Breda Fowl thread

[rooster 2011]

[COLOR=0000CD]Thank you for keeping the breeding going![/COLOR]
[COLOR=0000CD]I can understand why the Cuckoo were not popular because so many consider Cuckoo a boring variety and the breeders probably weren't getting enough orders for them.  My breeder @RFR of CA
was closing out her Cuckoo to concentrate on mottled and I got one of her last closeout Cuckoo pullets and am so thankful.  The Cuckoo is taller, has longer impressive vulture hocks, and lays a 2.25-oz egg (weighed it today).  The Cuckoo started laying last Saturday, missed Sunday, and has layed a pink egg every day since.  I make sure she has plenty of feed to replace the body nutrients those eggs are taking out of her![/COLOR]
[COLOR=0000CD]Last I emailed Dutch Connection they only offered Black, Splash, and Cuckoo.  Now I understand they no longer have any Mottled roo's and have severely cutback on the few remaining Breda they had.  But like I said above, someone has taken a few of Dutch's mottled hens to keep a flock going.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=0000CD]I have gone through different USA breeders for all my juvenile pullets and they seem to use PayPal although one of my oldest breeders took a check from me in advance payment for pullets plus shipping.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=0000CD]Breda's are a busy mobile bird, alright!  I just can't get enough of those Blue photos!  So breathtaking![/COLOR]

I actually emailed Dutch connection earlier to see what kind of Breda she still has haven't hear back from her yet tho there used to be a guy on eBay from California named mike or michael I think that sold Breda I was actually gonna buy my first set of Breda from him three years ago but didn't want the risk of hatching eggs also yeah Iv heard RFR of California she actually has some mottled eggs on eBay right now but 48 plus shipping for eggs is expensive to me and knowing that they might not even hatch

 

[Sylvester017]

I actually emailed Dutch connection earlier to see what kind of Breda she still has haven't hear back from her yet tho there used to be a guy on eBay from California named mike or michael I think that sold Breda I was actually gonna buy my first set of Breda from him three years ago but didn't want the risk of hatching eggs also yeah Iv heard RFR of California she actually has some mottled eggs on eBay right now but 48 plus shipping for eggs is expensive to me and knowing that they might not even hatch

RFR is where I got my Blue Breda and Cuckoo Breda pullets from. She shipped me the juvenile pullets as soon as she was sure they were females at about 3-4 months old. So if you don't want hatching eggs, RFR will ship juvenile birds. The birds are not real expensive, it's the USPS shipping that costs so much, plus I add an extra tip to the breeder for going through the trouble and expense of raising a desired female and boxing the bird for shipping and taking the trip to the post office to ship the bird to me. Breda are not as easy to identify early like other chicken breeds and the breeder has to keep the Breda a little extra time longer to make certain the correct sex is shipped. I personally don't mind paying for a guaranteed pullet since I can't hatch, brood chicks, or find homes for unwanted surplus hatched chicks.

 

[Sylvester017]

My little flock of three chickens (2 Silkies and a Cuckoo Breda) having fun in the front yard weeds before we pulled most of them up -- Expecting rain again this weekend:

 

[rooster 2011]

My little flock of three chickens (2 Silkies and a Cuckoo Breda) having fun in the front yard weeds before we pulled most of them up -- Expecting rain again this weekend:

I thought u had blue Breda too u said your flock of three what happened to your other ones did u sell them those are pretty silkies I actually considered using chocolate silkies for that project but decided not to because of their skin being black

 

[Sylvester017]

I thought u had blue Breda too u said your flock of three what happened to your other ones did u sell them those are pretty silkies I actually considered using chocolate silkies for that project but decided not to because of their skin being black

You probably missed my post about losing our Blue Breda girl in a summer heatwave. I actually lost a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana to heat-related stress at the same time. I was building up to a flock of 5 girls when the heat took away 2 of my best/prettiest girls. I got left w/ two older Silkies and a Cuckoo Breda pullet. I had ages staggered so that all my hens wouldn't get old at the same time but the summer torture ended my best-laid plans. Now I'm back to waiting for a Blue Breda pullet replacement and next year 2018 for another new pullet to try and keep 5 hens again. I may order another new pullet in 2019 to bring the number to 6 in case another unforeseen tragedy claims someone. I'm only zoned for 5 hens/no roos but I think having an extra hen will help as backup. Our girls are more pets than utility but having wonderful Breda's as gentle pets w/ terrific production is an added bonus!

I don't think I've ever seen a Chocolate Silkie yet, but you're correct about the black skin. The crest/beards would be a hard battle to get rid of too. Silkie body type is too small too. A Silkie is all fluff and no body where the Breda is mostly all body w/ smooth feathers.

 

[Sylvester017]

Our Cuckoo Breda pullet layed 8 pink eggs in 9 days! 2-oz to 2.25-oz! I was thinking of getting a Dominique but w/ this kind of egg production and size I think I'll stick w/ the Breda. Breda have an outgoing friendly non-combative temperament like Doms except Doms can go broody where Breda don't. Breda standard is to lay white eggs but I don't mind these pretty pink Cuckoo eggs one bit! Most Cuckoo breeds lay tinted or brown eggs anyway. I think American (Barred) Holland is supposed to lay white but heard many layed tinted shells and hard to get some lines to lay the preferred white shells.



As a laying pullet she has grown a very red face and wattles


As a pullet she had no wattles or red face


I've only had 3 Breda's total so far and have loved every one of them! Hopefully awaiting my next Blue Breda pullet! This breed is the one I've most often had in 6 years of chickeneering and have found my new favorite breed!

 

[boskelli1571]

Our Cuckoo Breda pullet layed 8 pink eggs in 9 days! 2-oz to 2.25-oz! I was thinking of getting a Dominique but w/ this kind of egg production and size I think I'll stick w/ the Breda. Breda have an outgoing friendly non-combative temperament like Doms except Doms can go broody where Breda don't. Breda standard is to lay white eggs but I don't mind these pretty pink Cuckoo eggs one bit! Most Cuckoo breeds lay tinted or brown eggs anyway. I think American (Barred) Holland is supposed to lay white but heard many layed tinted shells and hard to get some lines to lay the preferred white shells.



As a laying pullet she has grown a very red face and wattles


As a pullet she had no wattles or red face


I've only had 3 Breda's total so far and have loved every one of them! Hopefully awaiting my next Blue Breda pullet! This breed is the one I've most often had in 6 years of chickeneering and have found my new favorite breed!

Dominiques are lovely, docile little hens, but egg production is fair only, at least mine were. I have one left - Dede she's now 7 and not laying of course, but she follows me around the yard chirping at me. If they were better layers I would certainly get some more.

 

[Sylvester017]

Dominiques are lovely, docile little hens, but egg production is fair only, at least mine were. I have one left - Dede she's now 7 and not laying of course, but she follows me around the yard chirping at me. If they were better layers I would certainly get some more.

I had a Dom before and we absolutely adored her -- she was spunky, outgoing, chirpy, unafraid, people/kid-friendly and flock-friendly but lost her before POL. But I figured to get another again since Doms are lightweight, somewhat docile, visitor-friendly, and reported to lay around 4 eggs/weekly.

But my mind has changed significantly once we had Breda. Breda have all the temperament traits of Doms w/ the exception that Breda are so much more prolific at egg-laying. The only other pullet that nearly equaled our Breda layers was a White Leghorn but the Legs are too assertive around docile breeds like our Silkie, Breda, or Ameraucana.

At the time we had our Dom pullet I was entertaining the idea of building a colorful egg basket of brown, chocolate, white, blue, pink, and tinted eggs but once we got Breda in the yard, colored eggs was no longer a priority. I had a Marans pullet and got -- at best -- 2 to maybe 3 eggs/weekly and never darker than #3 or 4 on the egg chart. We had a White Leg pullet that layed 5 to 6 XL snowy white eggs/weekly but mostly 5/weekly. Our Buff Leg pullet layed smaller pink eggs 3 to 4x/weekly. The Marans and Legs were way too assertive for the docile breeds in the backyard. Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana was a lovely temperament and layed pretty XL pastel blue eggs but at about 3-5 eggs/weekly and only for about 4 to 5 months out of the year -- she'd stop laying for a couple months, start again, stop again -- no consistency -- she also hated our hot summers and panted all the time!

Yep, gotta say -- Breda are my new favorite breed! Now, I've got to really baby them w/ extra nutritious feed and supplements to hopefully get them through our brutal So Cal summers. The 3 Breda's I've had all seemed to have preference for dry feed over wet. They nibbled at wet feed or produce when the other hens ate but not a lot. Breda seem to be picky eaters. We've supplemented no-gmo/no-corn organic layer feed w/ Turkey grow/Gamebird higher protein feed and limit higher starch/fat no-gmo canned corn and sunflower seeds for cooler winter months.

 

[rooster 2011]

I had a Dom before and we absolutely adored her -- she was spunky, outgoing, chirpy, unafraid, people/kid-friendly and flock-friendly but lost her before POL.  But I figured to get another again since Doms are lightweight, somewhat docile, visitor-friendly, and reported to lay around 4 eggs/weekly.  

But my mind has changed significantly once we had Breda.  Breda have all the temperament traits of Doms w/ the exception that Breda are so much more prolific at egg-laying.  The only other pullet that nearly equaled our Breda layers was a White Leghorn but the Legs are too assertive around docile breeds like our Silkie, Breda, or Ameraucana.

At the time we had our Dom pullet I was entertaining the idea of building a colorful egg basket of brown, chocolate, white, blue, pink, and tinted eggs but once we got Breda in the yard, colored eggs was no longer a priority.  I had a Marans pullet and got -- at best -- 2 to maybe 3 eggs/weekly and never darker than #3 or 4 on the egg chart.  We had a White Leg pullet that layed 5 to 6 XL snowy white eggs/weekly but mostly 5/weekly.  Our Buff Leg pullet layed smaller pink eggs 3 to 4x/weekly.  The Marans and Legs were way too assertive for the docile breeds in the backyard.  Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana was a lovely temperament and layed pretty XL pastel blue eggs but at about 3-5 eggs/weekly and only for about 4 to 5 months out of the year -- she'd stop laying for a couple months, start again, stop again -- no consistency -- she also hated our hot summers and panted all the time!

Yep, gotta say -- Breda are my new favorite breed!  Now, I've got to really baby them w/ extra nutritious feed and supplements to hopefully get them through our brutal So Cal summers.  The 3 Breda's I've had all seemed to have preference for dry feed over wet.  They nibbled at wet feed or produce when the other hens ate but not a lot.  Breda seem to be picky eaters.  We've supplemented no-gmo/no-corn organic layer feed w/ Turkey grow/Gamebird higher protein feed and limit higher starch/fat no-gmo canned corn and sunflower seeds for cooler winter months.  

Yeah all my Breda like dry feed better too I actually separated three Breda as chicks from the rest and feed the big group organic and the smaller group regular lonestar brand chick starter and the ones I fed regular never became the size the bigger group was iv fed my Breda organic ever since

 

[Sylvester017]

Yeah all my Breda like dry feed better too I actually separated three Breda as chicks from the rest and feed the big group organic and the smaller group regular lonestar brand chick starter and the ones I fed regular never became the size the bigger group was iv fed my Breda organic ever since

Some organics report to be organics but may not be 100% organic. Still, better than any feed that's NOT labeled organic! I try to get as much of the poultry maintenance products and gardening supplies w/ the OMRI symbol on the packages too. If I'm eating chicken eggs I want to know they're as good as I can extract from my girls and since they forage in my garden I have to use pesticide/chemical-free compost and additives.