Euskal Oiloa ( Basque Thread)

[1muttsfan]

Please be sure to use safety equipment - gloves, respirator - when using bleach, especially st that concentration. And rinse your coop well after the disinfection process. Bleach is extremely toxic, especially to Birds.

You might consider Accel TB, it is an excellent disinfectant effective against as many organisms as bleach (it will kill the TB bacteria, the gold standard of a disinfectant) and is much less toxic.

 

[AuroraSprings]

So what do you guys think? Hatched 3 weeks ago... (I'm afraid that I have 5 roos and only 1 pullet)
Pink (roo?)



Black (Roo?)


Green (Roo?)




Red (Pullet?)




And there two hatch mates are obviously Roos.

I think I agree that you have only one little pullet.

That last rooster, was it hatched from pure Basque breeding? We had a few come out that color (from a very dark crele-type rooster that was a temp roo) and we assumed they were mixed with Swedish Flower. Didn't realize the Basque, even a crele-rooster, could throw such patterns/colors.

 

[tiana29]

I think I agree that you have only one little pullet.

That last rooster, was it hatched from pure Basque breeding? We had a few come out that color (from a very dark crele-type rooster that was a temp roo) and we assumed they were mixed with Swedish Flower. Didn't realize the Basque, even a crele-rooster, could throw such patterns/colors.

Thanks for your opinion even though it's not what I wanted to hear

The last one is a black polish crossed to my Basque rooster. I threw that egg in just to see what it would look like. Interestingly enough when it hatched it had a white spot on it's head just like the guy in the second to last picture which is an auto sexing Crele Penedesenca crossed Cream Legbar. I wonder if they would always be auto sexing?

 

[buckabucka]

Does anyone else have a problem with their rooster's feet? My original birds are from Skyline. The rooster I kept was kind of a jerk, but I worked with him and he improved somewhat. Mid-winter, he started limping. His feet and legs were swollen and got progressively worse. After some searches, I assumed he had gout. He went to the freezer.

I hatched new chicks, but these are from the original stock. I got a friendly and polite rooster with this generation. This winter, I noticed he would stand on one leg a lot. It was an exceptionally cold winter, so I assumed he was just cold, but the behavior is continuing. He walks gingerly.

Do his feet look normal? I have nothing of compare to.

I know his legs are not yellow. I am not a breeder of these birds, but just wanted to keep a small flock for my own enjoyment. I'm wondering if new stock will fix this problem, or is this something in my soil? It does not affect the hens so far. I am curious to know if anyone else is having this issue. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[GaryDean26]

I have heard that the Amprollium in medicated chicks starter causes knee problems in the Basque. If he is taking the weight off one foot or favoring one side he could have a thorn in his foot or a cut on the bottom, but if not I would guess that he is having knee problems. Stilty or long legged cockerels are also susceptible to have weak hocks. Jumping down from high roosts also can cause knee problems. I don't know how to treat for weak knees. Others on here may be of more help. This is likely to only get worse with time. Weak knees are poor vigor in my book and I don't use them for breeding.

As far as his feet goes, the only problems I see are the double spurs, but since these are listed as "preferable" for some breeds so they are the same as not have yellow feet. The are not to the standards, but are not going to hurt the cockerel in any way.

 

[buckabucka]

Thanks for the reply. It hadn't occurred to me that it could be a knee problem. I do use medicated chick starter. And while the roost is at a reasonable height, this flock insists on roosting on top of a 2x4 wall, 8 feet off the ground. I'm hoping to keep him one more winter, if he doesn't go downhill too fast. Then I will have to decide if I want to continue with Basques. It is a little discouraging, since it has happened twice in a row.

 

[LindaB220]

Many thanks to all! I cannot begin to tell you what a relief it is knowing that my young chickens are MG/MS negative (free)!

My coops and equipment have been pressure washed and disinfected with a greater that 10% bleach mixture (2.5 cups concentrated bleach in 1.5 gallon total mixture. I will do one disinfection (bleach mixture) spray down on Monday. This will be followed later by an Oxine spray down. Everything should be ready for the first batch of chickens to move in by the beginning of May.

Hatches:

2/28 5 cream legbars (CLB)
3/8 4 CLB & 2 SFH
3/18 6 CLB
4/5 5 CLB & 2 jubilee orpingtons (JO)
4/14 9 blue wheaten/wheaten ameraucana

Projected Hatch:

4/24 20+ SFH & 1 JO
Mid May More CLB and JO
So recovery efforts are well underway. LOL- I am going to need the brooder space!

Where do you have them now. A bunch of brooders? So proud of you.

 

[HaplessRunner]

Where do you have them now. A bunch of brooders? So proud of you.

I have three brooders running right now. My sandbox brooder has the first three hatches in it. And I have two large bins for the remaining two brooders. Thank you for the support!

 

[Maggiesdad]

Thanks for the reply. It hadn't occurred to me that it could be a knee problem. I do use medicated chick starter. And while the roost is at a reasonable height, this flock insists on roosting on top of a 2x4 wall, 8 feet off the ground. I'm hoping to keep him one more winter, if he doesn't go downhill too fast. Then I will have to decide if I want to continue with Basques. It is a little discouraging, since it has happened twice in a row.

In my original hatch from Skyline, I had a cockerel with long legs and a weird gait... reminded me of a goosestepping soldier. I ate him.

I've had double spurs show up too. My Spanish friends say no on the double spurs, even though it's not mentioned in their standard. Don't give up on them, bucka, it's going to take more than three years to sort them out... And Bob B. said three years is where people start dropping out.

I can take a Rubik's cube and mess it up with about five twists, then it take me two days to get it fixed!

 

[CackleJoy]

Well I am bummed.

I was not collecting pullet eggs to hatch because they are still small.

My little trio I was so pleased with?

The cockerel bit the dust.
I had cocci in that pen a while back and was sure that I got rid of it. Maybe not

I'm sending him off for testing.

It's a little discouraging (okay - a lot). We've had our struggles with this breed. First, at about 12 weeks a caregiver neglected to feed the grow out pen. Several died and a hawk got a few more. We had to buy in the cockerel to replace all the ones lost.

Now I'm back to square one. I can get eggs from people locally but that still puts me at a minimum of 4 months before I can hatch any eggs.