Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[gallorojo]

Consider it forgotten!!!

 

[saladin]

How's everyones hatching coming along? Thus far, I've got about 30 Cubalayas in the brooder. This year I'm shooting for about 400 Cubalaya chicks of various colors. I'm really working hard on my Whites, Blacks and Blues, but I'll still hatch more of the wheatens than anything else since they are the base on which everything else is built.

I'm using 16 different cocks this year with the girls.

 

[cubalaya]

welcome the master davek. whoever you are. i am just a backyard breeder that chose to have cubalayas 4 or 5 years ago. i like the way mine look no matter what color they are. hopefully i can get the colors right and the multiple spurs, one day. right now, type and size is getting better with each set of new chicks. will be hatching for the next 4 months and 1 hatch in the fall.

 

[gallorojo]

I don't put together breeding pens until Feb. 1. I start collecting eggs to hatch March 1, and then, I will do my 2 main hatches until around May 1. I will let broodies hatch chicks thru the summer and early fall, but, I try to get most of them hatched March-May. I don't hatch past early fall. It's COLD here, eggs are freezing on me and cracking fairly often right now, plus, the hens just don't lay much this time of year. I really hope to get more hatched than last year, I need at least 30-40 chicks if I can manage it this year. Each year, I am hatching more, so, some small progress is being made.

 

[gallorojo]

Another breeding related question- How bad is it to breed pullets? My original plan was to do a version of rolling matings, so, I would breed my best 2010 hatch pullets to their grandfather this spring. On further thought, and reading, it seems like it may not be best to do this, it seems like it would be better to wait until at least 2012 to breed the 2010 hens, or longer. I can see the wisdom in not breeding birds until they are older, but, does this imply that rolling matings are a bad breeding system then? If I don't breed any pullets this year, I will just have to breed my original hens again, and hatch as many as possible, which would be fine with me, but, I guess my question is, which would be better?
Thanks!!

 

[saladin]

There is nothing wrong with breeding pullets; however, I tend not to and here is why.

Part of what I want to accomplish with the Cubalaya is to ensure it is a breed that is long-lived, productive, healthy and beautiful. To help accomplish this I breed from hens that are at least 2 years old. Some are culled after the second year; but exceptionally good hens I will continue to breed as long as they lay.

With this said, it is important to remember what the cockers have taught us. 'Good strong stock comes from a mating wher youth is on one side of the equation.' So, if you are using an older hen (say 4) then you need to be breeding her to a stag or young cock.

 

[gallorojo]

That is helpful!! Thanks!!

 

[saladin]

4 year old cock bird: Out of Sam Brush stock which originally came from the Bayliss'
(Would not stand up for nothing!)

 

[gallorojo]

That last cock more resembles my old cock more than any other bird I've ever seen you post, saladin, although my guess is that he is much larger, right? I find it interesting how different the various birds people have posted look, most look to be pretty much within the standard in terms of overall looks, but are distinctly different at the same time. Is that much variation" normal" in more common chickens, like, say, leghorns, or cochins, and ,I just don't know enough about them to see it? Or, is it more an artifact of the relative rarity of cubalayas?

 

[saladin]

He weighes 7 lbs.