Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[gallorojo]

They are blue golden duckwings. I don't think anything was mixed in anytime recently to get those colors. I would just say it's just the results of many generations of hatchery breeding, and/or you just got unlucky. Although Ideal says they have blue reds, what they actually have is a pen of mixed all colors of "duckwing' plus blue in all versions, so you could get Blue Reds, BB reds, Splash pyles, Blue goldens, blue silvers, golden duckwing, silver duckwing, etc.. They are not great, but, I have seen a lot worse. If you have good Zook birds, then, no, I would not breed them. Just let them be yard art.

 

[saladin]

What was the weight on those Ideal cockerels?

 

[troyer]

On my cubalayas from Ideal the cock at 2 years old was barely 3 pounds and the hen at 2 years old was just under 2 pounds.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

What was the weight on those Ideal cockerels?

I don't know what mine weigh. I don't have a scale. Maybe by the time they get full grown, I will have one to weigh them on. What should their weight be at 7 months?

 

[cubakid]

I had like everyone else ideal birds, that looked identical to the ones pictured. The weight was extremely small. My birds are average weight gettin up to 6 at maturation. Though I do have a cock that hatched from WhiteXBBRed that weights 6lbs 10oz. At 7 mos. I'd guess about 5 1/4 for Zook birds( from my experience)

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Quote:
Would not think of breeding them with my Zook birds. My five cuba hens that I got from Randy (2 he got from cubakid) are all laying an egg a day. The two pullets I got from Jim are laying too, but their eggs are really small so I will not incubate them until they get about the same size as the other hens. It is warm today so I will be collecting to incubate. I hope to be setting 15 eggs three days from now. I am going to start early this year so the chicks will be bigger by the time the summer heat hits. I lost many AG chicks to extreme summer heat last year.

I am only doing targeted breeding of my cubas this year. I am going to let my AGs do what they want in the wild. I might get some funny looking AGs if those two Ideal cuba cockerels cross with my AG hens. Wonder what that would look like? LOL!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Quote:
Yeah. Those five hens I got from Randy (2 came from you and 3 are their offspring) are nice size hens. All laying nice size eggs too. I hope to get my birds up to standard or above.

 

[bruceha2000]

On my cubalayas from Ideal the cock at 2 years old was barely 3 pounds and the hen at 2 years old was just under 2 pounds.

I haven't weighed mine but they are pretty small. Maybe one day their eggs will hit Small. At 7 months their eggs are 38-40g - half way between Peewee and Small.

Bruce

 

[saladin]

If you are forced to use any of the hatchery stock in your breed pens just make sure you don't use the hens. Use the best quality hens you can find.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

If you are forced to use any of the hatchery stock in your breed pens just make sure you don't use the hens. Use the best quality hens you can find.

I don't think I will need to use any hatchery stock for breeding unless the Welp birds turn out to be something exceptional. I ended up with four Cocks (three Zooks and one that is the offspring from some of your stock). All three of the Zook cocks are good sized. The other one is a little small but has better hackle coloring. I don't know if I really need three Zook cocks for my purposes. I am going to breed them first because of their larger size and save the other cock to breed later when I get my flock up to size. At least that is my thoughts. I really have no idea what I am doing so I am just going with the easiest thing to identify which is size. The train has changed tracks many times since I started this journey and I am still adjusting.

Do you think I need this many Zook cocks?