Euskal Oiloa ( Basque Thread)

[CackleJoy]

CackleJoy, EO's are notorious escape artists!! They are too smart. I am attaching a link to a story on the EO Forum of two hens that I re-homed to Lisa, too funny!!!!

http://forums.euskaloiloas.com/viewtopic.php?id=2046

That is a great story!

Loved it! My husband nearly gave up this spring. We are pretty relaxed about the free-rangers until February and then everyone has to follow the rules safe breeding. The Basque just didn't care. We had to clip wings, reinforce the bottom of the wire, move the coop (a very heavy coop made from reclaimed redwood) further away from the pen fencing and bungee cord the gate. Finally we had to get rid of a Casanova (his name) cockerel who was wrecking havoc with my other breeds by foiling us CONSTANTLY and inviting other girls out for a field trip. Imagine our surprise after we went through all of that to find a broody in the palms no where near her enclosure. (Very little surprise, more like resignation). The good news is that without Casanova, the others are staying inside better. Or we just finally reinforced the pen enough that they are actually stuck!

It is a nice pen. I am forever telling them that. The only reason there is no grass is because they ate it all!

 

[FVRM]

Where are you moving to?

I will be working at a farm in california

 

[ronott1]

I will be working at a farm in california

That sounds exciting!

 

[Maggiesdad]

8 week olds chasing me in the yard...



well, that one guy is around 14, lol.

 

[Flat Rock farm]

I was going to say MD, "one of these things is not like the others" LOL

You have some nice looking up and coming pullets there

 

[Maggiesdad]

I was going to say MD, "one of these things is not like the others" LOL

You have some nice looking up and coming pullets there

Ya he was the sole survivor of the dog attack where I lost twenty five... He was so happy when I brought those chicks out of the brooder. They would cluster up at night and he would just step right into the middle of them and settle in like an old hen!

They are the batch that hatched in the sportsman with the turner still on... looked like a chick marble maze with them coming down through the shelves, lol.

I still can't beleive I forgot them in there.

 

[Flat Rock farm]

That would have been maddening to loose them all to that darn dog!!

Yes good thing I was talking to you to remind you!!! LOL

Well kind of hard to tell from the pictures but he looks like a decent fellow?? What a good Lad to take the younger ones "under his wing". Poor guy was probably lonely!!

 

[AuroraSprings]

Anyone ever seen a "Lady Grey" Basque rooster?

We are excited to use him in our Zilarra project. Too bad he's not heterozygous, but I'll take focusing on the Silver gene first. Yay!

 

[Flat Rock farm]

Sure have Worth It. I did not hatch any this year but last year I had a couple. Did not use the same rooster this year and didn't get any. He would be a good candidate for your Zillaria project

 

[GaryDean26]

Anyone ever seen a "Lady Grey" Basque rooster?

We are excited to use him in our Zilarra project. Too bad he's not heterozygous, but I'll take focusing on the Silver gene first. Yay!

I just head back from the man that got our Basque hatch from this spring and the last remnants of our Basque flock and was wondering about your Zilarra Project (since that was a project we wanted to do at one point too). I had some lady greys in my 2012 group from GFF. One was really really tall and really long but very skinny. He didn't have any potential as a breeder. Another one was the cockerel with the best size and conformation on the whole flock. We didn't keep him because we wanted a cockerel with better marraduna coloring, but I wondered if I made the wrong choice to cull my most vigorous cockerel form our foundation group.

What is the assumed genotype of the lady grey's? Are they missing a columbian restrictor? Do they have a recessive melonizer that gives them the grey color?