Breda Fowl thread

[luckyplucky]

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!

Your birds are lovely! Technically we're not zoned to have as many as we do, but we are bordering an ag-friendly area and some of our neighbors have chickens too, so we're able to fly a little under the radar.

But, we do have space, and if we had to we could separate it further, creating another area. Hopefully it won't come to that. Or we could expand the bantam area and put the really gentle ones in with them instead. Or, by the time we're ready for more we'll be leaning towards committing to just a couple breeds and hatching those as well from that point on (and if so maybe Bredas will be it, who knows?) I go back and forth between that and wanting to try all new breeds, all the time, haha.

 

[RFR of CA]

The ones with the dots on their heads will always be full mottled in Breda (first chick). The next chick down(split) will grow to be all black or mostly black with some white feathers grown...

 

[RFR of CA]

These are full mottled.....Have raised a few hundred now. The dots on the head as new chicks always means full mottled. The other one you posted will be a split. They either go all black or black with some white ticking. See my post for pics or PM me pics and I will id them for you

 

[maryellen21]

27 days old now

 

[Sylvester017]

Your birds are lovely! Technically we're not zoned to have as many as we do, but we are bordering an ag-friendly area and some of our neighbors have chickens too, so we're able to fly a little under the radar.

But, we do have space, and if we had to we could separate it further, creating another area. Hopefully it won't come to that. Or we could expand the bantam area and put the really gentle ones in with them instead. Or, by the time we're ready for more we'll be leaning towards committing to just a couple breeds and hatching those as well from that point on (and if so maybe Bredas will be it, who knows?) I go back and forth between that and wanting to try all new breeds, all the time, haha.

Zoned or not zoned doesn't seem to matter with chickens. Even in a zoned area, if there are neighbor complaints the city has to investigate and could disband a backyard flock even if zoned. Having good neighbors seems to be more of a key to keeping chickens than zoning ordinances. My friend had a cronic complaining neighbor that City Hall called the neighbor a "nuisance" caller who called on ALL her neighbors multiple times. But because the city has to follow-up even the nuisance callers, my friend's flock was disbanded on measurement technicality. The coop area wasn't far enough from any dwellings and there was no yard space to make modifications. The nuisance caller got her way with yet another complaint.

I have been fortunate to have tolerant neighbors, they're nosey, but tolerant. The house next door to us used to be a rental but has been vacant the past 15 years -- the owner of the property loved our chickens and wanted me to pasture them in his vacant backyard if we wanted to but I never did. He passed away recently and property is in probate. Hope whoever buys the property will not complain about our little backyard flock because egg songs can get really loud sometimes!

I wanted different breeds at first to have a colorful egg basket. But sadly, I found out different colored layer breeds aren't all necessarily compatible. But in your case, if you are trying to narrow down your choice to a couple favourite breeds then sampling all the various breeds will give you an idea of which ones you really love. My DH loves his Silkies and I wanted a good egg layer or two. In order to keep his Silkies, I had to find compatible large fowl layers to mingle with the Silkies. Pure Ameraucanas or even Easter Eggers are gentle flockmates with Silkies but our humid SoCal summers took a toll on our sweet docile Ameraucana and we lost her to heat-related issues. I won't get any more large under-downed/ heavily feathered standard fowl again -- they don't do well in our desert-like temperatures. When we chanced on getting a Blue Breda to try, we found the cockerel incredibly friendly and outgoing and same with the Blue pullet. We had to re-home the cockerel with a friend and they have made him an indoor-outdoor housepet he is so sweet. We lost our adorable Blue hen but now have a Cuckoo pullet and just as sweet as the other two Breda we had. The egg-laying output is what amazed us. Some say Breda are average okay layers but both my Blue and my Cuckoo have been dynamo layers. Maybe it's the diet I give them or our climate or who knows? But mine have been excellent layers and as pullets/first-year layers have rarely missed a day laying! I love a lot of different breeds for different reasons but the Breda comes closest to what we needed for our backyard flock -- gentle, non-combative, good flockmate to others, unique/ unusual looks, many colors to choose from, and surprisingly good layers. My Cuckoo has even gone broody (which Breda hens aren't normally known to do).

Cuckoo pullet with her abundant leg/toe feathers


Photo-bomb -- Cuckoo pullet is such a goof


Breda vulture hocks are to DIE for! Aren't they really something? The triangle tassle (no comb) is cute on top of the head.


Sweet gentle Breda are easy to hand-tame and can be downright pesty!


This Blue hen loved to fly to my shoulder to sit but it was awkward to try and get my own pic with her on my shoulder!


Blue Breda was my computer bench companion.


The Blue Breda was a very industrious forager -- here she is straddling a container pot looking for weed sprouts.



I couldn't get enough of her gorgeous lace-edged blue feathers!


This is the Blue Breda cockerel shipped to us in error -- curious, outgoing, unafraid, friendliest breed I've ever had. He loved the camera lens reflection of himself!


This is the Breda boy's new home with friends -- he comes indoors on his own and takes over the dog's bed at night!

 

[Sylvester017]

Your waterfall hackles on the roos are so gorgeous! I like the even distribution of White with Black on roos that for some reason isn't coming out in the hens. Other than mostly black hens with a few white spots, or hens with nearly solid white tails, have you come across any hens with a more 50/50 distribution of black and white -- sort of like an Exchequer or Gournay hen? Or maybe the way the Breda hen mottling is coming out is just Breda's unique gene?

These are full mottled.....Have raised a few hundred now. The dots on the head as new chicks always means full mottled. The other one you posted will be a split. They either go all black or black with some white ticking. See my post for pics or PM me pics and I will id them for you

Lovely, lovely, lovely! The most beautiful breed on the planet! The two pullets I got from you (a Blue and a Cuckoo) have been dynamo layers! Our newest Cuckoo has rarely missed a day laying 2 to 2.25-oz eggs! She even wants to go broody sitting on each daily egg but we have to distract her from the nest to collect her daily egg. We have no roo so it's moot having her set a clutch. She used to complain when a Silkie would steal her egg so now she sits on her own daily egg to keep them away!

Strange nest mates! The Cuckoo will not give up her egg to a thieving Silkie!

 

[Sylvester017]

27 days old now

I want to have fun trying to guess the sexes! The more white chick has a smaller and light pink comb so I'll stab a guess at female. The more black has a larger and seems like darker shade of pink so I'll guess male. Hey! I've got a 50/50 chance of being right! Have you had any suspicions on sexing? These guys always keep you guessing, don't they?

 

[maryellen21]

The 4 breda chicks together

 

[Sylvester017]

The 4 breda chicks together

The 3rd one from L to R still looks roo-ish to me -- look at that shnoz on it. The one on the R I'll still go with girl. Fun to guess even if I'm wrong

 

[maryellen21]

Another shot