Yes, I think they are rare there too..next year I want to get some stock from Dutch Connection. Since they really do have a Dutch connection I will ask about the rarity of Bredas in their homeland. Of course, I need more chickens like a hole in the head - I'm up to around 50ish in total, only 17 are Bredas tho'....
Some of my layer hens are getting up there in age, I have 4 that are 7 years, 3 that are 5 years. I keep saying they won't last another year, but here they are going strong.
Hope all goes well for Danzs' surgery - do you know when?
Haha! Hope the neighbors can't count...if they say anything tell them they must have counted one twice!!
I'm fortunate my partner doesn't count the chickens....and we have no close neighbors, so the roosters and barnyard noise don't bother anyone.
Wow! You have 17 Breda's -- I'm jealous!! I currently have only one lovely Cuckoo Breda but she's molting right now. She has a bunch of porcupine quills growing from her new toe feathers -- must be miserable to go thru molt. My Cuckoo is from RFR who originally got her Cuckoo stock from Dutch Conn and so far my Cuckoo girl has been healthy -- not even a sniffle and her eggs have been larger than the B/B/S hens. My Cuckoo went broody a couple times for about 3 weeks each time but I don't mind. I'm glad she went broody to give her body a rest from laying so many eggs in a row -- sometimes 9 days of laying before skipping a day. That takes a nutrition toll on a hen's body so her having a broody break is okay with me.
Danz had surgery on the 8th w/ a minimum 4-day hospital stay and then a long recuperation at home later. She has outside help to care for her downsized flocks until she gets back up to par. She has so many lovely birds like white peacocks, Sebastapol geese, game birds, turkeys, and many varieties of chickens including the lovely Breda. She also breeds Great Pyrennes pups.
I'm fortunate so far to have an empty house next door since the owner passed away and the neighbor at my backyard fence is 92 yrs old and been wonderful about our chickens. No one has complained in the 6 yrs I've had chickens -- only thing that makes me nervous is what kind of new neighbors I'll have once the empty house gets sold next door.
Had someone's annoying pet bunny creep into my backyard eating my veggie garden. DH kept shoo'ing it away but it kept coming back so we finally had to take it to the animal shelter when no one would claim it. We figured someone got it as a pet Easter bunny and then it escaped their yard. It was a sweet gentle bunny but I can't let it loose in my garden patch and I won't keep a pet animal caged. Someone at the animal shelter was looking for a bunny so it worked out.
. Funnily, enough there is a bit of evidence that says people like living next to chickens (no roosters) - makes it feel 'countrified'...
so sorry! It's always hard when they have been part of your life for so long. Think of her up in the evergreen pasture with no predators to bother her...she is happy and very content now.
