Ok, where do I begin?
If black or white Cubas are the goal, just buy some whites from Sandhill. They are not perfect, but are something to start with, and you can improve them if you try. My friend Cubalaya on here has some and has made great progress in a few years.
Sometimes, especially in dominant white birds, they are covering up black. It's sometimes possible to get "blacks" out of white crosses, not proper blacks, but something to start with. You can use BB Red as part of a white/black project, but you will have your work cut out, it will take 3-4 generations to fix the color again if you cross to a BB Red.
Recessive white actually is the most complete white, it "should" cover all other colors, no leakage. In the textbooks, anyway-theories don't always work with orientals. Dominant white however can leak other colors thru. You can't make recessive white into dominant white or vice versa, they are different genes entirely. White "sports" typically are recessive white.
As for the hatcheries-If you buy enough birds, you can get some decent ones. A lot will be junk, but, you can surely get some nice ones and go from there. Probably not show material, but, something to start with. I'd rather see people with hatchery Cubalayas any day than with no Cubalayas. In my opinion, the Ideal birds are mostly just too small. The Sandhill birds seem larger, but show more off types. Those are generalizations though.
You'd save a lot of time by just getting birds from a breeder, of course. The breeder has already done the culling for you. I do have whites but I'm not sure I'll have any for sale or not at this point. I also have blacks now as well, but they are still young.
As for making these colors by outcrossing-whatever you cross to is going to mess up the Cubalaya for 3-6 generations. Which is why it's best to use Shamo, Thai or Asil as these will get you back to good type faster. You could cross them with silkies for all I care, but, you would have a long hard haul ahead to fix all the crap that would come with it. White earlobes is definetly to be avoided above all else, it's practically impossible to get rid of.
If black or white Cubas are the goal, just buy some whites from Sandhill. They are not perfect, but are something to start with, and you can improve them if you try. My friend Cubalaya on here has some and has made great progress in a few years.
Sometimes, especially in dominant white birds, they are covering up black. It's sometimes possible to get "blacks" out of white crosses, not proper blacks, but something to start with. You can use BB Red as part of a white/black project, but you will have your work cut out, it will take 3-4 generations to fix the color again if you cross to a BB Red.
Recessive white actually is the most complete white, it "should" cover all other colors, no leakage. In the textbooks, anyway-theories don't always work with orientals. Dominant white however can leak other colors thru. You can't make recessive white into dominant white or vice versa, they are different genes entirely. White "sports" typically are recessive white.
As for the hatcheries-If you buy enough birds, you can get some decent ones. A lot will be junk, but, you can surely get some nice ones and go from there. Probably not show material, but, something to start with. I'd rather see people with hatchery Cubalayas any day than with no Cubalayas. In my opinion, the Ideal birds are mostly just too small. The Sandhill birds seem larger, but show more off types. Those are generalizations though.
You'd save a lot of time by just getting birds from a breeder, of course. The breeder has already done the culling for you. I do have whites but I'm not sure I'll have any for sale or not at this point. I also have blacks now as well, but they are still young.
As for making these colors by outcrossing-whatever you cross to is going to mess up the Cubalaya for 3-6 generations. Which is why it's best to use Shamo, Thai or Asil as these will get you back to good type faster. You could cross them with silkies for all I care, but, you would have a long hard haul ahead to fix all the crap that would come with it. White earlobes is definetly to be avoided above all else, it's practically impossible to get rid of.
