Cubalaya Thread For Sharing Pics and Discussing Our Birds

[cubalaya]

Will have a few dozen early next spring.

 

[wood&feathers]

Those hens from Virginia are hatching their first chicks - 2 born today. They have been quite docile to deal with, certainly compared to my BC Marans that morphs onto a flesh eating monster... I even lifted the wheaten hen a little tonight to see how many chicks hatched and sniff for bad eggs. I

 

[cubalaya]

good for you. my black ones certainly tried to be mommies but the chicks were dead in the shell. my wheaton didn't hatch the asil grades either. so its back to the incubator this fall. will try the broodies again next spring.

 

[gallorojo]

Using broodies is a skill just like using an incubator. I would be awful at using an incubator well, I rely on my hens too much. It takes time and practice before you learn all the tricks. i am still learning today, but, I will hatch over 100 chicks each of the last 2 years using only hens. I still have failures, but not many at this point. It helps to actively breed for broodiness if you want it. I cull all Cuba females that are not good (perfect!) broodies, period. I maybe am not the best show breeder at this stage, but, i sure can breed for broodiness.lol..

 

[cubalaya]

yep, 2 of the birds sitting eggs came from you. i can't say it was the birds fault or mine but i will get better at this.

 

[gallorojo]

My wife would say it's 50% genetics and 50% management, that's what she tells me when I have animal problems. I do still have some catastrophic failures with broodies, lets just say I don't candle eggs either, so, sometimes things end really badly..

I still make dumb mistakes a lot, but less than 3-4 years ago. There's always more to learn, and things to tweak. Luckily I have so many broodies, who go broody so often, I just get lots of chances, so eventually things do work out with some. I have 5 setting eggs now, with 3 due to hatch Saturday. I had one hen set 3 clutches in a row so far, and 3 hens are on there 2nd batch, they raised up a brood earlier and are setting again. I also had 2 hens totally fail with one chick out of 20 eggs set..Oh well.

 

[Outrun Acres]

I live in the northwest corner of Arkansas and am really interested in getting some of these birds. Does anyone know of any breeders near here? If not, I was wondering which hatcheries people have purchased birds from and their opinion of the stock they received. All opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated .

 

[cubalaya]

cubanlongtails in oklahoma might have some.
on the broodies, i think i will move some birds around and try again if they are willing to sit

 

[gallorojo]

Outrun, in addition to what Cubalaya said, Terry Britt, twisted feather farm is in OK, they have very nice Cubalayas. Sam Brush in TX has probably the best in the USA, he is APA president, so look up his info on their site. Those would be your closest bets. There are a few other breeders about, but none really close to you. As for the hatcheries-this is what I have seen. Ideal, the birds have good type, most have nice low tails, well spread tails, nice heads with short beaks on many. The overall type is pretty good. the size will be really very small though, and you will get a lot of off colors, blue legs, pearl eyes, etc. Sandhill, generally will come much larger than the Ideal birds, but the type seems more variable, more high/pinched tails, bad combs, etc. Some of their birds look really good, some not so much. With any hatchery, you will want to get as many as you can afford to raise to increase your chances of getting some good ones. It might not be a bad idea to get some from both places and cross them to improve them, or start with the hatchery birds and them get a few breeder birds later to work with. Good luck, Urch and Cackle also have Cubalayas I believe, I have not seen either of their stock myself.

 

[bruceha2000]

The thread seems mostly about breeding but since the title is generic for the breed, I'll ask anyway:

I got my 12 chicks (6 breeds) from Ideal yesterday. Some, like the Astrolorps are said to be too heavy to fly. Others, like the Cubalayas, apparently fly pretty well which is why I'm asking here.

I want the birds to be able to go outside as much as possible. My set up will be:
- Barnyard ~100'x140', about 1/3 is a pond. Yard is enclosed on 3+ sides (barn is mostly the 4th) by an old fence 3 to 4 feet high with chicken wire on it mostly obscured with vegetation.
- 9.5'x12' coop (converted horse stall in an old barn). It will have a chicken door and a human door.
- Outside run in the barnyard (not sure what size yet) covered at least some for shade and rain protection. It will have a human door to the barnyard I can use to let the birds out. It will also have a lockable chicken door into the barn. I'm also thinking I probably need a "walk this way" somewhat enclosed path across the alley to the coop. Or will they just go where they are supposed to once they are in the barn alley?

Figured I was good to go until I read about some chickens having no problem getting up on and over a 6' fence.

The question, as best I can imagine it, is how high/far do these birds fly and how much 'runway' do they need?
Obviously I can't (nor would I want to) cover the whole barnyard area with netting.
So I'm wondering if they can only fly so far and need some distance to get elevation, would netting 8' to 10' high overhanging the yard at an angle from the fence (visualize flexible rod maybe 30 degrees off vertical) keep flyers from looking for fun outside the 'allowed' area?

And if there is a better thread for this that I haven't found, please point me to it. I don't need to pollute this one with one off questions