Breda Fowl thread

[RhodeRunner]

I WILL BE PICKING 8 ON SATURDAY MORNING A MIX OF 8 BLUE AND BLACK 10 WEEK OLD , ARE THEY GOOD LAYERS I KNOW THEY ARE VERY FRIENDLY AND CURIOUS BIRDS WOULD LIKE ANT FEED BACK ON THIS BREED .AS THEY ARE NEW TO ME THANKS

As the other's have said, they do take longer to mature. Our girls took around seven - eight months to start laying. But, boy are they good layers. They are actually our best layers on the farm, and we usually get an egg a day from each of our hens.

 

[GaryDean26]

At 7 weeks, Mine are easy to sex. The boys have the red emerging Wattles and btw are beginning to crow. The girls have no wattles. However, the boys I raised last year while developing the wattles, didn't crow until much later. I had them in a coop with a dominant rooster-so maybe they waited longer to crow.

Wow...mine are a really challenge to sex before 10 weeks. I looked for knobs on the shanks where the spurs would come in on my oldest set of three and one of the pullet and one of the cockerels had knobs, but a 2nd cockerel didn't have knobs. I was able to tell by size though. The splash Pullet was only about half the size as that the huge black cockerel. The Blue cockerel was in the middle though so we were guessing on him a lot longer. Yes the boys did get the red wattles, but my experience in other breeds has been that half of the cockerels will redden up early while half with keep the pale color for week or month after the first one. So even though my early guess has been correct on 6 out of six breda I am hesitant to make any finally one. I still wish I had the cuckoo Breda Hens to cross with solid Breda cockerels to make the sex-link. Oh well I am out of coop space anyways.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

Wow...mine are a really challenge to sex before 10 weeks. I looked for knobs on the shanks where the spurs would come in on my oldest set of three and one of the pullet and one of the cockerels had knobs, but a 2nd cockerel didn't have knobs.  I was able to tell by size though.  The splash Pullet was only about half the size as that the huge black cockerel.  The Blue cockerel was in the middle though so we were guessing on him a lot longer. Yes the boys did get the red wattles, but my experience in other breeds has been that half of the cockerels will redden up early while half with keep the pale color for week or month after the first one. So even though my early guess has been correct on 6 out of six breda I am hesitant to make any finally one.    I still wish I had the cuckoo Breda Hens to cross with solid Breda cockerels to make the sex-link. Oh well I am out of coop space anyways.   

Cuckoo Bredas? That sounds amazing. I have only gotten blue and black. Not even a splash.

 

[GaryDean26]

The standard colors of Breda are Black/Blue/Splash, White, and Cuckoo. We only have the Black/Blue/Black variety in the US though. You can see cuckoo Breda on feathersite.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Breda/BRKBreda.html

 

[Flaming Chicken]

They are slow starters (35 weeks +) but do lay really good.  My first Breda start laying the end of December and we giving 4-5 eggs a week.  Not too bad for the time of the year with the least amount of day light.  I sold may original Breda in March due to lack of coop space (but hatch some chicks to keep first) so I don't know how they would have laid through the first year,but am sure that if they would have started laying in full daylight would have been laying every day.

I have babies from a different breeder this year. Last year I bought eggs off eBay that I think we're seriously in bred, had a whole bunch of quitters, a chick born with missing toes and bad legs. Of my 2 hens, I am convinced that only one has laid eggs and I think only about 5 eggs total. She is 15 months old. The other hens comb never got red and I never see her on the nest. So this year it looks like I have a blue pullet and a black once again and 3 blue cockerels. Maybe I'll have some breeding stock this time.

 

[OHmamma]

Hello everyone,

I have some Breda on the way home right now. I Have wanted them for a while but just haven't had the chance to get them. What I really want to do is make a cuckoo version. I was actually thinking they would be more like the Lafleche and bigger in size, most of the photos are deceiving, they look much bigger. Other than the obvious fused toes are there any other inbred issues that have been noted with the GF lines? Such as infertility, chicks dead in shell, crossed beaks, or lack of coccidia resistance??

I don't know why I didn't think to look here for more pictures, all is good, I will just have to use a different hen to get the cuckoo in.

Thanks,

Nicol

 

[RhodeRunner]

Hello everyone,

I have some Breda on the way home right now. I Have wanted them for a while but just haven't had the chance to get them. What I really want to do is make a cuckoo version. I was actually thinking they would be more like the Lafleche and bigger in size, most of the photos are deceiving, they look much bigger. Other than the obvious fused toes are there any other inbred issues that have been noted with the GF lines? Such as infertility, chicks dead in shell, crossed beaks, or lack of coccidia resistance??

I don't know why I didn't think to look here for more pictures, all is good, I will just have to use a different hen to get the cuckoo in.

Thanks,

Nicol

Hello Nicol,

The old Breda, was much larger then the current fowl. That being said, the breed still isn't that small. I would say they are similar in size to most dual-purpose fowl, they just have less meat. (The breed has a lot of leg and tail) But, I do have quite a few birds that are very large and impressive. For some reason, our Blacks seem to be largest.

Breeding in cuckoo would be very difficult task, as it would tamper with a great deal of the breeds traits. Also, there are so many cuckoo birds out there, that I fear there will be a lack of interest...and to be honest it doesn't seem like this breed gets much interest to begin with.

I have culled fused toes, as well as a duplex combs. Fertility isn't a problem, nor hatching, cross beaks, or coccidia. Coccidia however, would depend on how you raise your birds. I do notice the chicks take awhile longer to learn to walk, so they do best housed with breeds that aren't complete ruffians.

 

[OHmamma]

Hi,

What I meant by not as big as I thought was I was thinking they would be Langshan size for some reason.

As far as making them cuckoo, I am not doing it for anyone but me and I have the time and patience. I could care less if they are popular or not. My chickens are purely for my enjoyment. From what I understand the Breda in the US now are poor examples of the actual Kraaikops breed so to me the start of my experience with them seems like the perfect time to introduce cuckoo. Is there even a standard to breed to? That would be interesting to see. The closest think I could find was a poor translation that described them as being a mediocre fowl. http://poultrydatabase.com/?page=fagel&id=41

Also, severely inbred birds can eventually loose the natural ability to fight coccidia clean pen or not, that was why I was asking. I have also heard terrible stories about GF birds lately. They may just be rumors, but I prefer to err on the side of caution as I would with any closely inbred line.

Look at this cockbird. Cuckoo is beautiful.



Thanks

 

[RhodeRunner]

Hi,

What I meant by not as big as I thought was I was thinking they would be Langshan size for some reason.

As far as making them cuckoo, I am not doing it for anyone but me and I have the time and patience. I could care less if they are popular or not. My chickens are purely for my enjoyment. From what I understand the Breda in the US now are poor examples of the actual Kraaikops breed so to me the start of my experience with them seems like the perfect time to introduce cuckoo. Is there even a standard to breed to? That would be interesting to see. The closest think I could find was a poor translation that described them as being a mediocre fowl. http://poultrydatabase.com/?page=fagel&id=41

Also, severely inbred birds can eventually loose the natural ability to fight coccidia clean pen or not, that was why I was asking. I have also heard terrible stories about GF birds lately. They may just be rumors, but I prefer to err on the side of caution as I would with any closely inbred line.

Look at this cockbird. Cuckoo is beautiful.



Thanks

Indeed, they are certainly no Langshan! Though, their stance and height does give that impression. Our Breda roosters have to duck to enter their coop, a problem none of our other birds have.

I'm not saying one should raise birds based on popularity. I am thinking from a conservatory stance. The more color varieties created in an endangered fowl, the less progress the bred tends to make, and the more inbred the fowl become. But, if you want cuckoo, go for it! I would love to hear of your progress. Do you have any specific crosses in mind to get that color?

Yes, there is a Breda standard. I need to look for it (it was saved on my old computer)...but, I did post it somewhere on this thread in the past. A great deal of the breeds information isn't in english.

There is a lot of controversy on inbreeding. I had an inbred flock for years (given to me by a neighbor, whom kept a closed flock that was originally his fathers) and those birds where the healthiest chickens I owned. They often lived into their teens. I have thus considered inbreeding a good thing if done correctly, a disaster if not. Here is an interesting document on inbreeding vs. cross-breeding.http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Inbreeding_Considerations.html

Our Breda fowl where purchased directly from Greenfire Farms. There where no problems with the farm, our their stock as time has passed. The birds are healthy, and very good layers. I'm working on bring up weight, I would love for them to be a functional meat fowl once more.

 

[OHmamma]

I love the look of that cuckoo in the pic I found. He looks so masculine compared to most of the Breda pics I have seen.

I was actually considering a cross bird that I have at my uncle's. He is polish and lafleche and barred from the polish side. No shank feathers but the comb and nose are close. I figured a few chicks wouldn't hurt to see how it goes. No worries, I intend on keeping the true blue and black colors. I waited too long to get them to mess them up ;-)

There was a poultry article written by Hutt in 1949 that elaborates on the gentics of the breda and their unique comb. I only have one excerpt from it but my friend is searching for the rest. I will share if I find it.

My chicks arrived today. I am letting them settle in before photos. I am the happy new owner of 6 blue, 6 black and 3 splash Breda