Breda Fowl thread

[Sylvester017]

I'm still waiting on my girl to lay..... from what I hear with Breda it will be a long wait..... I'll let you know what color mine are when they finally get here!

I have both Breda Gueldre and White Leghorn that are laying so maybe I can help. Below are eggs collected Wednesday from a Breda pullet in her first laying season and a White Leghorn in her forth laying season.



Note: Commercial White Leghorns have the "white egg" gene that will block all brown egg pigments (even if the hen is carrying the genes for brown pigment). This tends to give the egg of Leghorns an almost florescent white. The Breda does not have the "white egg" gene and if they are carrying any genes for a brown bloom it will show on the shell. Some days the difference in color is enough that I can see a noticeably different color between the Breda eggs and the Leghorn eggs, but as shown most days (9 out of 10) the Breda egg is just as white as a Leghorn.

Note: The Breda egg was 63 grams, the Leghorn egg was quite small only coming in at 60 grams yesterday (they may be because the Breda free ranges about 30 hours a week and the Leghorn only about 5 hours a weeks).

Now this is what I'm talking about! A terrific post with detailed and great input along w/personal experience. A good analysis to explain the possibility of difference in color on some days. I love the weight input as well - though size is not as important to us as egg color and breed temperament. Thank you GaryDean26!

Thank you dutchbunny83 - bet you can hardly wait for that first egg to find out the color!

 

[DutchChicky]

Here is an answer I got about tinted colored eggs from the Breda's, from the President of the BKU club ( what is the Dutch club for Kraaikoppen, Breda fowl ).
With that they used other breeds to enlarge the breed it is not surprising there might be some that lay tinted eggs. Perfectly fine to breed with. One of his best hen, lays a tinted egg.
So just FYI, for the people that worried about this.
Myself I have a beautiful Black hen that came from a White egg, that lays a tinted egg. So might skip a generation.
So long as there is limited stock and lines, you'll run into that I guess

 

[Sylvester017]

Here is an answer I got about tinted colored eggs from the Breda's, from the President of the BKU club ( what is the Dutch club for Kraaikoppen, Breda fowl ).
With that they used other breeds to enlarge the breed it is not surprising there might be some that lay tinted eggs. Perfectly fine to breed with. One of his best hen, lays a tinted egg.
So just FYI, for the people that worried about this.
Myself I have a beautiful Black hen that came from a White egg, that lays a tinted egg. So might skip a generation.
So long as there is limited stock and lines, you'll run into that I guess

Wow, another WONDERFUL researched post. Thank you DutchChicky! I suppose if the Breda starts out laying tinted they could fade eventually to off-white or cream but I already have those egg colors and was looking for a bright-white gentle-tempered layer. I have a Buff Leghorn who lays tinted pink rather than white - don't want a White Leghorn again - wonderful white egg variety but not as docile-tempered as the Buff Leg plus the Buff has a much smaller straight comb than the White's oversized floppy comb.

I may hold off on the Breda as I have enough off-white and tinted layers. With my luck the one and only Breda I can add to my little flock would probably lay tinted. It's hard to find a gentle lightweight LF that lays truly white. Most of the lightweight white-laying breeds are rather wild and independently natured - nothing wrong with that except that I need a more docile-natured smaller bird for my under 5-lb flock.

The egg color is like the Marans I've encountered. You can hatch a pullet from a very dark chocolate egg but the pullet herself will lay a pale or medium brown but she may be carrying the dark egg gene to her future hatches. I can't breed because of zoning so I just stay away from the heartache of trying to get a dark egg layer for the time being. Most dark layers are medium to heavy LF.

 

[qball53]

Quote:
All of our Breda layed medium/large bright white eggs! However we have let the flock slowly sell off because we want the largest birds we can get.

 

[Sylvester017]

Quote:
So funny how breeders are trying to get larger birds when in my situation I'm perfectly content and PREFER the bird under 5-lb in my gentle flock! LOL

 

[Penny Hen]

So funny how breeders are trying to get larger birds when in my situation I'm perfectly content and PREFER the bird under 5-lb in my gentle flock! LOL

Well eventually someone might create a bantam version. They are such a handsome bird and I could see bantam fanciers liking them.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well eventually someone might create a bantam version. They are such a handsome bird and I could see bantam fanciers liking them.

A bantam would be cute. So many created bantam versions lay tinted/off-white to light brown. But I'm thinking the LF Breda is probably going to be broody enough for my taste. Plus I like the lightweight LF for slightly larger eggs than bantams yet still easy on the feed bill. It's amazing how much feed is saved even just backyard free-ranging. Of course we supplement produce and protein etc.

For white eggs I briefly looked into Polish and Crevecoeur (very rare) but both have crests that I really don't want to deal with - I'm old and lazy now LOL. I'm familiar with the fabulous Silkies and nothing else matches their spunk, hardiness, activity, and ability to clear their own vision obstructions, plus good size eggs when they're not broody. I have gotten to the point that I don't even want to deal with large straight combs. The fact that Breda doesn't have a comb or poofy crest is a plus to me. I had dealt with a wonderful White Leghorn but because her huge floppy comb obstructed one side or the other of her face completely she was overly skittish. We now have a Buff Leghorn with a smaller straight comb that flops only slightly and she is much calmer than the White or Brown varieties.

 

[RhodeRunner]

The Breda Bantam already exists, but from my knowledge there are not any in the USA.

 

[Sylvester017]

The Breda Bantam already exists, but from my knowledge there are not any in the USA.

You can almost bet 99% of the time someone has created a bantam version of every breed in the world LOL! The bantam sounds like an interesting variety. Wonder if the Breda bantam males are significantly larger than the female bantams the way they are significantly larger in the LF variety?

 

[crazypetlady]

To crazypetlady - a white/white egg or off-white?

Hmm I thought they were white but maybe they are off-white now that I think about it. Of course I can't say for sure now because 2 Partridge Barthuner hens snuck into their run under the fence so I left them there and put 2 extra PB roosters I had in with the lot.

I still haven't found a breda rooster yet, if anyone has one I would be willing to send you eggs from any of my breeds for helping me locate one. I found a Breda in the grow out barn and was hoping it was a rooster but now that I put it in I can see that it's a hen. I guess I should be greatfull for another hen but I really need a roo still.