Breda Fowl thread

[RFR of CA]

I would not know how to begin that project! How do you find another breed that will not ruin the lack of comb, big nostrils, vulture hocks, hard feather feet, upright stance,white eggs etc? There is not another breed like them that I know of.

Too much to hide/fix...it can be seen already in the Blues which show cross issues with whatever they used to get that color, the horns being the biggest problem. I have also seen missing feet feathers and missing/poor vulture hocks as well.

Side note: I have another project crossing a single comb white skin bird to rose comb yellow skinned birds, and it is a fight I think I am losing. I need the feather coloration of the white skinned birds(dominant skin color), but the rose comb(dominant comb) and yellow skin of the other. Otherwise, body type, size, eggs and feathering are similar. but Bredas...yikes

 

[jerryse]

I would not know how to begin that project! How do you find another breed that will not ruin the lack of comb, big nostrils, vulture hocks, hard feather feet, upright stance,white eggs etc? There is not another breed like them that I know of.

Too much to hide/fix...it can be seen already in the Blues which show cross issues with whatever they used to get that color, the horns being the biggest problem. I have also seen missing feet feathers and missing/poor vulture hocks as well.

Side note: I have another project crossing a single comb white skin bird to rose comb yellow skinned birds, and it is a fight I think I am losing. I need the feather coloration of the white skinned birds(dominant skin color), but the rose comb(dominant comb) and yellow skin of the other. Otherwise, body type, size, eggs and feathering are similar. but Bredas...yikes

It is not as hard as it seems . Not quick for sure . I have no experience with chocolate but it is sex linked from what I read . So all you need to bring in is chocolate . The Breda comb is 3 combs in 1 to achieve the no comb look . Pea , rose and V comb 2 copies each . Multiple Allee . Yes confusing the first time you hear it . So you just keep breeding back to Breda with chocolate offspring from the first cross . Then continue selecting chocolate to breed back to pure Breda .

 

[Sylvester017]

For breeding Chocolate Breda it was suggested to me that bringing in a Black was advised to keep the Chocolate color strong. Don't know much about genetics but just passing on what was advised. It will be a project well worth watching!

Was talking with someone who breeds rare Pita Pintas for the last 3 years and they had some reproductive issues with their hens who died at one to 11/2 years old. UC Davis necropsy showed double ovaries in those hens. The owner took a break from breeding for a year so now only has surviving 2 year old hens to use for breeding again, with the less hardy ones died off. Left with only hardy surviving hens they feel safe to use them for breeding healthier offspring without the chance of passing on the defective genetics. It'll be helpful to watch how their next generation health issues go, if resolved or not. chicken danz suggested using only hardy Breda stock to breed from and I think the Pita Pinta breeder has hit on a good solution for weeding out her hardy from defective stock by waiting until they are mature 2 year hens or older before breeding offspring. Breda are so unique, don't know if this is a good breeding approach or not, but it seems logical. Breda are being worked on by a few dedicated breeders because like the PP the Breda are worth improving because of all their unique qualities. Breeding from only the hardiest older survivors of a rare breed will probably ensure a hardier stock. Too many anxious breeders are breeding the pullets and cockerels too early getting offspring that don't survive because they didn't give the parents time to show their hardiness before breeding them.

Hats off to all you Breda breeders out there!

 

[Sylvester017]

It is not as hard as it seems . Not quick for sure . I have no experience with chocolate but it is sex linked from what I read . So all you need to bring in is chocolate . The Breda comb is 3 combs in 1 to achieve the no comb look . Pea , rose and V comb 2 copies each . Multiple Allee . Yes confusing the first time you hear it . So you just keep breeding back to Breda with chocolate offspring from the first cross . Then continue selecting chocolate to breed back to pure Breda .

Great encouragement!

 

[maryellen21]

Wouldn't bringing a different breed in to breed chocolate then make that flock not pure?.

I want to preserve what I have, not being in another color from another breed just to get chocolate.

 

[jerryse]

Wouldn't bringing a different breed in to breed chocolate then make that flock not pure?.

I want to preserve what I have, not being in another color from another breed just to get chocolate.

It takes time to understand pure . It is simply breeding true for the desired traits . Took me awhile to understand that most breeds were created from cross breeding . I helped create Ameraucana bantams by cross breeding and selective breeding . The term pure is often misunderstood .

 

[rooster 2011]

has your chicks hatched out yet from the eggs u got from rfr off of ebay maryellen

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: To breed chocolate into a breed, you must take a black rooster and breed that to a chocolate hen. Then save the hens and breed back to one of the black offspring cockerels.
Then the following generation you should produce all chocolate. Then those offspring should be bread back to the black breda for several generations to produce the true chocolate Bredas.
rreaQuote:

Wouldn't bringing a different breed in to breed chocolate then make that flock not pure?.

I want to preserve what I have, not being in another color from another breed just to get chocolate.

I tend to agree with you on that point. Other breeds are used to introduce colors and other traits into many breeds. However it really results in some inherit problems some times that takes years to breed out. A lot depends on what breeds are used to develop what with what you have. In the case of the Breda, since it is known to be a predecessor to many modern day chickens it seems a shame to further mix up the breed and sending them on a backwards spiral. They had been extinct in the U.S. as a specific breed until the last decade of so. It seems a shame to go back to inbreeding in my books.
My example is this: As I mentioned before, the Breda originally came in the cuckoo pattern but when they brought them back into the U.S. the cuckoo pattern obviously wasn't included. Now in the example of @Sylvester017 cuckoo Breda. ( I hope you don't mind me using her as an example....No criticism meant at all!!!) The cuckoo pattern was obviously re-introduced by cross breeding which resulted in a different colored egg. By all general standards her bird looks and is for the most part a pure Breda, but at the loss of the correct egg color. If they were an accepted APA breed that could be shown that would be a dis-qualifier. The positive that comes from that is that she may now have a heartier breed than it's predecessors.
The question I have here more than others is that doesn't that put one in the same mentality as hatcheries selling birds under a name when they are mixed with other breeds to get better laying or less feed consumption or something? Is the loss worth the change?
I prefer to focus on breeding the strongest birds and keeping them as pure as I can. Because they are in my opinion they are worth the effort as they are. Just my opinion and not meant to cause any disagreements.

 

[rooster 2011]

Not to make anyone mad or anything but I know a good bit about getting chocolate Breda the breeder I got my orginal Breda from a couple years back had chicks hatching out the year I got mine that were chocolate but he never finished the project cause he got rid of all his Bredas any way getting on to the point it doesn't matter if you cross a black rooster too a chocolate hen or a chocolate rooster to a black hen it's just easier to use a chocolate rooster to a black Breda hen because if u cross a chocolate rooster to a black Breda hen the chicks that hatched would be some black and some chocolate the chocolate ones would be a female but if u cross a black Breda rooster to a chocolate hen all chicks would be black and the chicks from that mating that would be a black male carrying the chocolate gene u would cross it to a black Breda hen and 25% of the chicks would be 75% breda that would be chocolate colored

 

[RFR of CA]

Yes the cuckoo often had a dark cream egg and they were larger birds than the blues or the mottled. Mottled have a nice white egg. I do like the topline better in my cuckoo, otherwise they were not much different than my mottled. The most markedly "altered" were the Blues with too many faults for me to tackle here. Mottled seem to be the most "breda" if that makes sense when I compare them to the ones pictured in their home country. My group is now all Mottled, with the genes from cuckoo and blues in there somewhere. I chose to stay with Breda only but took the color black to trade genes among all three groups. I think it made them healthier overall, but they are still much too fragile in egg and as small chicks. Once you can get them fully feathered out, they are very hardy birds. Still working on it......

PS: what happened to the picture add buttons?