Croad Langshan?

[tacopaco]

A picture from croadlangshan.org.uk from their club.

 

[tacopaco]

I found their club site while looking into it and it says those are the colors their birds give over there.

 

[rebrascora]

I appreciate that most people posting on this thread are Croad Langshan enthusiasts but sadly my experience of them is very negative.

My neighbour bought 4 black ones last year after reading a magazine article promoting them. He bought them from a local breeder. He had previously had a mixed flock of hybrids and still has one of his original black sex links, Molly, who is now 8 years old and still popping out the odd egg.
The Croads are terrified of people, hardly lay any eggs and go broody repetitively. He was only interested in egg production, so they were perhaps not the best breed to buy, but he has averaged less than 10 eggs a week total, from 7 hens(4 Croads, 2 Light Sussex and the elderly black star, Molly) throughout this summer and as little as only 1 a couple of weeks. He is a real soft touch and loved his previous hens and would happily keep them into retirement but he is desperately disillusioned with his Croad Langshans to the point that he is actually considering culling them, something I never would have expected of him. He got them at 15 weeks, paid £15 each for them, and it took them over 3 more months to come into lay. In my opinion they are really ugly looking and have nothing going for them at all.
I even tried letting them brood some of my hens fertile eggs since they were so determined to set, but they are such big clumsy birds, they broke some and rolled others out of the nest and going back to the wrong nest after they had been out for a broody break, even though the other nest was empty! Partly, this was because they insisted on co brooding.
My verdict is that they are totally useless birds and I wonder if perhaps this is the reason why they are rare.
My neighbour feels like he was conned by the magazine article. He is really sad that they are not friendly (they will not come near regardless of what is on offer) as his previous sex links were pets and he enjoys having social interaction with his hens. The light sussex he got from the same breeder are not much better but at least one of them will come and look if you hand feed Molly, rather than the Croads which cower in the corner when you go into the run..... I should say that they have a good size run and a big hen house and get to free range occasionally and Molly isn't a dominant hen, so there is no real bullying going on except occasionally one of the Croads will have a go at a sussex. His previous flock were a very happy lot. It's so sad to see these ungrateful hens taking advantage of his generous hospitality and accommodation and giving nothing back.

 

[tacopaco]

I would like to say not all are shy or scared of people like you say. The black pullet in my profile picture is a Croad pullet a few months ago and I have a blue cockeral now who is super friendly and doesn't mind being held or eating out of my hand. I don't know about their laying ability or fertility rate since the pullet isn't laying yet.

 

[tacopaco]

I don't doubt they had trouble breaking eggs though since they are getting pretty big :/ I hope my pullet isn't super clumsy or super broody when time comes

 

[Bean789]

So, are you saying that just because someone breeds for egg color, they can't possibly care about other traits in the breed? And that it is impossible for eggs to be this color just because you haven't seen them? No, they aren't that quite that bright. For some reason after I uploaded the picture, it is showing up brighter. I have seen eggs simular to this color. I have seen pink. I have seen aqua. Rare, yes. They were all from Easter Eggers but it is possible. I am not expecting eggs from the chickens I hatch to be exactly like this. But I like the different colors. Why does it matter if someone likes egg color instead of feathered feet? Or size over auto sexing? Why do you think one trait is more important than another if it is not harming the chicken? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me, most important is the health and happiness of my chickens.

I just read this rebuttal to the person it was intended for. You go girl!

I would love to have some 'mauve' or 'plum' colored eggs. A local chicken keeper in my neighborhood told me he had yellow eggs and others have adamantly told me that this was "hawgwash, no such thing!". Well, I just picked up some eggs from him for hatching, just regular ole barnyard mix for me to try and hatch with my new incubator. Lo and behold, there are 2 that look 'yellow' kinda like between a tan and green (?) with tiny brown flecks/specks all over it. Looks 'yellow' to me! Now, if only I knew how to keep that color going?!?! His roos are barnyard mixes and who knows what genes they carry. Love the egg colors and my chickens are awesome!

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

My son is a 4Her and is looking to breed Black Croad Langshans for show and to raise awareness of the breed. I have no clue of where to find them. Can someone put me on track to finding a good breeder?

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

My son actually loves the bird and the plum eggs too. He said that he would even take hatching eggs on for another 4H project. If you can please help.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

Nevermind. We are good. I met someone that is willing to help us.

 

[twsjr01]

I am looking for a show quality cross lngshan Roo. Does anyone have any sugestions