Breda Fowl thread

[rooster 2011]

If I look at tail feathers today, all 4 breda chicks have downward shaped tails. 2 are bigger then the other 2, but I have a feeling all 4 are roos..that would be my luck. Thank goodness I have 4 hens out in the coop. Now once these chicks get old enough to definitely tell I'll keep maybe 2 roos and sell the other two if they are roos. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I have at least 1 female in the bunch.

No the chicks I ordered from Dutch connection won't get shipped till the first week of next month they hatch the end of this month not many more days I'm so excited I just hope my bad luck with the post office don't continue

 

[maryellen21]

I hope you get beautiful chicks!!shouldn't the post office handle chicks better then eggs?.

 

[Sylvester017]

No the chicks I ordered from Dutch connection won't get shipped till the first week of next month they hatch the end of this month not many more days I'm so excited I just hope my bad luck with the post office don't continue

Have Dutch Connection scrawl in handwriting "CALL CUSTOMER FOR PICKUP" and your telephone number in large letters handwritten on the shipping box. Believe me it helps because even the LIVE BIRDS logo gets covered up with machine printed labels slapped all over the outside of the shipping box but the handwriting (on BOTH sides of the box) catches the postal employees attention because the handwriting is hard to ignore. Try it -- since I've been asking breeders to do this I get my birds much faster!

Postal employees seem to ignore the standard slapped-on shipping labels but hard to ignore large handwritten notes on the box. (I blocked my phone number except for the area code but you get the idea).

 

[Sylvester017]

Had another little funny from the Cuckoo Breda. I have a yard full of dirt but she decides to take a dust bath in my little narrow planter only 4 inches wide!

 

[luckyplucky]

Subscribing. Very interested in this breed, does anyone know of any breeders near Sacramento, CA? And if not, recommendations for where to order hatching eggs/chicks from? Haven't seen Bredas locally or any of the sites I've been on. No rush, we're full up on chickens at the moment but I am planning the next additions, lol...

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Subscribing. Very interested in this breed, does anyone know of any breeders near Sacramento, CA? And if not, recommendations for where to order hatching eggs/chicks from? Haven't seen Bredas locally or any of the sites I've been on. No rush, we're full up on chickens at the moment but I am planning the next additions, lol...

Rare Feathers Ranch is located in Harold CA. I hope to get a male from her in the future.

You can find her on Facebook and she also has an account here on BYC.

 

[Sylvester017]

Subscribing. Very interested in this breed, does anyone know of any breeders near Sacramento, CA? And if not, recommendations for where to order hatching eggs/chicks from? Haven't seen Bredas locally or any of the sites I've been on. No rush, we're full up on chickens at the moment but I am planning the next additions, lol...

Rare Feathers Ranch is located in Harold CA. I hope to get a male from her in the future.

You can find her on Facebook and she also has an account here on BYC.

I got two Breda's from RFR of CA in Herald, CA ( I live in SoCal ) and they shipped the birds to me. They are also NPIP certified. At the moment RFR of CA has Mottled Breda only. Beautiful, docile, gentle, non-combative breed and I personally would not put them in a flock of assertive type dual-purpose/layer breeds that tend to act like divas. Breda are a mind-their-own business kind of flockmate and tend not to be pushy. I chose Breda because of their gentleness toward my 2-lb Silkie hens and timid Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. But I would hesitate to mix Breda with assertive type breeds like Leghorns, RIRs, BRs, Wyans, Marans, etc. Breda hens are about 4.5 to 5 lbs while dual purpose are 6-lbs or heavier and might tend to dominate a docile temperament like Breda. Our Breda have been laying dynamos rarely missing a day of laying. Nice medium eggs from Blue and large to XL from the Cuckoo.

Cuckoo Breda sharing nestbox with Partridge Silkie.



Silkies are very comfortable with Breda fowl



Goofy Cuckoo Breda photo-bombing my Silkie pic


Blue Breda with Silkies making themselves welcome at the back door

 

[maryellen21]

My bredas live with ameracaunas, rir, wyandotte, barnevelder, welsummer, australorp, polish, silkie mixes, easter eggers. As Sylvester017 stated, they are very docile and non combative, so you can't put them with aggressive chickens (if your hens are easy going it doesn't matter the breed as chickens all have different personalities, so you know your birds best as far as what not to mix ).

They do has very a pecking order like all chickens, but it's not as nasty as most,so keeping them with docile birds is best, they won't fight back and will just run and hide).
They are pretty quiet, mine rarely make any noise at all even when laying an egg.

 

[luckyplucky]

Thanks for the info! Our original flock of 8 consists of Australorps, Orpingtons, and Welsummers. We recently integrated our 7.5 week old chicks (consisting of an Australorp, a Swedish Flower Hen, a Blue Andalusian (well, splash), a Golden Cuckoo Marans, a Barred Rock, 2 New Hampshire Reds, and 3 Easter Eggers) with virtually no issues. One Welsummer can be a bit pecky with the younger ones in regards to food, but she's at the bottom of the pecking order with her age group and isn't aggressive (I suspect she is the one we had to temporarily put in chicken jail when they were wee chicks though!). But other than that, everyone seems to coexist peacefully in the run and free-ranging in our yard. We also have a flock of 5 silkies and sizzles (in a separate run, with "through-the-hardware cloth" interaction and the occasional mingling) as well as 2 cochin bantams that are still indoors in a brooder for a few more weeks. So far none of our birds have been particularly aggressive, and the ones at the top have been "ruling with grace," lol. So I am hopeful that when it comes time to add these beautiful Bredas to our bird family that we'll be able to provide a safe space for them! We're not ready to add more just yet, but I am really glad I am starting the search early! Everyone is so helpful.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks for the info! Our original flock of 8 consists of Australorps, Orpingtons, and Welsummers. We recently integrated our 7.5 week old chicks (consisting of an Australorp, a Swedish Flower Hen, a Blue Andalusian (well, splash), a Golden Cuckoo Marans, a Barred Rock, 2 New Hampshire Reds, and 3 Easter Eggers) with virtually no issues. One Welsummer can be a bit pecky with the younger ones in regards to food, but she's at the bottom of the pecking order with her age group and isn't aggressive (I suspect she is the one we had to temporarily put in chicken jail when they were wee chicks though!). But other than that, everyone seems to coexist peacefully in the run and free-ranging in our yard. We also have a flock of 5 silkies and sizzles (in a separate run, with "through-the-hardware cloth" interaction and the occasional mingling) as well as 2 cochin bantams that are still indoors in a brooder for a few more weeks. So far none of our birds have been particularly aggressive, and the ones at the top have been "ruling with grace," lol. So I am hopeful that when it comes time to add these beautiful Bredas to our bird family that we'll be able to provide a safe space for them! We're not ready to add more just yet, but I am really glad I am starting the search early! Everyone is so helpful.

We had a lovely White Leghorn that was a kind alpha in our little backyard flock. I say "little backyard" because we are in a city neighborhood with not a huge space. We are zoned for only 5 hens/ no roos so we have to be absolutely certain they are breeds that get along. I've made mistakes along the way adding large fowl to our two original Silkie bantams. The White Leghorn was a nice alpha until she turned 3 yrs old and then she went bonkers on her flockmates. The Cuckoo Marans chewed the feathers off the Silkies on the roost before we realized the poor little things were being eaten alive and NOT molting! We had to re-home the White Leghorn, Cuckoo Marans, and Buff Leghorns because they were just too aggressive toward the Silkies and intimidated our one timid Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. We were hoping a Dominique would be a gentle addition but we lost her before POL. I started looking for another Dominique or some gentle large fowl to mix with the Silkies and Ameraucana and Breda fit the bill. She was not only a docile gentle breed but she turned out a great egg layer too. I've had 3 Bredas up to now (one cockerel, and two pullets) and they are non-combative, not pushy, and good around small children. Our White Leghorn was a nice pullet but as assertive layer or dual purpose hens mature they become bold to downright nasty to any changes made or added to the flock. Young dual purpose pullets get along with all breeds growing up but it's when they start to mature at 18 months to 3 years they take on a different demeanor and can really get nasty. Whereas the docile breeds of chickens and bantams pretty much stay nice as older hens. Molting or broodiness is the only time docile breeds get reclusive or grouchy but still aren't hurtful or combative. Wish I had the space or zoning like your nice group of chickens. There are so many breeds I adore but have to limit my little yard to a few gentle birds.

The gentle bug patrol coming out to "help" with the yardwork!