Breda Fowl thread

[Laingcroft]

Rec'd my Bredas yesterday. Four black and one splash (or perhaps blue?) Very calm little chicks. Looking forward to watching them grow.

Edited to add pictures:


One of the black chicks.


and the chick I think is splash.

Here is the motley crew (Breda and SFH chicks) - the splash chick is in the lower left foreground.

 

[annabananaandfamily]

Hello all!

I have 3 beautiful breda hens (a white, a grey and a mostly black with some really nice splash) , and I would really love to get them a roo. I'm not looking to actually add him until the spring, but given how hard it can be to get your hands on these beautiful birds I thought I would put feelers out now. I could do day old chicks, eggs, or a young roo....

What are your thoughts on this? Any suggestions as to where to get one? Thanks in advance!

Anna

 

[GaryDean26]

AnnaBanna,

How old are you hens? I know there were a few people on here with extra Breda cockerels and some of them have experience with shipping live birds around the country too.

Yep... very pretty birds. I currently have my 6 month old pair in the same pen as two 28 week old Basque Cockerels and two Basque Pullets that the pair hatch with. In the last couple of days the Blue Breda Fowl have separated themself from the Basque. They no longer roost on top of the 3 foot high nesting boxes, but have moved to the 6 foot high rafters of the chicken barn. I love watching them hang out up on the rafters together. As soon as I can move some chicken around the Breda will have a pen of their own.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

AnnaBanna,

How old are you hens? I know there were a few people on here with extra Breda cockerels and some of them have experience with shipping live birds around the country too.

Yep... very pretty birds.  I currently have my 6 month old pair in the same pen as two 28 week old Basque Cockerels and two Basque Pullets that the pair hatch with.  In the last couple of days the Blue Breda Fowl have separated themself from the Basque.  They no longer roost on top of the 3 foot high nesting boxes, but have moved to the 6 foot high rafters of the chicken barn.  I love watching them hang out up on the rafters together.  As soon as I can move some chicken around the Breda will have a pen of their own.  

I have mine in with my layer flock. The 4 of them roost on the highest point possible in the hen house, about 5-6 feet above the floor. They are very docile but very good flyers. I would love to move them into their own digs with a very high roost just for them.

 

[flitter]

I have a small flock... 3 pullets and a cock about 5 months old. I'd love to find info similar to what's available for most breeds in our American Standards of Perfection. When I search I get some possible sites but they are not in English. Has anyone found any guidelines for selection?

I agree with everyone that these are fascinating birds. And they can also be quite the clowns!

 

[GaryDean26]

Attached is the best reference I have found for the Breda breed standards. There is other information on the current BKU site.

http://www.bkuclub.nl/downloads/Brochure_Kraaikop_Engels.pdf

Large Fowl

Cock: 5.5 – 6.5 lbs
Hen: 4 -5 lbs

Bantam
Cock: 32-35 oz.​

Hen: 25-28 oz.

Look at the site that I linked to post #173. This is in English and it has even more information than the non-english sites I was previously navigating with on-line translations to find information.

The link has the full description of the Breda.

Post #174 has my convertions for the weight, which for comparison, came out to be the same weight as a standard Leghorns.

I am not sure on the translation for the colors of the varrieties. Should they be Blue/Black/Splash, Cuckoo, and White? I am not sure what Hemmed Blue, and the Black Spotted (Splash? Molted? Other?).

 

[annabananaandfamily]

AnnaBanna,

How old are you hens? I know there were a few people on here with extra Breda cockerels and some of them have experience with shipping live birds around the country too.

Yep... very pretty birds. I currently have my 6 month old pair in the same pen as two 28 week old Basque Cockerels and two Basque Pullets that the pair hatch with. In the last couple of days the Blue Breda Fowl have separated themself from the Basque. They no longer roost on top of the 3 foot high nesting boxes, but have moved to the 6 foot high rafters of the chicken barn. I love watching them hang out up on the rafters together. As soon as I can move some chicken around the Breda will have a pen of their own.

They are about 7 months old now. Though last night my husband tells me he caught one of them trying to mount a hen, so maybe I have a roo after all! These 3 have me so confused when it comes to sexing them! ugh! What if I have 3 roos and no hens?! That will be a sad sad day I really need to get some pictures to show you folks and see what you all have to say about them

 

[flitter]

Thank you GaryDean!

 

[GaryDean26]

These 3 have me so confused when it comes to sexing them! ugh! What if I have 3 roos and no hens?! That will be a sad sad day I really need to get some pictures to show you folks and see what you all have to say about them

Ya...I have been equally confused when it comes to sexing the Breda. Up until 6 weeks I though I had a male and a female, then from 6 weeks to 12 weeks I was convinced that I had two pullets. Now they are 6 months old and I am very confidant that I have a male and female.

We need to get some of the Cuckoo Breda imported so that we can create sex-links between the black cockerels and cuckoo pullets.

I still wonder how they knew which ones to caponize at 3 weeks old when they used Breda for meat birds in the USA.

I have asked before, but how has everyone else been sexing the Breda and how old were they before you were sure what they were?

 

[Flaming Chicken]

They are about 7 months old now. Though last night my husband tells me he caught one of them trying to mount a hen, so maybe I have a roo after all! These 3 have me so confused when it comes to sexing them! ugh! What if I have 3 roos and no hens?! That will be a sad sad day I really need to get some pictures to show you folks and see what you all have to say about them

They are more difficult to tell apart because of the difference in their comb. The way I was able to tell them apart is that the boys have a much bigger waddle. If you are able to post pictures, we could probably help you out.