Breda Fowl thread

[James Beller]

Breda breeders with expierence please check out my page and add many comments. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1088818/polish-project-feathered-legs

 

[SFIcelandics]

I have 12+(will send 6 extra)Breda fowl hatching eggs in blue black and splash available for shipment tomorrow Wednesday 4/6. Breeders from GFF first import. Guaranteed the hardiest and healthiest chicks you will hatch!

50$ for the 18 eggs, shipped in a large flat rate box.
Buyer also has the option to buy additional eggs, with free shipping.

PM for PayPal info.

 

[GaryDean26]

I have 12+(will send 6 extra)Breda fowl hatching eggs in blue black and splash available for shipment tomorrow Wednesday 4/6. Breeders from GFF first import. Guaranteed the hardiest and healthiest chicks you will hatch!

50$ for the 18 eggs, shipped in a large flat rate box.
Buyer also has the option to buy additional eggs, with free shipping.

PM for PayPal info.

No Photos of the flock?

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

I am considering a flock of Bredas. I know that most of you may be bias about the breed, so I just going to ask the group to tell me what they love about their Bredas. Keep in mind that I have 3 young chicken loving sons, I want a white egg layer that can forage well, and be somewhat of a pet. My husband likes nice roosters and chickens that seem to like him. Will this breed be good for my family?

 

[GaryDean26]

Well if you like nice rooster and curious hens that will follow you all around the yard, then the Breda is a good breed. They are great for a family. They aren't really good foragers though. They have feathered feet and hocks that make it difficult for them to scratch around. While my other birds are out scratching the Breda are following me around looking for a hand out. So...the best thing about them is there gentile nature and non-flightieness. The biggest draw back if that there cavernous nostril make then less able to handle respiratory illnesses.

 

[Sylvester017]

I am considering a flock of Bredas. I know that most of you may be bias about the breed, so I just going to ask the group to tell me what they love about their Bredas. Keep in mind that I have 3 young chicken loving sons, I want a white egg layer that can forage well, and be somewhat of a pet. My husband likes nice roosters and chickens that seem to like him. Will this breed be good for my family?

See these Breda thread posts #986, #990, #995 which I think sums up the health problems with Breda. I was not so sure that I wanted to try a chicken with so little info on it a couple years ago but my DH liked the looks of the Blue Breda. I kept following any reviews that came up about Breda because I was looking specifically for a gentle-natured, lightweight, white egg layer since we had to re-home our aggressive White Leghorn. Dual purpose and heritage breeds are too heavy and assertive around our gentler birds in the flock (Silkies, Ameraucana) and I was on a hunt for a gentle under-5-lb breed to add to our little backyard flock. Eventually I got some good and honest input from owners/breeders of the Breda and being forewarned and forearmed with the pros and cons of having Breda I took the chance to try them. The 4-month cockerel was outgoing right out of the shipping box as if he had known us for years. It was the same with the 4-month pullet -- she was outgoing and friendly right out of the shipping box. We never had such outgoing breeds before at such a young age. We had to work with other breeds to warm up to us but that was not the case with the Breda. They have no problem with human interaction from the get-go.

As I posted before we had issues with sniffles with both of the Bredas shipped to us and I took them both to a vet when the sniffles became coughs. Vet cleared the issue right up with Baytril 10-days treatment and the problem never happened again. The breeder of the cockerel shipped him with cocci and worms and a fecal test at the vet confirmed it and we treated with Corid and wormer and he was fine. The other breeder of the pullet shipped the pullet with cocci but was upfront that she treated her flock for cocci yearly because of being on an old dairy farmland. My conclusion from the experience with the cockerel and the pullet from two different breeders from two different States is that these birds are naturally friendly no matter where they are bred/raised, and that respiratory issues can bother them because of those cavernous nostrils, but once we got past the juvenile stage and treating our shipped birds, they've been great healthwise.

We have Silkies so feathered legs/toes was not an issue for us with the Breda. As juveniles Bredas have gorgeous vulture hocks and feathered toes but when outdoors, the feathers break off to a manageable foraging length. Our cockerel's quills were thicker and he kept picking and causing bleeding on one toe that we wrapped in paper first-aid tape so he could walk easily and it kept him from picking on the quill root until it healed. Our Blue Breda hen is a busy forager. She is constantly digging, nosing around, looking for seeds, bugs, worms, and as @GaryDean26 says, Breda will come running for a handout too! They will be very quick to steal another hen's tidbits or knock treats out of your hand. We trained her to be patient and wait her turn as treats are handed out - yes, chickens are trainable if you have the gentle patience to train them. But I don't mind her spunkiness since our Breda girl does a lot of her own foraging. She doesn't have those long beautiful feathered toes she had as an indoor juvenile but she is still very pretty and our family visitors love the way she runs up to them.

As for food, Bredas are picky about their diet. They seem to prefer seeds and layer diet over fresh treats that other breeds go nuts for. Our breeds love organic Greek Yogurt but our Breda will take one curious bite and decide it was too messy and walks away. Yet, a banana or fresh corn causes her to go into a frenzy with the others. We have a Silkie that loves cantaloupe while the others mildly pick at it. With our Breda she seems to prefer dry seeds like 3-grain scratch & peck, scratch & peck organic layer, wild bird seed, dry mealworms, dry shelled sunflower seeds, flatbread (rare treat and not often), and sometimes cooked brown rice.

I was hesitant about experimenting with Breda because they are not a common breed and I really had to research to get info on them -- but the funny personality, non-combative nature toward flockmates, and instant bonding with humans has enabled us to overlook the few negatives of juvenile health issues. They are a hardy breed as adults but I would not recommend a wet snowy muddy or soggy environment because of the feathered feet -- I would advise this about any feather-legged breed of chicken.

I hope this helps advise you of pros and cons of whether this breed fits your requirements. As pets these are one of my favorites and they are not bad at egg production. We get 4 to 6 eggs/week at 1.75-oz each.

BLUE WHEATEN AMERAUCANA EGG 2.3-oz, BRIGHT WHITE BREDA EGG 1.75-oz, TINTED SILKIE EGG 1.25-oz.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

I think that they will fit in well.

 

[Sylvester017]

I think that they will fit in well.

What's nice about this breed is that there are color choices -- Blue Breda, Black, Splash (classified B/B/S which means these 3 colors can breed with each other and don't have to be separated unless you choose), Mottled black and white, Mottled blue and white (rarer).

Our Blue Breda is slim-feathered at around 4-lbs but looks like a normal-sized hen; our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana is around 5-lbs but because of her extreme fluffy underdown (much like an Orpington in fluffiness) she looks larger than she really is; and our Black Silkie and Partridge Silkie are 2.2-lb and 2.4-lb respectively. Because our Silkies are the oldest hens, the younger Ameraucana and new Breda are submissive to the Silkies. Since re-homing our aggressive and larger Leghorns and Marans there's been so much more peace in our little 4-hen flock now. The Breda is almost 11/2 yrs old, the Ameraucana is 3 yrs old, Black Silkie is 4 yrs old, and Partridge Silkie is 5 yrs old. No more dual purpose or heritage breeds for us since we discovered the gentler smaller breeds to mix together. These are not "production" breeds but supply us with a surprising amount of eggs for just the two of us. Late summer thru fall egg production can drop, the Silkies go broody, molting takes over, but at around the end of the year or start of the new year production picks up again slowly one breed at a time. There are non-broody production type breeds that lay through the winter months but I found them heavier and more assertive to deal with than our gentler non-production breeds.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

I think we were going to get blue hatching eggs, but you know how that can go.

 

[Sylvester017]

I think we were going to get blue hatching eggs, but you know how that can go.

Yep, with B/B/S you can get all 3 colors in a hatch. Let us know how it goes.