eggs!
Haha I have a definite problem as we seriously have more chickens than we need!
I was asked where I bought my eggs from and had to look it up in my archive on ebay purchases and saw the seller was selling eggs at a great price compared to what they were originally going for and I couldn't help myself. Hoping it's still the same parents/bloodlines as last year because I was so happy with the 6 I had hatch in September.

 

[Sylvester017]

I bought more blue Breda eggs!
Haha I have a definite problem as we seriously have more chickens than we need!
I was asked where I bought my eggs from and had to look it up in my archive on ebay purchases and saw the seller was selling eggs at a great price compared to what they were originally going for and I couldn't help myself. Hoping it's still the same parents/bloodlines as last year because I was so happy with the 6 I had hatch in September.

Are you trying to get more Breda pullets from the hatch - What if all 6 turn out cockerels? I talked with a lady who said her dad got 6 eggs to hatch because he knew all eggs sometimes didn't hatch and figured if he got a roo or two they'd be easy to rehome. ALL SIX OF HIS EGGS HATCHED AND ALL SIX WERE COCKERELS! Guess he didn't get any egg-layers out of that experiment poor guy!

I am so anxious to have beautiful Bredas it's hard to wait until next Spring but I'm trying to stagger my laying hens every two years so they don't dry up laying at the same time in their old age. From what I understand Bredas like Leghorns and Dominiques lay decently in their advanced years. In all my life I've never had a chicken go beyond two years either because they were my folks' farm food or they died of natural causes. My oldest hen is a Silkie 3 years old and the oldest chicken I've ever had - she lays 4 to 5 eggs a week when not broody. Supposedly the average life span of a chicken is 7+ years but I've read some can get as old as 25! Now THAT would be one for the Guinness Book - they had a headless chicken in their book so why not an oldest chicken too? LOL

 

[dutchbunny83]

Are you trying to get more Breda pullets from the hatch - What if all 6 turn out cockerels? I talked with a lady who said her dad got 6 eggs to hatch because he knew all eggs sometimes didn't hatch and figured if he got a roo or two they'd be easy to rehome. ALL SIX OF HIS EGGS HATCHED AND ALL SIX WERE COCKERELS! Guess he didn't get any egg-layers out of that experiment poor guy!

I am so anxious to have beautiful Bredas it's hard to wait until next Spring but I'm trying to stagger my laying hens every two years so they don't dry up laying at the same time in their old age. From what I understand Bredas like Leghorns and Dominiques lay decently in their advanced years. In all my life I've never had a chicken go beyond two years either because they were my folks' farm food or they died of natural causes. My oldest hen is a Silkie 3 years old and the oldest chicken I've ever had - she lays 4 to 5 eggs a week when not broody. Supposedly the average life span of a chicken is 7+ years but I've read some can get as old as 25! Now THAT would be one for the Guinness Book - they had a headless chicken in their book so why not an oldest chicken too? LOL

Yes I'm trying to get some pullets, I don't keep roosters. Some of the rarer breeds that are too pretty to eat I rehome or try to sell in breeding pairs. The others that hatch out as males are grown out and sent to freezer camp to feed my family.
I've never had all boys hatch, it usually averages out to 50/50. Sometimes more males obviously, but its never been all boys. If the only ones hatching are boys their bator may be too high as females will die first from overheating so the ones that hang on long enough to hatch would be more dominantly males. Or they just had bad luck.
I'm getting 16 eggs so even if I only have a 50% hatch rate which can be common in mail order, I'd like to think there'd be at least one girl in there. Guess we will see...

My oldest chickens are a year just because of starting over with all of them last Spring, but my neighbor a few doors down has Orpingtons between 8 and 10 years old. I did see some documentary on Netflix about chickens and they had the headless chicken in there. That thing was just weird!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Yes I'm trying to get some pullets, I don't keep roosters. Some of the rarer breeds that are too pretty to eat I rehome or try to sell in breeding pairs. The others that hatch out as males are grown out and sent to freezer camp to feed my family.
I've never had all boys hatch, it usually averages out to 50/50. Sometimes more males obviously, but its never been all boys. If the only ones hatching are boys their bator may be too high as females will die first from overheating so the ones that hang on long enough to hatch would be more dominantly males. Or they just had bad luck.
I'm getting 16 eggs so even if I only have a 50% hatch rate which can be common in mail order, I'd like to think there'd be at least one girl in there. Guess we will see...

My oldest chickens are a year just because of starting over with all of them last Spring, but my neighbor a few doors down has Orpingtons between 8 and 10 years old. I did see some documentary on Netflix about chickens and they had the headless chicken in there. That thing was just weird!!!

It's hard to send the rarer breed roos to freezer camp but better your freezer than someone else's because you know that's what people do when they get free roos - just the way it is - sigh.

The headless chicken was indeed weird but IMO should've been put down - there was no brain to make it what we love about our chickens - personality. It was just a piece of meat being kept alive by forced nourishment. The guy tried to make money off the novelty of it but never did - greed made an animal body suffer. Can you tell I'm a softie about animals.

I hope you get a good hatch out of 16 eggs - you seem to be good at 'bator hatching! Maybe keep a pretty roo to breed with your prettiest hen to get eggs of your own next time and after the hatch THEN dispatch the roo? Someone on BYC couldn't have roos because of a complaining neighbor but went to the neighbor to negotiate that they would keep the crowing roo only long enough to get a successful hatch and then he'd be gone - the neighbor agreed to it! Some people have garaged their roos to keep the 4 a.m. crowing down because they needed the roos for breeding before heading for the freezer. It's unnatural but a way to get around the noise ordinances. People have yowling cats in heat and barking dogs all night - don't know why one crowing roo in the morning is any different?

A BYC Silkie breeder got all girls in one of her hatches. I guess using a broody would probably balance out the sexes that hatch out compared to 'bators. Wow - 8 and 10 year old Orps - that's good for a heavy breed because the lighter weight usually live longer. That's really good - are they still laying?

 

[dutchbunny83]

It's hard to send the rarer breed roos to freezer camp but better your freezer than someone else's because you know that's what people do when they get free roos - just the way it is - sigh.

The headless chicken was indeed weird but IMO should've been put down - there was no brain to make it what we love about our chickens - personality. It was just a piece of meat being kept alive by forced nourishment. The guy tried to make money off the novelty of it but never did - greed made an animal body suffer. Can you tell I'm a softie about animals.

I hope you get a good hatch out of 16 eggs - you seem to be good at 'bator hatching! Maybe keep a pretty roo to breed with your prettiest hen to get eggs of your own next time and after the hatch THEN dispatch the roo? Someone on BYC couldn't have roos because of a complaining neighbor but went to the neighbor to negotiate that they would keep the crowing roo only long enough to get a successful hatch and then he'd be gone - the neighbor agreed to it! Some people have garaged their roos to keep the 4 a.m. crowing down because they needed the roos for breeding before heading for the freezer. It's unnatural but a way to get around the noise ordinances. People have yowling cats in heat and barking dogs all night - don't know why one crowing roo in the morning is any different?

A BYC Silkie breeder got all girls in one of her hatches. I guess using a broody would probably balance out the sexes that hatch out compared to 'bators. Wow - 8 and 10 year old Orps - that's good for a heavy breed because the lighter weight usually live longer. That's really good - are they still laying?

Yes I'm the same way about animals! And her orps are still laying, not sure of how many actual eggs she's getting from them though.
Our city ordinance allows 10 backyard fowl of any kind including roosters, unless of continued noise complaints.
So technically I could keep a rooster, but right now only our immediate neighbors know I keep chickens if we had a rooster it would be extremely obvious.
All of my animals free range all day and have plenty of clean nesting boxes, lots of clean coop space, a very large run off of the coop in case we need to keep them in there for some reason, etc.
BUT I have wayyyyy more than 10 backyard poultry so I choose not to keep roosters as much as I want to because I really don't want to bring attention to myself.

I currently have 2 turkeys, a peacock, 5 quail, 5 ducks, 15 layers, 10 birds not to laying, 10 freedom ranger meat birds, and just hatched 20 chicks then got 30 more on emergency sale from hatchery. So at any given time depending on what's hatched, what's been sold, and what's been eaten it is much, much more than I am zoned for. I'd rather keep more birds and give up having the rooster, than getting the rooster potentially bothering neighbors and forever being enforced to never go over 10 birds.