Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

Julio, still no crow but really no denying he is a boy. The topknot has gone crazy.

Now no one panic, this is not blood and he has not been pecked. I have already had a meltdown and checked. His head is full of pin feathers.

I dare not let him out around the big girls right now. They would go after those pin feathers and I would have a Mr. P situation on my hands.

 

[Sylvester017]

View attachment 3936809

Are the tail /saddle feathers more pointy or uneven in length on the ends (usually that's a male trait)

I didn’t know that coffee was okay for chooks?

It's ok as long as you serve it w/ mealworms too!

 

[Sylvester017]

The silkies are finally coming out of the ugly phase and are starting to look like mini adults. This cross between Branch and Poppet is going to produce some beautiful little birds. Branch, he had a mighty fine beard but to be honest his topknot left a lot to be desired. Poppet, no beard but you cannot deny she is rocking the topknot. I can now tell all 6 have inherited their momma's fuller topknot. 3 of the 6 have their daddy's beard to go with it. I actually have 3 pairs color wise. There are 2 blacks, 2 Black with brown leaking through all over and 2 partridges. Each of the pairs have a bearded and non-bearded version.
I believe that the bearded Partridge will be miss Patsy.
View attachment 3936821View attachment 3936822
Black and brown
View attachment 3936827View attachment 3936828
non bearded
View attachment 3936829View attachment 3936830
Now for the black chicks
View attachment 3936831View attachment 3936832View attachment 3936834

Oh, I could hug them all! They're beautiful!

And males are not always endowed with full crests. It's the females that have poofy round topknots. With Poppet as a partridge all the chicks may show signs of it in their coloring ~ although it will be interesting to see if the blacks stay all black or get speckled wing tips (a dark partridge trait).

Pics! More pics! They change very rapidly day-to-day!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Oh, I could hug them all! They're beautiful!

And males are not always endowed with full crests. It's the females that have poofy round topknots. With Poppet as a partridge all the chicks may show signs of it in their coloring ~ although it will be interesting to see if the blacks stay all black or get speckled wing tips (a dark partridge trait).

Pics! More pics! They change very rapidly day-to-day!

They still have me guessing with genders. I really feel though that the majority of them are pullets.

 

[BDutch]

Kraaikop is said to originally be a French fowl but perfected in Netherlands while USA history says it was a common breed in the USA prior to the USA Civil War (1860) and was known as Guilderland or Guelders chickens.

In the Netherlands Kraaikop is a threatened but stable heritage breed. The breed is known to come from 2 provinces : Brabant and Gelderland.
I couldn’t find info about the origin in France. But Belgium wouldnt be strange because a few centuries ago Belgium and the Netherlands were one country. And Brabant was Divided over 2 countries. In the South/ East of Belgium the people speak French. Maybe its mixed up because of that?

With google you can translate the info from Dutch to English.
https://szh.nl/dieren/kip/kraaikop/#:~:text=Gebruik,bekend onder de naam Bredahoen.

Breda lies in Brabant.
Guilderland is Gelderland in Dutch and is the province I live in. Guelders is Gelders in Dutch and means from Gelderland.

Good luck with finding a breeder/ new pullets.

 

[Sylvester017]

Fyi: Our language is Dutch for English speakers. Deutsch is German. A complicated mix up. But you spelled Kraaikop perfectly.

Kraaikop doesn’t resemble the chickens Silvester posted. http://www.kippenencyclopedie.nl/php/index.php?title=Kraaikop

Our Breda were the same Kraaikop ~ I posted pics of our pullets & cockerel so feathering was not at full potential yet. The cockerel at 4-1/2 months went to a friend's rescue farm and our pullets lived less than a year due to lack of hardiness (low gene pool) which is probably why most US breeders closed their Breda projects. There are a couple Breda websites in the US but not sure if still active as breeder/sellers.

 

[Sylvester017]

They still have me guessing with genders. I really feel though that the majority of them are pullets.

Watch out for any randy cockerels as you don't want them mating sisters. I do hope you get some sweeties in your group. We handled our babies for several minutes every day & now as grown birds they come running the minute they hear the back door slide open ~ of course carrying handfed treats is a great incentive

 

[Sylvester017]

In the Netherlands Kraaikop is a threatened but stable heritage breed. The breed is known to come from 2 provinces : Brabant and Gelderland.
I couldn’t find info about the origin in France. But Belgium wouldnt be strange because a few centuries ago Belgium and the Netherlands were one country. And Brabant was Divided over 2 countries. In the South/ East of Belgium the people speak French. Maybe its mixed up because of that?

With google you can translate the info from Dutch to English.
https://szh.nl/dieren/kip/kraaikop/#:~:text=Gebruik,bekend onder de naam Bredahoen.

Breda lies in Brabant.
Guilderland is Gelderland in Dutch and is the province I live in. Guelders is Gelders in Dutch and means from Gelderland.

Good luck with finding a breeder/ new pullets.

We have been blessed with the 5 total gorgeous Breda we've had the great pleasure of owning but I'm afraid my Breda days are over since we're too old to responsibly add more birds to our flock. I am disappointed at growing old but it happens to everything ~ plants, trees, animals, & us

 

[featherhead007]

Hawk!! The chooks are all hiding on the porch and deep inside the bushes.

 

[Sylvester017]

@BDutch ~ this is the most info I found about the Breda/Kraaikop from chickendanz.com

The Breda never made it into the APA standard. The primary reason it is poorly remembered in North America has to do with a confusion of names.
Although usually considered a Dutch breed, the Breda may be French in origin. The Dutch call the breed Kraaikops, leading some English writers to confuse it with the Kraienkopp (Kraienkoppe for English speakers). The other names are based on the region of Holland where it was most common and where most experts believe it originated.
Prior to the Civil War, the Breda was a fairly common breed in the U.S., where they were usually called Guelderlands or sometimes Guelders. As recently as 1867, Solon Robinson in the poultry section of his book, Wisdom of the Land, mentions them as a common breed. The Guelderlands were to a considerable extent displaced by early Asiatic imports in the U.S. Following the Civil War the great explosion of American-produced breeds nearly swept them completely from public notice. They experienced a considerable decline in Europe at the same time, but in the early 1900s began to recover both as a show fowl and in economic importance. This led to additional American imports, but they never obtained a long term following.
Robinson and most other early writers mention them only as a black fowl. Most 20th century imports were Cuckoo, but a limited number of blue and white Bredas were present also. The term Breda probably was not in use in North America until after 1900.
The Breda is a medium bodied fowl, with a well-developed prominent breast, strong thighs, rather long closely feathered legs, vulture hocks, broad slightly sloping back, short well arched neck, long strong head with a stout well curved beak and no comb. A tassel or small tuft of feathers (usually very small) rises from the head at the rear of the flat depressed area where the comb should be. Bredas also have large cavernous nostrils.
The Breda is generally conceded to be a composite breed, but a rather early one. No definite records exist as to how it was produced. That it has some crested ancestry is obvious. It is considered a Dutch breed, but minority opinions argue for a Belgian or French origin. The Malines is often mentioned as a probable ancestor and certainly would account for the feathered legs. That leaves us without a ready explanation for the vulture hocks. Suggestions have been made that Sultans crossed with Malines or Asiatics could have produced them, but this is a fowl that developed long before any Sultans or most Asiatics appeared in Western Europe.
Breda are my favorite type of chicken. With their exotic, almost prehistoric looks and their sweet and intelligent disposition they are a perfect bird for a pet or small flock. After being extinct in the U.S. for nearly a century, new imports of the breed were brought in about 2010. They have been slow to gain popularity because people either love their appearance or hate it. Recently however they have gained popularity and are very difficult to find.