Breda Fowl thread

[Sylvester017]

Yes I'm the same way about animals! And her orps are still laying, not sure of how many actual eggs she's getting from them though.
Our city ordinance allows 10 backyard fowl of any kind including roosters, unless of continued noise complaints.
So technically I could keep a rooster, but right now only our immediate neighbors know I keep chickens if we had a rooster it would be extremely obvious.
All of my animals free range all day and have plenty of clean nesting boxes, lots of clean coop space, a very large run off of the coop in case we need to keep them in there for some reason, etc.
BUT I have wayyyyy more than 10 backyard poultry so I choose not to keep roosters as much as I want to because I really don't want to bring attention to myself.

I currently have 2 turkeys, a peacock, 5 quail, 5 ducks, 15 layers, 10 birds not to laying, 10 freedom ranger meat birds, and just hatched 20 chicks then got 30 more on emergency sale from hatchery. So at any given time depending on what's hatched, what's been sold, and what's been eaten it is much, much more than I am zoned for. I'd rather keep more birds and give up having the rooster, than getting the rooster potentially bothering neighbors and forever being enforced to never go over 10 birds.

The fact that any older hens are still laying is great - even if it's only one or two a month but I bet those Orps are doing better than that!

My friend is zoned for only 5 hens. However she had many more than that and has to dispatch any roos that start crowing - she's even rehomed a crowing good-laying hen because she doesn't want complaints. Then she met a neighbor on her block that also raises chickens with way more than my friend has! My friend doesn't feel so bad now going a bit over limit especially since she's conscious of cleanliness or the noise factor.

I guess you sell eggs and meat both. What is the peacock and quail for? Your 2 turkeys, 10 non-layers, and 10 meat birds will probably head for the freezer. There's over 2 dozen birds right there that could probably be eliminated unless they have a selling function for the peacock and quails? I know many people raise peacock and quail for pet stores. With that menagerie no wonder you can't keep your roos LOL!

My Mom eventually whittled down her 50+ Babcock Leghorns down to a small dozen and just kept some ducks and geese for their huge eggs. Eventually she eliminated all poultry and just kept the gray geese for eggs and meat (and yard protectors - they are mean and noisy like watchdogs!). The Leghorns were good layers but had to lay several eggs to get the equivalent of one goose egg and Leghorns weren't exactly meat birds either. So they were the first to go. She had ducks and geese for a while and the ducks were good layers but messy and smelly around water and their meat was very fatty. Finally she was down to just a small flock of geese who didn't have to lay often because one egg equalled a 3-egg omelet plus they dressed out bigger and less fatty than ducks. With the orchard, garden, milk, eggs, and poultry on the farm Mom turned into a fantastic farm chef! Ever have homemade cream-filled blintzes in the morning or smell baking bread fill the house on a cold afternoon or see cheese hanging from the rafters of a country porch? She left me a lot of memories.

I hope you have room for your emergency hatchery chicks and your Breda 'bator!

 

[dutchbunny83]

Sylvestor, your mom sounds like an amazing!
I've never had any of those things.
Our dream is to one day have dairy. In NC there is a ban on all raw milk so we can't even buy it or a cow share. We've honestly thought about adding a couple dairy goats, but I think that would bring more attention than a rooster!!!

My peacock is for pure enjoyment

There's some serious money to be made in breeding them or selling fertile eggs, but I heard if you have a pair or trio they will get extremely loud. So we just got the male. He isn't lonely though, he's with our other birds. My whole life I've always loved them and wanted them so for a birthday present my husband and kids got me one. His name is Moreese (pronounced like Maurice, but "Mor" is hindi for peacock and he's an India blue native only to India so wanted to get creative with the name). Beautiful to watch.

My quail I ordered hatching eggs on a whim. I heard people talking about the cost of raising them being low and even though much smaller than a broiler ready to process by 6 weeks with a good feed to meat ratio so tried them out. 5 girls were pardoned as I thought quail eggs were cute. The ones were processed were absolutely delicious. The quail eggs are small and rather a pain to open and eat, but I just adore the girls we kept. Most people keep theirs in little cages since they tend to fly, but mine are so docile. They let me kids hold them and don't struggle or try to fly away. We have them in a chicken tractor all day so they can somewhat free range and scratch and whatnot. I had a broody reject 4 baby chicks I didn't know what to do with since we were about to go away for the weekend, we put them in with the quail and they mothered them, tucking them under their wings. They are just great birds. I hear they only have a life span of about a year so theirs is probably getting close to the end, which is sad since I've gotten so attached. I will definitely be getting them again though.

Right now I have quite a bit of brooder space so should be good to go by the time the Breda get here. I've also been known to turn my downstairs bathtub no one uses into a brooder as well haha....

 

[Sylvester017]

Sylvestor, your mom sounds like an amazing!
I've never had any of those things.
Our dream is to one day have dairy. In NC there is a ban on all raw milk so we can't even buy it or a cow share. We've honestly thought about adding a couple dairy goats, but I think that would bring more attention than a rooster!!!

My peacock is for pure enjoyment

There's some serious money to be made in breeding them or selling fertile eggs, but I heard if you have a pair or trio they will get extremely loud. So we just got the male. He isn't lonely though, he's with our other birds. My whole life I've always loved them and wanted them so for a birthday present my husband and kids got me one. His name is Moreese (pronounced like Maurice, but "Mor" is hindi for peacock and he's an India blue native only to India so wanted to get creative with the name). Beautiful to watch.

My quail I ordered hatching eggs on a whim. I heard people talking about the cost of raising them being low and even though much smaller than a broiler ready to process by 6 weeks with a good feed to meat ratio so tried them out. 5 girls were pardoned as I thought quail eggs were cute. The ones were processed were absolutely delicious. The quail eggs are small and rather a pain to open and eat, but I just adore the girls we kept. Most people keep theirs in little cages since they tend to fly, but mine are so docile. They let me kids hold them and don't struggle or try to fly away. We have them in a chicken tractor all day so they can somewhat free range and scratch and whatnot. I had a broody reject 4 baby chicks I didn't know what to do with since we were about to go away for the weekend, we put them in with the quail and they mothered them, tucking them under their wings. They are just great birds. I hear they only have a life span of about a year so theirs is probably getting close to the end, which is sad since I've gotten so attached. I will definitely be getting them again though.

Right now I have quite a bit of brooder space so should be good to go by the time the Breda get here. I've also been known to turn my downstairs bathtub no one uses into a brooder as well haha....

You need to move out of NC and move to TX or WY or MT where there's wide open spaces and animals are WELCOME where you can have milking livestock and not worry about crowing roos! Too bad the economy is so bad and regulations so strict that people can't pursue those dreams any more in their own home States. Processed pasteurized "raw" milk has zero benefits as if it was a regular homogenized pasteurized carton of milk on the supermarket shelf! Only truly raw milk straight from the cow/goat/sheep has any health benefits. We haven't purchased milk from the stores for decades. Our yard is too small for both chickens and a goat - even a dwarf goat for milk.

You're right about the goats - they are cute but extremely miscievous animals as we had them on the farm - ate the sleeves off all my Pop's uniforms hanging on the clothesline. They chew everything - barn gates, tack, leather, tools, window sills, bike tires, car bumpers, break fences to get to gardens - just a real pain. Wooden or wire fencing is a joke to keep them in or out! They are foraging animals and do not like being penned up. Our Border Collie wasn't trained well enough to be much use in herding - he was more interested in the chickens that didn't need herding. My folks didn't keep goats or sheep very long or the dog for that matter! The milking cow on the other hand we had quite a while before selling - she produced too much milk for us to use. Too bad miniature cows weren't common then as they are adorable with lower milk output then a big Holstein like ours.

Is your peacock quiet? A retired Colonel lived across the road from my folks' farm and his peacock had a cry like a child's that traveled for miles. Beautiful birds. Love your name for Moreese! Maurice was our uncle's name!

Quail are good eating and sweet little birds. Pop would sometimes bring them home from hunting if he couldn't get a pheasant.

We tried the bathtub thing when we got our shipped Buff Leghorn juveniles but it was a joke as 12-week-olds are nearly full-sized - but the two juvies were sweet enough to stay in the tub until we set up the indoor dog pen for them.

Can't wait to see some pix of your Breda hatch!

 

[dutchbunny83]

My Breda eggs just arrived a day early!
I planned on setting up the 'bator tonight for their arrival tomorrow afternoon.
Normally I would let the eggs set for before going in to settle, but it's been HOT. Mid 90s here and we're one of the last stops on the mail route.
I would think they've started incubating on their own in there.
Without the bator to temp what do ya'll think I should do?
Leave them outside where it's hot?
Let them adjust to the house?
Put them in the 'bator as soon as it hits temp?
Let them rest at room temp (like 74 in here)?

Sorry for all the questions, I've just never gotten eggs when it was this hot and the tracking number had been showing them as coming tomorrow since they're all the way from Cali to NC.

Thanks!

 

[Sylvester017]

My Breda eggs just arrived a day early!
I planned on setting up the 'bator tonight for their arrival tomorrow afternoon.
Normally I would let the eggs set for before going in to settle, but it's been HOT. Mid 90s here and we're one of the last stops on the mail route.
I would think they've started incubating on their own in there.
Without the bator to temp what do ya'll think I should do?
Leave them outside where it's hot?
Let them adjust to the house?
Put them in the 'bator as soon as it hits temp?
Let them rest at room temp (like 74 in here)?

Sorry for all the questions, I've just never gotten eggs when it was this hot and the tracking number had been showing them as coming tomorrow since they're all the way from Cali to NC.

Thanks!

OMG - is there a BYC thread about incubating eggs? Maybe someone on there can help because that is an important question. We've only had experience using broodies and not with shipped eggs.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Hatching 101, Diary & Notes, and incubators anonymous are all great threads on incubation. I used info from them to hatch my first bredas (yesterday):

They are from shipped eggs that I let sit for 24 hours before placing them in the bator. Good luck!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Hatching 101, Diary & Notes, and incubators anonymous are all great threads on incubation. I used info from them to hatch my first bredas (yesterday):

They are from shipped eggs that I let sit for 24 hours before placing them in the bator. Good luck!!

Priceless! First photo I've ever seen of Breda chicks. Thank you for posting! There are just not enough photos of them on the internet. With that coloring on them I assume they will both be Blue Breda and not Splash?

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Pictured is a black and a blue I think. I don't think any that I hatched are splash. Love the blue color tho & I think I ended up with 4 of them. The chicks are so calm and gentle. They already try to stand straight up so they wobble & trip over each other. It kills me how cute they are.

 

[Sylvester017]

Pictured is a black and a blue I think. I don't think any that I hatched are splash. Love the blue color tho & I think I ended up with 4 of them. The chicks are so calm and gentle. They already try to stand straight up so they wobble & trip over each other. It kills me how cute they are.

So precious! Years ago I did the hatching thing on the farm but using broodies. Amazing how adorable your chicks are coming out of a 'bator. So you think one in your photo is Black and one is Blue?

I want to get a couple pullets from a breeder in CA next spring if they can ship them. I can't have roos so can't hatch my own and don't really have room in our cottage for a brooder. We're crowded out in the living room where our hospital pen is set up for quarantined or injured birds. Right now I've got a broody Silkie taking it over - no eggs, just broody like Silkies get a 100 times a year LOL

 

[crazy Sandy]

my first hatching of breda chicke Im so excited this little one has such featherd legs does any one know if they feather out really fast do they tend to be girls like other breeds or does it matter