OOOHHH... That sounds like a FB rabbit hole I'll be glad to fall down!
Thanks for the recc!Thank you! Your pics are so great too!
And I checked out chickendanz' site so I'll definitely stay tuned there... thank you!
Breda Fowl thread
- Thread starter klf73
- Start date
OOOHHH... That sounds like a FB rabbit hole I'll be glad to fall down!
Thanks for the recc!Thank you! Your pics are so great too!
And I checked out chickendanz' site so I'll definitely stay tuned there... thank you!
@Gypsylion , My Breda girls aren't laying a whole lot right now. Back in January they were laying like crazy. I've been working on a breeding project trying to re-breed the Bredas for more genetic diversity. It's not a quick project for sure. I get a mottled girl every now and then but just breed as a group of all the colors. I guess somewhere in there the mottled gene exists. I think all the Bredas are beautiful though. They just have their own look and personality different than most chickens.
@Sylvester017 my Beloved One Wing has been laying every day for about 3 weeks. It had been well over a year since she laid. I really thought she was too old to lay any more. She's still the smartest chicken ever and so sweet.
@Sylvester017 my Beloved One Wing has been laying every day for about 3 weeks. It had been well over a year since she laid. I really thought she was too old to lay any more. She's still the smartest chicken ever and so sweet.
@chicken danz
Your One Wing is truly a Trooper! It's amazing that Breda can be quite content without needing a flock. They watch their surroundings with extra curiosity too. Also, very photogenic -- it's almost like they're posing for the camera. Until one has owned Breda it's difficult to put into words how very unique they are -- not just in appearance -- but in demeanor as well as temperament.
Your One Wing is truly a Trooper! It's amazing that Breda can be quite content without needing a flock. They watch their surroundings with extra curiosity too. Also, very photogenic -- it's almost like they're posing for the camera. Until one has owned Breda it's difficult to put into words how very unique they are -- not just in appearance -- but in demeanor as well as temperament.
Yes they are quite unique. I have learned that their personalities definitely come from the La Fleche. They are so much like them. And they love to talk, jut like my Breda's do.
How have you found their temperament? Are they as 'wild' as they are reported to be?
Breda temperament seems to vary by variety or by line. Although all 4 of my Blue Breda came from 3 different breeders from 3 different States they all behaved as if they were the same peas-in-a-pod. Maybe because I got them as juveniles and had a chance to humanize them LOL! However, my Cuckoo Breda was delayed shipping young because we got an unusually humid scorching early May heatwave that continued into September before the breeder would ship our Cuckoo girl so she was not as young as I would've liked and she was timid right out of the shipping box -- she didn't flutter or flap, she was calm, but she certainly didn't want to be near us or another bird which was never the case with our Blue Breda who all approached us unafraid right out of the shipping box.
To this day our Cuckoo is careful not to get anywhere near the other birds or even get near us unless we have a treat in hand that she really wants. My Dominiques will get excited and get underfoot as I walk but our Cuckoo Breda follows at a safe-and-sane pace. I don't know if her social distancing (LOL) from other birds or us is due to her being a Cuckoo variety, or being received much older than our other Breda, or if it was something going on at the breeder's end where she might've been harassed by other birds, or whatever reason she is very spritely and not easily tamed the way our other Breda varieties were. But I DO love the way she diligently chases and pecks at feral cat intruders
!!!
Maybe that's another reason I favpr the BBS (Blue Black Splash) Breda variety more than the other colors -- because every Blue Breda we had (both male and female) have been more outgoing, unafraid, curious, calm and friendly toward flock members and us -- on top of being hands-down BLUE GORGEOUS! I never had a White or Mottled Breda in my experience so I can't testify about their temperaments but I've had two Mottled owners/breeders say their Mottleds were less calm than they expected. Have no idea why such differences in the variety colors within the same breed?
CUCKOO BREDA behind coop fence and BLUE BREDA pullet in front. This Cuckoo shows beautiful long vulture hocks
OUR CUCKOO BREDA JUVENILE the first month we had her in quarantine
To this day our Cuckoo is careful not to get anywhere near the other birds or even get near us unless we have a treat in hand that she really wants. My Dominiques will get excited and get underfoot as I walk but our Cuckoo Breda follows at a safe-and-sane pace. I don't know if her social distancing (LOL) from other birds or us is due to her being a Cuckoo variety, or being received much older than our other Breda, or if it was something going on at the breeder's end where she might've been harassed by other birds, or whatever reason she is very spritely and not easily tamed the way our other Breda varieties were. But I DO love the way she diligently chases and pecks at feral cat intruders
!!!Maybe that's another reason I favpr the BBS (Blue Black Splash) Breda variety more than the other colors -- because every Blue Breda we had (both male and female) have been more outgoing, unafraid, curious, calm and friendly toward flock members and us -- on top of being hands-down BLUE GORGEOUS! I never had a White or Mottled Breda in my experience so I can't testify about their temperaments but I've had two Mottled owners/breeders say their Mottleds were less calm than they expected. Have no idea why such differences in the variety colors within the same breed?
CUCKOO BREDA behind coop fence and BLUE BREDA pullet in front. This Cuckoo shows beautiful long vulture hocks
OUR CUCKOO BREDA JUVENILE the first month we had her in quarantine
I have found this difference with a number of other birds/breeds as well, and my theory is that it has everything to do with how they are hatched/kept within their first few days... I.e. if they are hatched in small batches and handled gently and often within their first few days/weeks they are way more likely to be MUCH more tame later in life, vs. hatched in larger batches and not handled/interacted with much as babies.
Related to this is my preference for brooders that are at table height with a see-through door on the front, vs. a box on the ground where the human hand is always coming in from above... I don't have any concrete data to back up this hypothesis (yet!), but it has seemed to generally hold true with mine and my clients' birds - what do y'all think?
OH, and btw I absolutely meant *cuckoo*... not mottled.
Hand-rearing baby chicks does make them more approachable when they become adults but I was watching a video of a batch of several chick breeds. More aggressive type chick breeds (like Leghorns) would run up to a human hand in hopes of a treat but easily got bored and scurried off to keep foraging with other chicks. We fully expected the same behavior of baby Dominique chicks that we had our local feed store order for us. One time we bought one lone single Dom chick and right from the store she didn't want to be confined to the carrier and wouldn't calm down til my DH took the little fuzzy ball into his hand and she stopped squealing and went to sleep in his hands on our ride home. That Dom chick would cry if we left a room she was in and she HAD to follow us or be with us EVERYWHERE! We were her "flock". We made the mistake of purchasing only ONE chick in hopes of raising her and adding her to the flock later but sadly we lost her after only a few short weeks. It happens -- chick mortality.
So, the next time we got Dom chicks we bought three of them to allow for chick mortality and if one or two didn't make it to adulthood we'd get at least one survivor (they all LIVED heehee). These 3 Dom chicks were the most outgoing curious vocal chicks and didn't mind being raised in a 4-foot kiddie pool on the floor. It only took a day for the wee ones to get accustomed to the spacious kiddie pool and when they saw us humans enter the kitchen they RAN to the edge of the pool chirping incessantly and totally unafraid of our hands (hands meant that food and clean water was coming LOL). In less than a week they were bouncing out of the kiddie pool to peck at our toes and stand on top of our feet and very relaxed about exploring our hair, our eyeglasses, finger rings, and chirping and chattering at us and following us around the room -- they never ran from us but always ran towards us. We didn't have to have food to entice them -- they just were naturally outgoing and curious. A Leghorn chick is not as likely to stick around to do that much exploring or bonding -- too independent and more aloof. The Dominique on the other hand inherently is not shy toward humans. I'm sure there's an individual exception somewhere but we've had a total of 4 Dominique chicks and whether they are babies or adults they never stop wanting to be around humans and sometimes jump in our lap just to be petted -- no treats necessary (but of course they won't turn down treats LOL!)
To me, the Blue Breda (BBS Breda) and Dominique are very similar in temperament and calm when approached by humans. The only difference to me is that the Doms have a louder and sometimes more shrill vocalization than the softer vocalization of a Breda (notwithstanding hens' usual loud egg songs).
I wish we got our Cuckoo Breda at a younger age -- she was approximately 6 months old by the time she shipped because the breeder would not ship her sooner because of unusually hot Spring and Summer that year -- besides USPS won't ship live birds if temps get too close to 90 degrees and that was a bad year for heatwaves. Even though we didn't get our Cuckoo Breda as a chick to bond with her I'm still happy to have her around -- she's a good layer and my longest lived Breda and still around today.
So, the next time we got Dom chicks we bought three of them to allow for chick mortality and if one or two didn't make it to adulthood we'd get at least one survivor (they all LIVED heehee). These 3 Dom chicks were the most outgoing curious vocal chicks and didn't mind being raised in a 4-foot kiddie pool on the floor. It only took a day for the wee ones to get accustomed to the spacious kiddie pool and when they saw us humans enter the kitchen they RAN to the edge of the pool chirping incessantly and totally unafraid of our hands (hands meant that food and clean water was coming LOL). In less than a week they were bouncing out of the kiddie pool to peck at our toes and stand on top of our feet and very relaxed about exploring our hair, our eyeglasses, finger rings, and chirping and chattering at us and following us around the room -- they never ran from us but always ran towards us. We didn't have to have food to entice them -- they just were naturally outgoing and curious. A Leghorn chick is not as likely to stick around to do that much exploring or bonding -- too independent and more aloof. The Dominique on the other hand inherently is not shy toward humans. I'm sure there's an individual exception somewhere but we've had a total of 4 Dominique chicks and whether they are babies or adults they never stop wanting to be around humans and sometimes jump in our lap just to be petted -- no treats necessary (but of course they won't turn down treats LOL!)
To me, the Blue Breda (BBS Breda) and Dominique are very similar in temperament and calm when approached by humans. The only difference to me is that the Doms have a louder and sometimes more shrill vocalization than the softer vocalization of a Breda (notwithstanding hens' usual loud egg songs).
I wish we got our Cuckoo Breda at a younger age -- she was approximately 6 months old by the time she shipped because the breeder would not ship her sooner because of unusually hot Spring and Summer that year -- besides USPS won't ship live birds if temps get too close to 90 degrees and that was a bad year for heatwaves. Even though we didn't get our Cuckoo Breda as a chick to bond with her I'm still happy to have her around -- she's a good layer and my longest lived Breda and still around today.
Hope you all had a Happy Moms' Day!
Cuckoo Breda outside the sandbox - she's still my best photogenic girl -- she seems to purposely pose or look at the camera1
Cuckoo Breda outside the sandbox - she's still my best photogenic girl -- she seems to purposely pose or look at the camera1
Well, my Cuckoo Breda has gone broody on an empty nest 3rd year in a row! It's been a week now -- hope she's over it in a couple weeks! She's so cranky when we get her up to go eat, drink, and exercise before she rushes back to her empty box.
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