Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[cubakid]

Cubalayas are wheaten based(what you call the tan color) and also come in black, blue, white, an many other colors. There are no different types, but there are some variations in color.

 

[cubakid]

Vidal, turns out your only two hours away from me. I have birds if you are interested, most are about 16 months old and were bred from this past spring. I have just about every color, an have many BBReds for sale. I'll have to get back to you on prices.
Zach

 

[Redtractorranch]

Thank you all for your opinions of my birds. I guess I didn't get quite as good of a start as I had hoped. I could tell that the heads were wrong and a couple lacked nice tail lobes, but was hoping that I had something worth working with. I also didn't know how much they changed as they matured. Looks like I can safely cull pretty much everyone. I will keep the spangled pullet and darker cockerel just to get a feel for the breed as it grows out and see if cubalayas are the breed I want to settle on.

A little background on me. I have raised bantam cochins off and on since the 80s and primarily raised them until I got suckered into raising Marans for a while to help a friend who was trying to get cuckoo recognized (big mistake on my part...I hated everything about those birds) Cochins were great when I lived on a 1 acre ranchette near town, but I have recently purchased 72 acres in the hills. Terrain and predators will make cochins a poor choice. I also always hated culling 30-40 cochins and ending up with virtually no meat.

I did a lot of research and acquired multiple different breeds that I thought might fit with my new land and my desire to show, eat and have something pretty to enjoy. Over the course of the year or two I will continue culling until I reach one breed that I like. If the stock I have at that point is subpar, I will buy a couple of quality pair of that breed.

The friendliness and "in your face" personality of the Cubes is hard to beat. If they are as broody, hardy and tasty as you guys say, they are definitely my front runner.

Thanks again for your comments. I will continue to follow this thread and the one on UFF.

 

[cubalaya]

sounds like a good plan but I would keep 2 hens, a trio to play with. I think the cubalaya breed will work well with what you need in a chicken. i had marans also for a short minute. they didn't work for me. the cubalaya being my favorite breed and aseel next favorite, the black australorp would have to be number 3. just good, all around chickens

 

[Redtractorranch]

I may actually keep 4-5 hens, if for no other reason than to be broodies for me and I really like their personalities. I have always used the cochins or some mongrel silkies for broodies but with those feathered feet I think they wouldn't do so well in the hills.

I ordered 100 assorted chicks from Urch over the spring to give me a feel for a number of breeds I was interested in side by side. It is amazing how fast you can like or dislike a breed. The cubes caught my attention as soon as I was putting them in the brooder (they were friendly and full of spunk), the Lakenvelders went into the "no" column by 6 weeks (unthrifty and flightly as anything). Right now my favorite breeds are the Cubalayas and the La Fleche. Hubbie likes the Phoenix and the Houdan...neither of which I think would be very suited to our new place, but oh well.

I don't know anything about the Asil other than the books say they are game. I am trying to avoid anything that is game or looks like it might be game. My county has enacted an anti-cock fighting law that limits everyone to 4 roosters or less without paying to get a "rooster license" of around $200/yr and subjecting the farm to regular government inspections. Since the person doing the inspection is probably going to be from the city and not know anything about chickens or exhibition, I would imangine anyone having birds appearing like they could be used in the pit could be in for a hard time. I would think it would be much harder for them to say that I was fighting Australorps or any of the "fluffy" chickens, or am I just being paranoid?

 

[cubalaya]

asils are an ancient breed that deserves preservation. this governments laws are very recent and easily overturned

 

[cubalaya]

but not to get off subject, here is a bb red cubalaya stag that I like;

 

[cubalaya]

and this is a cubalaya grade pullet 1/4 asil'

 

[troyer]

6 week old pullet and cockerel.

 

[Redtractorranch]

Can someone talk to me about the white in Troyer's photo. I have a couple of 8 week olds that have that much white. I assumed it was undesirable and put them in the cull pen. Should I remove them and put them back in the grow out pen to see how they finish developing?