Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[saladin]

I wish it was simple enough to get a bird from Sam, but he told me is fertility is awful , his birds are getting old, and he told me this weekend he added blood from Jim Zook this year... Unfortunately the line is dwindling. I've tried getting birds from him since I started and all I've been able to ship out was three dozen eggs that he warned would have bad fertility to begin with. The German cubas have the lobster tails that the standard calls for. The whites are quite nice, and have good size and tail structure. I understand that we have the same blood here, but I know that I no longer have a brush type bird to breed from as he died of old age. It's hard to breed for size without a bird carrying it. I do believe though that we should have a club. It keeps things organized. As always, these are just my personal beliefs and everyone is entitled to thier own.
Zach

Zach,

I'll be glad to give you a cockerel this fall that is from the Bayliss line (Schmudde).

Years back Sam sent me a great cockbird. Linda Bayliss had previously sent me two hens and a cock. Both represented the same strain (Schmudde).

 

[saladin]

As per the comment on beaks and heads:

These are actually the two easiest faults to correct that I know of while the hardest is white in the earlobes.

Males seldom show the long beaks and crowheads that can be seen in some lines of females. It is all a matter of selection and is very simple.

Just kill all the females that have long beaks and crowheads. Do this over two or three generations and the problem will be fixed.

 

[saladin]

I would love to see a real Club formed. That takes time, dedication, a constitution, etc.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

I don't know if everyone has this problem or just me, but I got a trio (BBRed male & female and a Blue Red female) from Jim Zook last year, and I have had real problems with fertility from them. I have incubated every single egg they have laid and have failed to hatch a single chick. Most eggs are not fertile, and all the ones that are fertile quite early in the incubator. Not only that, they are really bad layers. I get maybe 3 or 4 eggs a week out of both hens. Like I said, I don't know if it is just the birds I have. What worries me, is that if I am having fertility problems with Zooks birds, even if it is just the birds I have, it shows a propensity already emerging for fertility problems with this line of BBReds.

I am kind of in Doc's mind set, in that there is very little the Germans have done that cannot be done here and doing so may be easier then trying to import birds from over there. The thing is that, in order to do so in an effective and speedy manner, would require precision and collaboration between breeders. Right now, everyone is kind of doing there own thing. But if the best breeders were to pool their resources, knowledge and experience into a united effort, the breed might be brought back to health in a much shorter time then if everyone continues to struggle on alone.

Just my opinion.

 

[saladin]

You'll find fertility will increase greatly if you'll pull the feathers from around the vents of the females and cockbird.

Everyother day layers (your 3 ot 4 eggs per week) are not uncommon.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

You'll find fertility will increase greatly if you'll pull the feathers from around the vents of the females and cockbird.

Everyother day layers (your 3 ot 4 eggs per week) are not uncommon.

Let me clarify. 3 to 4 eggs a week out of both hens combined.

 

[cubalaya]

this time of year even the old hens are laying an egg a day here.

 

[saladin]

ouch

 

[gallorojo]

I have always had great fertility and good rate of lay from the Zook birds. I have 2 3 or 4 year old hens that are laying 4-5 eggs each a week , when not broody of course!!. Egg size is quite small on the duckwing bb red variants, but the whites, blacks, etc, lay medium to large eggs. Try more protein, more greens, and do as Saladin says and pull some vent feathers .

 

[Jungleexplorer]

I will try all the suggestions, but I do want to point out that I have another trio and a quad (Zook cockbirds over Cubakid hens) in identical conditions (same water, food and pen size) and they are doing fine. They lay 4 to 5 eggs a week per hen and have a 100% fertility rate and about a 80% hatch rate. I have only two eggs of their eggs quit early in the last two months and 8 out of 10 will hatch out healthy.

As soon as I get another pen built (I am out of pens) I am going to pull off the Zook cockbird from Zook hens and put in this guy.

This should tell me whether the problem is the male or the females.