Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[gallorojo]

What breeds would be a good choice for grading the Cubalaya?

What are you hoping to accomplish? What do you have access to that is of high quality? These are important starting questions. Where did your original stock come from? How long have you had them? How many are you hatching a season?

 

[gallorojo]

Perhaps another way to look at this is goals...
Say you have a young Cubalaya cockerel and an old Cock, both of high quality, but no females. You could cross the old male to anything else really, and keep back crossing to him until he loses fertility or dies, and then use your younger male . Eventually you will have lots of effectively "pure" Cubas even though you only had males to start with. In my mind this is grading in the common agricultural sense. Essentially you are converting one breed to another over time.

Many Cubalaya breeders have attempted over the years to change certain traits like size, color, etc., via grading. That's a somewhat different endeavor and the choice of breed to use is very important and also contentious. Opinions will vary.

 

[Pasturedpeeps]

It sounds like this is a common approach. Is this why there are subtle difference traits in lines among a breed? I was under the impression that grading was frowned upon. For instance the Garfield Farm in Illinois did genetic testing on their Java’s to prove they are a genetically unique breed. I’m not taking sides I’m just curious.

 

[cubalaya]

What breeds would be a good choice for grading the Cubalaya?

asils thai shamo

 

[gallorojo]

It sounds like this is a common approach. Is this why there are subtle difference traits in lines among a breed? I  was under the impression that grading was frowned upon. For instance the Garfield Farm in Illinois did genetic testing on their Java’s to prove they are a genetically unique breed. I’m not taking sides I’m just curious.  

These are good, well informed questions. I'm not sure there is a simple, concise answer, but I will share my thoughts.
Differences between breeders lines will happen regardless of whether foreign blood is introduced. Many reasons for this, foreign blood can be a factor at times, but I'd suggest more often than not the differences lie more in personal, selective interpretation of the Standard, and personal biases in regards to breeding choices .
Regarding Javas, I would suggest this is not the best comparison. The Java is one of the old foundation breeds, the Cubalaya in comparison is a fairly modern composite breed. We have rather a good idea of what went into the Cubalaya, the Javas origin is lost in the mists of time. Javas were at one time common practical farm fowl in general use, kept and bred by many people in large numbers, and hence the genetic base was large. Cubalayas have never been bred in the United States in large numbers, were essentially always maintained as Exhibition fowl, and descended from relatively few imports. In my experience the breeds and breeders that boast of closed flocks for decades, no new blood for decades, primarily are breeders of the American Class fowl that were bred in huge numbers historically , that were heavily selected to perform as practical livestock. These breeds seem to have what it takes to function reasonably well without new blood for long periods of time. Many if not all of the rarer breeds and varieties have had fairly frequent infusions of outside blood out of necessity. Generally when seeking a breed to cross to, the least number of problems to breed out, the better. You want something quite similar or as similar as practical.

 

[gallorojo]

This article is extremely informative regarding creating ones own line or strain, revitalizing a neglected breed or variety, and using out crosses of both strain and breed towards improvement. I would highly recommend it as one of the best.

http://www.nsppa.ca/documents/buff.pdf

 

[Pasturedpeeps]

Great article! Thank you for sharing and the advice. I used the Java example because it was the first to come to mind.
Unrelated, now that the USA has normalized relations with Cuba could we expect to see Cubalaya imports?

 

[gallorojo]

There are no longer any " Cuban" Cubalayas left of any consequence. Recently some German eggs were sent to Cuba to help restore the breed there. The Cubalayas were created and bred by the wealthy class as essentially an Exhibition bird. Neither the breed nor their wealthy patrons made it through communism unscathed. The best birds in my opinion are currently in Germany. I have seen and handled them personally and they are exceptional.

 

[cubalaya]

pure or grade?

 

[gallorojo]

Both birds look very good, Cubalaya. Nice to see the progress you have made.