Euskal Oiloa ( Basque Thread)

[Sebrightsrock]

SBR....nice looking birds.......that Roo really looks nice...and even has those pretty yellow shanks!!!! Thay should give you some nice babies to work with...Keep on keepin on........Mike

Thx I have 5 of their eggs hathing this weekend. I also have some eggs from skyline hatching that I plan on mixing with these guys.

 

[1muttsfan]

Now that my hens have matured I have been spending some time looking more closely at them. One thing I notice is that none of them have a very good tail spread. I like a nice spread out tail, evidence of a good wide pelvis. The best tail spread that I see is on my rooster (not such a bad thing). Have any of you been evaluating type on your birds? What do you think are the big type issues (leaving color out please)?

 

[Sebrightsrock]

Thx I have 5 of their eggs hathing this weekend. I also have some eggs from skyline hatching that I plan on mixing with these guys.

*hatching*

 

[Maggiesdad]

Now that my hens have matured I have been spending some time looking more closely at them. One thing I notice is that none of them have a very good tail spread. I like a nice spread out tail, evidence of a good wide pelvis. The best tail spread that I see is on my rooster (not such a bad thing). Have any of you been evaluating type on your birds? What do you think are the big type issues (leaving color out please)?

I think the big type issues are that our birds are undersized, and that the egg production is sub standard. But I also believe that is to be expected given the circumstances of how our flocks have arrived at this point...

 

[PatS]

Quote:
I hope several folks will elaborate. I've been reading about these birds for a year now, thinking they were an almost ideal homestead dual-purpose bird. (And drop-dead gorgeous.) What kind of egg production are folks getting? I'm curious about this time of year and also once spring really hits, so I can compare with the breeds I have.

And how big are the birds? I lost my wonderful orpington cock to a bobcat today (he died protecting his girls), he was over 6.5 pounds (5 pounds dressed, we got him back from that d@%# cat!) at 7 months. Are Basques bigger? Smaller? Similar?

 

[buckabucka]

Sorry about your Orpington.

I would like to hear others elaborate too. I have a very limited number of Basques: 2 roosters and 2 hens. It is still cold and days are about 10 and 3/4 hours. I get a Basque egg every other day, but the olive eggers and Marans the same age are laying much more steadily. They were all born last April. The Ameraucanas aren't laying at all, so maybe the Basques will pick up when they do.
My roosters are not all that large, although they feel pretty solid. I have a Marans x Ameraucana rooster that looks much bigger, but he has extremely thick layers of feathers, so it is hard to compare.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Hang in there, bucka - in the last week I've moved from 1 egg every 2-3days to 3 eggs a day out of 6 hens that molted this winter.
My first feathered pullets from last summer have been laying well for over a month now, but I'm not counting them because I want to know how the mature birds perform. I have 3 year old hatchery Black Australorp hens that have been in good production for over a month now, with 7-9 eggs per day out of 11 hens and steadily rising.

I'm headed into my second year of keeping chickens, and I'm still very much a chicken noob. Though I'm hatching chicks, I certainly can't call myself a chicken breeder. I'm reading everything I can lay eyes on about the subject, and I'm starting to develop an idea of what's involved (a lot).
A couple of questions... how many folks working with these birds are experienced breeders, or even better, master breeders?
If you take an egg production standard of 200-220 eggs per year, what does that translate to in eggs per week, taking into account non production months during the molt? (excluding broody time outs)


From an all purpose homesteading standpoint, it would seem that the flock would need to be capable of maintaining it's salient characteristics season after season... but the more I read the more I find that any breed of chicken can be ruined in just two or three seasons by incompetent breeding practices. For you folks with experience, is this true?

 

[1muttsfan]

One of the easiest things to judge about chickens is their color - feather, leg, etc. While easy to see, it is not nearly as important as working on the type, which is the physical shape of the bird's body, and it's size. Birds should have the characteristics that indicate good layers - wide pelvis, good tail spread - and be of the correct size and shape for that breed before color should come much into play. Many heritage birds are not mature until 9-10 months old, and roosters can continue to mature beyond that. If you are interested in learning more about how to judge type, I would highly recommend this thread, as it talks about the fundamentals in a way that applies to all breeds

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/732985/csu-chicken-state-university-large-fowl-sop

It would really help if we had some good pictures of birds that were close to the standard to compare our birds to.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:

Quote:

I hope several folks will elaborate. I've been reading about these birds for a year now, thinking they were an almost ideal homestead dual-purpose bird. (And drop-dead gorgeous.) What kind of egg production are folks getting? I'm curious about this time of year and also once spring really hits, so I can compare with the breeds I have.

And how big are the birds? I lost my wonderful orpington cock to a bobcat today (he died protecting his girls), he was over 6.5 pounds (5 pounds dressed, we got him back from that d@%# cat!) at 7 months. Are Basques bigger? Smaller? Similar?

Mine dressed out at 3.5#s at 4 months. The pullets are big and wide. They are laying 5 to 6 eggs per week now. They took a break in December but started back up in Early January.
Mine will be a year old in April, so I do not know how well they will be laying when older. I do want to see how well they lay in the 100 degree plus summer here.

I bet if you got eggs form skyline(OP here) you would have even better ones this year. He knows what he is doing with breeding and has been breeding for type. Maybe this year he will be breeding for leg color and etc. It is a mistake to be breeding for yellow legs now. There is a Spanish SOP. Habla Espanol?

 

[1muttsfan]

Euskal Oiloa American SOP - a work in progress

http://forums.euskaloiloas.com/viewtopic.php?id=558

Spanish description

http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/pagine/eng/arca/dettaglio.lasso?-id=773&..