Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[gallorojo]

The vast majority of the Cubalayas I've had have been extremely naturally tame. Generally I would consider this an oriental trait that's been maintained in the Cubas, as I've found Thai, Shamo, Asils, etc, are all super tame like that. I kill really spazzy flighty Cubalayas, and ones that scream when picked up. The breed is supposed to have a true oriental temperament and character, very calm and trusting of their keepers. Glad to hear the Welp birds are so good , I may have to check them out next year.

 

[cubalaya]

does anyone know who the breeder is that supplies welp and privett?

 

[tigercreek]

does anyone know who the breeder is that supplies welp and privett?

When I called Privett, I was told that they had maintained their own line for many years. I believe I was talking to the breeder, possibly the owner. He was easy to talk to, but I was not able to get an idea of where they came from. He said he had been breeding them for years and they were his line............stan

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Ok. My welp chicks were hatched on 11/25/2012 which would make them about 5 1/2 months old. I only weighed one cockerel today and he was 3lb 14 ounces. I weighed one pullet and she was 2lb 5oz. I would say that most of my welp birds are in this range, but there are a few that may weigh a couple ounces more then the rest.

It was windy today but I got some pictures. Enjoy!

 

[gallorojo]

Those cockerels from Welp will probably end up around 5 pounds at 18-24 months. That's actually really good, and super for hatchery birds. Overall the type looks good, some better than others, but, again, excellent for hatchery stock. I still think your best breeder birds are a little better than your best Welp birds, but, you can't beat the price!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

There is no doubt that the tails on the Welp birds will not compete with the tails on my Zook cocks, but I think they will be as good on size. I also think some of them have better hackle color. Their eyes are not as red, but they seem to be getting redder with age. These Welp birds improve every week, so time will tell what they will end up looking like. But hands down, they are the best looking hatchery birds I have seen anywhere, and they have the great Cubalaya attitude to boot (Which none of my breeder birds have). I don't regret getting my other birds, but had I known how good these Welp bird were going to be (not that they don't need some work) I would have never looked any further. But now I have several lines to work with, so all is good.

If these Welp birds get to 5 pounds as you said, that will be good and as heavy as my largest Zook. Tell me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that when it comes to the BBRed Cubalaya, nobody seems to have them up to SOP. I know that some people have other colors of cubas up to SOP but I have yet to see anyone claim to have BBReds that are. Am I right about this?

 

[gallorojo]

The Brush birds are correct to standard in almost all respects including weights. I have seen some birds out of Cubakids stock and from Zook/Brush crosses that are also correct in all respects, save the hackle color. I would say the BB Reds are and always have been the "main" color in the breed, and are by far the best in terms of type, especially tails. Yes, a lot of BB Reds tend to come in a little undersized, but good sized ones are out there. The blue reds, golden and silver duckwings, blue goldens, etc, all tend to come in the smallest out of all the color variants.They also seem the worst for blue legs and white earlobes. I think the best examples of the " duckwing variants" can have fantastic tails, extreme elegance, broad backs, and good heads. Good ones are hard to find anymore though. The duckwing variants lay the smallest eggs, and are quite thin. The best BB Reds lay decent sized eggs and can have some bulk to the body, especially if they have Schmudde( Brush) blood. The blacks,blues, whites,pyles, brown reds, spangleds, etc I will lump all together for this discussion. What I have had from these colors have generally had good size, were meatier, laid good sized eggs, and had good temperaments. However, they all throw a lot of off types, and very few have correct lobster tails. I would consider all these to be still works in progress, more years and more breeders needed to perfect some of the details. Yes, there are a few super nice ones of some of the unusual colors out there, but, overall, they need perfected a bit more. The simple explanation is the rare colors are the least inbred, and have been crossed with other breeds more recently than the BB Reds. This gives you better size and vigor, but you pay for it in the increased number of culls.

 

[gallorojo]

Or, simply put, the BB Reds are and always have been by far the best. The breed has always struggled with small size, when Schmudde blended in the Shamo all those decades ago, it was to gain SIZE. The BB Reds come closer to the SOP more consistently than any other colors by far. They are the ONLY choice if you want to win shows at this point, the other colors are kept and shown for the pure love of the breed.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

In the historical article on the club site, it talks about the Cubalaya being primarily from Malays and the tails from the Shrimp Tail Malay. Their name is even derived from the Malay, as in Cuban Malaya (Cubalaya). But in all the discussion I have read here on BYC, I have never once heard anyone talk about grading Malay back in. Why is this? I can find no information what-so-ever on the Shrimp Tail Malay, so I am assuming they are extinct. But if they are not, it seems that would be the route to correcting the tails.

Little Spanish lesson here; all nouns have gender in Spanish and are denoted by the letter "A" (female) or the letter "O" or "E" (male) at the end of the word. In Spanish the word Chicken is 'Gallina", which ends with an "A" making the word female. So Cuban's would have called a Malay breed (regardless of the birds gender) a, "Malaya". Drop the M and replace it with Cuba and you get, Cubalaya.

 

[4hmom]

i have never seen any or heard of any shrimp tailed malay, but the breeder i got my original start from crossed bantam malay with her birds and so my birds have exelent heads long legs nice tails( though they arn't as low as i would like the angles) the only thing is they are way too big. but that could help with the size for the standards. not sure though?