California - Northern

[Sylvester017]

Tell us about the BREDA breed? First time I I hear of it.

About a decade ago Greenfire Farms in FLA was an active importer of rare chicken breeds from around the world. It cost them roughly $10,000 per import w/restrictions plus USA quarantine time up to 6 months before birds would be released to Greenfire to start breeding the rare birds. USA customers paid $100 or more for each rare chick Greenfire sold -- to make up the money & time it cost them to import the rare breeds.
https://greenfirefarms.com/

Blue/B/ack/Splash (BBS) Breda at one time were imported by Greenfire and the breed caused excitement for a little while but low customer demand plus a low gene pool for breeding caused low hardiness in Breda. All 4 BBS Breda I obtained from 3 different private breeders were gorgeous but none lived past 2 years -- one juvenile died the same week it arrived. I loved the gorgeous Blue Breda and the hens I had were the sweetest prettiest bird we had in standard size chickens.

Later I ordered a Cuckoo pattern Breda and it was a hardier variety and lived much longer than the BBS variety.

Finally a Mottled Breda was briefly available but I learned they were skittish birds so never got any. As far as I know all Breda breeders have phased out Breda here. At least I haven't found any.

 

[MayBerg]

About a decade ago Greenfire Farms in FLA was an active importer of rare chicken breeds from around the world. It cost them roughly $10,000 per import w/restrictions plus USA quarantine time up to 6 months before birds would be released to Greenfire to start breeding the rare birds. USA customers paid $100 or more for each rare chick Greenfire sold -- to make up the money & time it cost them to import the rare breeds.
https://greenfirefarms.com/

Blue/B/ack/Splash (BBS) Breda at one time were imported by Greenfire and the breed caused excitement for a little while but low customer demand plus a low gene pool for breeding caused low hardiness in Breda. All 4 BBS Breda I obtained from 3 different private breeders were gorgeous but none lived past 2 years -- one juvenile died the same week it arrived. I loved the gorgeous Blue Breda and the hens I had were the sweetest prettiest bird we had in standard size chickens.
View attachment 3864060

Later I ordered a Cuckoo pattern Breda and it was a hardier variety and lived much longer than the BBS variety.
View attachment 3864049

Finally a Mottled Breda was briefly available but I learned they were skittish birds so never got any. As far as I know all Breda breeders have phased out Breda here. At least I haven't found any.

Ohhh too bad you didn't get a chance to hatch eggs from them.

 

[Sylvester017]

Ohhh too bad you didn't get a chance to hatch eggs from them.

It wouldnt have done any good to hatch since the gene pool was low & birds not hardy. Really sad cuz the BBS variety hens were great temperament.

"The American Dominique -- a Treatise for the Fancier" written by Mark Fields wrote that the original Pilgrim chickens were Dominiques.

Breda chickens were known as another early Pilgrim breed but there's such scant history & no illustrations that no one knows what those original Breda were. Today's Breda were perfected in the Netherlands.

 

[MayBerg]

It wouldnt have done any good to hatch since the gene pool was low & birds not hardy. Really sad cuz the BBS variety hens were great temperament.

"The American Dominique -- a Treatise for the Fancier" written by Mark Fields wrote that the original Pilgrim chickens were Dominiques.

Breda chickens were known as another early Pilgrim breed but there's such scant history & no illustrations that no one knows what those original Breda were. Today's Breda were perfected in the Netherlands.

From what I read, the Dominique came from the French Caribbean Islands. One day I will look into one.
So the Breda chicken is no longer around? You would think the breeders could focus on making them hardier.

 

[Sylvester017]

From what I read, the Dominique came from the French Caribbean Islands. One day I will look into one.
So the Breda chicken is no longer around? You would think the breeders could focus on making them hardier.

There is speculation on where Doms originated but for certain its on record they were the Pilgrims chicken used for feather bedding, eggs, meat. Dom feathers are softer than other chicken breeds and emit less odor. We compared our Leghorn feathers to Dom feathers and its true. Only our Silkie feathers are softer and odorless.

Without a customer base its too expensive to breed something that wont sell. Show fancier hobbyists might breed to get a chicken officially into the APA or ABA as an accepted breed, otherwise some rare breeds go extinct. In the 1970's a band of Dominique breeders saved it from extinction and expanded the gene pool. Cackle Hatchery enlisted Mark Fields back in 1982 to perfect the bantam Dominique and to this day sell his Dom bantam line.

However a lot of hatcheries have cross-bred the standard size Dominique to breed out their broodiness and lay more eggs. An original Dom hen should not exceed 5 lbs, have a rose comb, U-shape back, and have a V-shape pattern on feathers, have a broody tendency, and lay medium eggs. Hatcheries do not breed to show standards but we have obtained Dom chicks from Privett Hatchery (New Mexico) through our local feed store. The birds were not show quality but were great flockmates. The Doms were respectful and protective of our alpha Silkie and led in tandem to chase off feral cats that dared enter the yard! Talkative, outgoing, unafraid, people-friendly breed w/ calm temperaments as adults.

Barred Rocks are Dominiques that were cross-bred with Javas to make them heavier, less broody, w/ larger eggs. Personally I chose Dominiques for their more consistent good temperament and lighterweight (less feed to egg ratio). Plus I like rose, pea, or walnut-comb over straight comb birds.

Some of our backyard Doms -- pets

Our last remaining Dom who is in our all-Silkies flock today

 

[MayBerg]

There is speculation on where Doms originated but for certain its on record they were the Pilgrims chicken used for feather bedding, eggs, meat. Dom feathers are softer than other chicken breeds and emit less odor. We compared our Leghorn feathers to Dom feathers and its true. Only our Silkie feathers are softer and odorless.

Without a customer base its too expensive to breed something that wont sell. Show fancier hobbyists might breed to get a chicken officially into the APA or ABA as an accepted breed, otherwise some rare breeds go extinct. In the 1970's a band of Dominique breeders saved it from extinction and expanded the gene pool. Cackle Hatchery enlisted Mark Fields back in 1982 to perfect the bantam Dominique and to this day sell his Dom bantam line.

However a lot of hatcheries have cross-bred the standard size Dominique to breed out their broodiness and lay more eggs. An original Dom hen should not exceed 5 lbs, have a rose comb, U-shape back, and have a V-shape pattern on feathers, have a broody tendency, and lay medium eggs. Hatcheries do not breed to show standards but we have obtained Dom chicks from Privett Hatchery (New Mexico) through our local feed store. The birds were not show quality but were great flockmates. The Doms were respectful and protective of our alpha Silkie and led in tandem to chase off feral cats that dared enter the yard! Talkative, outgoing, unafraid, people-friendly breed w/ calm temperaments as adults.

Barred Rocks are Dominiques that were cross-bred with Javas to make them heavier, less broody, w/ larger eggs. Personally I chose Dominiques for their more consistent good temperament and lighterweight (less feed to egg ratio). Plus I like rose, pea, or walnut-comb over straight comb birds.

Some of our backyard Doms -- pets
View attachment 3864315
View attachment 3864321
View attachment 3864327
View attachment 3864347

Our last remaining Dom who is in our all-Silkies

Hummm, so is the Dominique almost going extinct? There's no Dominique breeder in Northern California. At least not where I am. I heard of Java going extinct too.

Where my family is from, one of the colorful indigenous chicken breed is almost extinct because it produces so few eggs and is a smaller bird like 5lb adult rooster that nobody really care to own them in their flocks. It is beautiful shiny bird, more like a smaller welsummer/maran type rooster Unfortunately, it doesn't have a name so tracking it has been very hard. This is the first thing I looked into once I acquired chicken. Was thinking about hatching eggs and see if it will grow different here with the more nutritive feed available in the US. I put the word out, so far nothing.

 

[Sylvester017]

Dominiques almost went endangered until brought back in the 1970's. Though not as large as Barred Rocks they are still offered at hatcheries in the USA. Doms are one of my more favorite medium size breeds.

A lot of people want bigger heavier birds because they think the eggs are bigger. What they don't realize is that bigger birds may or may not lay big eggs and maybe only a couple per week plus they have big appetites for few egg production. Smaller birds eat less and give smaller but more eggs per week. And going broody is what gives a hen's body rest from egg-laying so her body can replenish nutrients. That's why bantam & smaller breeds have longer lifespans -- they usually are the broody type breeds and usually make the best mommas to raise chicks.

Hybrid egg layers are bred to lay 6 to 7 big eggs per week but the poor birds are exhausted before they are 5 years old or die younger from reproductive issues like ovarian tumors or cancer.

Your country's smaller landrace chicken sounds great. The landrace open range or wild chickens (like in Hawaiian islands) are usually smaller because they forage for their food and no one is fattening them up with over-processed feed. The landrace chickens get domesticated in foreign countries but they also tend to be a bit more flighty and wild in temperament almost like game fowl.

Owners have to decide what breed eventually works best for their space and environment. For us we wanted pets and eggs was just a side bonus. Our chickens live forever -- we don't eat them. The old ones are good for garden poop fertilizer, eating spiders and insects, quieter than dogs, sleep peaceful thru the night, and teach younger birds where to hide, etc.

Lot of fun talking with you

 

[ronott1]

Hi All!

Great discussion about different breeds!

Here in Woodland, I try to keep heat hearty breeds.

I see another heat wave coming up for Us. I hope the chickens do well!

 

[MayBerg]

Hi All!

Great discussion about different breeds!

Here in Woodland, I try to keep heat hearty breeds.

I see another heat wave coming up for Us. I hope the chickens do well!

Woodland California?

 

[MayBerg]

Dominiques almost went endangered until brought back in the 1970's. Though not as large as Barred Rocks they are still offered at hatcheries in the USA. Doms are one of my more favorite medium size breeds.

A lot of people want bigger heavier birds because they think the eggs are bigger. What they don't realize is that bigger birds may or may not lay big eggs and maybe only a couple per week plus they have big appetites for few egg production. Smaller birds eat less and give smaller but more eggs per week. And going broody is what gives a hen's body rest from egg-laying so her body can replenish nutrients. That's why bantam & smaller breeds have longer lifespans -- they usually are the broody type breeds and usually make the best mommas to raise chicks.

Hybrid egg layers are bred to lay 6 to 7 big eggs per week but the poor birds are exhausted before they are 5 years old or die younger from reproductive issues like ovarian tumors or cancer.

Your country's smaller landrace chicken sounds great. The landrace open range or wild chickens (like in Hawaiian islands) are usually smaller because they forage for their food and no one is fattening them up with over-processed feed. The landrace chickens get domesticated in foreign countries but they also tend to be a bit more flighty and wild in temperament almost like game fowl.

Owners have to decide what breed eventually works best for their space and environment. For us we wanted pets and eggs was just a side bonus. Our chickens live forever -- we don't eat them. The old ones are good for garden poop fertilizer, eating spiders and insects, quieter than dogs, sleep peaceful thru the night, and teach younger birds where to hide, etc.

Lot of fun talking with you

I love this convo. I am learning so much from you and everybody. I wish I went into chicken earlier although I always had huge backyard. But I think being more settled now and done with so many projects now I can sit and focus on what brings me joy instead of what I HAVE TO DO.

Are you planning on getting more chickens? If so, what breed? For me, I want to concentrate on getting to know those but my mom thinks I need chicken with bright colors . She doesn't care about too much eggs really.

But I tell you what!! Chicken Math is real. I want all breeds but the state of California will not let me use ALL the empty land behind my house