Breda Fowl thread

[maryellen21]

How do I trim them? The roo and one hen have 2 broken ones near their feet

 

[Sylvester017]

Has anyone had their breda break one of their leg feathers close to their foot?

A 4-mo-old cockerel was shipped to me w/ multiple issues. Besides being shipped w/ CRD issues (sneezing), worms, and cocci which were treated by a vet immediately, he also had a couple toes with bleeding quills. It obviously annoyed (or hurt) him and he kept picking at the wound, and it drew the attention of the pullet to also pick at it. I tried spraying Grannicks Green Apple on the wound but it didn't deter picking. I didn't want to use messy Blu-Kote on his wounds while he was inside our house. Eventually I got soft thin lightly sticky first-aid tape and wrapped the toes covering his wounds with several layers of tape after disinfecting. The tape stayed secure fairly well to my amazement as the Breda walked around (inside of the house where I could monitor him). A bit of the tape end would unravel here and there but stayed secure enough to not come off as I snipped off loose pieces each day. After a week I removed the tape completely and because beaks couldn't peck at the quill wounds the wounds healed up and there was no blood to be seen. I wrapped the soft pliable sticky gauzy tape in such a way that it was not too loose or too tight and in such a way that the cockerel had complete mobility walking around. Here he is with the tape on both feet with only the wounded outer toes wrapped in such a way that he had normal walking mobility. He did try to peck at the tape to get to the wounds but when he found he couldn't get to the wounds he seemed to forget about it and went on to explore his surroundings as a diversion. If I kept him penned in the 4x4 dog crate he would've been bored and probably eventually would've chewed off the tape, but he had diversionary things to occupy his attention away from his toes.




Eventually pretty and longer toe/leg feathers grew in.

 

[Sylvester017]

Last Sept our Cuckoo Breda from @RFR of CA was shipped as a pullet with very pale pink face and no wattles:




This week her face is reddening and the wattles are finally starting to grow!

 

[boskelli1571]

Last Sept our Cuckoo Breda from @RFR of CA was shipped as a pullet with very pale pink face and no wattles:




This week her face is reddening and the wattles are finally starting to grow!

She is a beauty! I think it's a nice change to have birds that seem to take their time in maturing. My darker blue Breda has decided she really likes me (finally!) and has taken to following me around the garden now, she hhas even become quite talkative! Love this breed!

 

[maryellen21]

Omg my roo crows nonstop.. 3:22 am he starts. . It's driving me nuts. He doesn't stop. Does anyone else have this with their breda roo?? My other roo is nice and quiet. This one, not.. I am afraid my one jerk neighbor will complain as its nonstop ...

 

[Sylvester017]

Omg my roo crows nonstop.. 3:22 am he starts. . It's driving me nuts. He doesn't stop. Does anyone else have this with their breda roo?? My other roo is nice and quiet. This one, not.. I am afraid my one jerk neighbor will complain as its nonstop ...

Keep him in a 4x4 dog kennel in a dark garage with blackened window overnight and that should help until you let him out every morning. I had a Breda cockerel in-house during quarantine that scared us to death crowing at 1:00 a.m. so we darkened the windows so no moonlight showed. Also, keeping a roo in the garage will muffle those early a.m. crowing sounds should he still decide to be musical

.

 

[Sylvester017]

She is a beauty! I think it's a nice change to have birds that seem to take their time in maturing. My darker blue Breda has decided she really likes me (finally!) and has taken to following me around the garden now, she hhas even become quite talkative! Love this breed!

TY! You are so kind.

It's funny -- our Blue girl was adventurous as a pullet but once she passed her pullet stage she was quite a companion around the yard. Breda get pesty and more talkative as they get older but we happen to love it!



Two days before we lost our Blue Breda to heat-related issues she and our oldest Partridge Silkie were helping to dig in the yard! These two were good companions together so it created an emptiness for the Partridge to lose her gentle Breda buddy.




Our Cuckoo Breda is sweet and docile but still a bit young so she hasn't developed mature confidence in the outdoors yet. One thing I'm happy for is that she is docile and the Silkies don't mind having her around them. She follows them everywhere -- Breda are quite sociable when in a gentle environment but will become "loners" if they are mixed in with more assertive heavier fowl.


I'm thrilled to have chicken danz raising another Blue pullet for me this year. I can find breeders but no one in the States that sell Blue. Shamrock has Blue but they are in Canada.

I love the Breda so much in my flock that I am advance planning to get another in 2018 also. Since I'm zoned for only 5 hens/no roos I stagger the ages of my hens so that as the older girls' productivity slackens I'll have newer pullets picking up the slack so my flock doesn't get old all at the same time. I had it perfectly planned last year with a 6-yr-old, 5-yr-old, 3-yr-old, and 11/2 yr old w/ a new Cuckoo pullet on the way -- until I lost the two middle hens to heat/stress-related complications leaving me with 2 old hens and the newest pullet who is not laying yet. Best laid plans shot to Hades!! The 2 oldest girls are Silkies so their productivity is sporadic -- they're good layers for bantams but not as reliable as a Breda so can't wait for the Cuckoo Breda to start laying. Then we will start the quarantine process all over again when the newest Blue pullet arrives later this year and we'll have a new youngster to bond with.

I used to want breeds that gave us a colorful egg basket with chocolate, blue, pink, green, and white eggs until I discovered not all chicken breeds get along. Now I just want a docile flock and size or color of eggs is least important. Good docile chickens as pets with a reasonable expectation of some eggs for just the two of us is all we need.

If we were zoned and had space we would keep a variety of dual purpose or rare unusual breeds and allow a gorgeous roo or two to have their harems but since we're limited/zoned for only 5 hens I'm picky to get the prettiest of 5 birds to . . . (1) give us eye-candy enjoyment in the backyard, and . . . (2) to have an endangered breed ordered from a breeder who is saving/perfecting a rare breed. We can't breed rare birds but we can at least support the breeders who do rather than taking the easier cheaper way out at the local feed store/hatchery! Nothing wrong with the feed store/hatchery but we don't have the desire or space to raise the more common easily-obtained breeds of chickens that have no problem of becoming endangered.

 

[maryellen21]

I can't put him in a crate in my garage ,as my house is close to my neighbors, so the crowing Wil be closer and louder. It's dark in the coop. Some unfortunately crow more then others. My other one is quiet,and my legbar I had was quiet also. This one is not quiet unfortunately. If I don't lock them in the coop when he starts crowing it's louder as they like to roost in their pen.

 

[RFR of CA]

YUK....pens are a muddy mess right now. The girls solution is to hang out on their bench......and they are finally starting to lay! Took them forever

 

[Sylvester017]

I can't put him in a crate in my garage ,as my house is close to my neighbors, so the crowing Wil be closer and louder. It's dark in the coop. Some unfortunately crow more then others. My other one is quiet,and my legbar I had was quiet also. This one is not quiet unfortunately. If I don't lock them in the coop when he starts crowing it's louder as they like to roost in their pen.

A last option IMO is to keep him in-house. Our Breda cockerel would crow at 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning. We gave him his own room to sleep for the night with blinds closed so he couldn't see moonlight. Give your boy a bathroom or a bedroom or a porch in a kennel of his own overnight and put him outdoors whenever you think it's ok for him to start crowing outdoors. Some boy breeds are just worth the trouble when they are as rare as Breda is. We aren't zoned for roos but have a friend in the country who rescues battery hens and unwanted cockerels and she took our boy knowing how rare he is. They turned him into their indoor/outdoor pet because he was so family-friendly.

THIS IS OUR COCKEREL BOY IN HIS NEW FAMILY HOME - HE TAKES OVER THE DOG BED AT NIGHT!