Peeps in Europe!

[Maiahr]

Thank you! I will probably order in the beginning of next year as I have too many chicks right now + 1 broody and with the cold winter I prefer not to keep chicks inside. I live in a village around Asenovgrad, if you are in the area I would be glad if you come around and we meet.

 

[Skyle]

@Skyle and the rest..here are a couple of pictures of my Brahmas. I have bought eggs this year from 3 different breeders, but none has any claims to be a pure, standard breeder.
The big white just started laying eggs this week.
Then orange/black are young (I think) pullets..
Then a silver Brahma, which I think is pure.
There is one white young, which I am sure is a rooster..

@kwik-kwak welcome!!!! Another Bulgarian, I am excited!!! Where do you live?
Brabanter isone of the breeds I ordered eggs from the Netherlands but nobody was able to find any.

I'm not very expert on the other colors of Brahmas since I'm breeding only white columbian black and white columbian blue. So maybe (and probably) I'll say wrong things.
As far I'm seeing in these photos, the gold partridge it's maybe too red/dark, it should be lighter in females, that color tone should be seen on males neck and hackles; she doesn't look a breed mix, maybe a color mix or a poorly bred color.
The white columbian black looks like a cockerel.
The silver partridge it's really nice though and she has a nice shape (I looove that gaze).
The buff (can't tell if it's a weird buff or a mix of colors) it's either a very poor quality or a mix: the feet are poorly feathered, Brahmas should have feathers on the outside and middle fingers. Plus the neck it's too dark for a buff columbian and the tail feathers look white/very light blue, while they should be the same colour of the markings on the neck.
The white one could be maybe be a very very light blue columbian? (I think I see a bit of blue on neck and tail), she has a pretty shape, too. Maybe the breeder is trying to get whites by lightening the blue on blue columbians?
Are the white and the silver partridge from the same breeder?

http://www.kippenencyclopedie.nl/php/index.php?title=Brahma
This is a really nice site about all chicken breeds, you can see all the Brahma colors and how they are called in many languages (you have to click on the color name and you'll see how it's called in the countries and some details on how the markings should look)

 

[BDutch]

I live in the Yambol region.
I looked on a Dutch website for you and found an advertisement of someone who has eggs from the branter on request. This person does indicate that they only ship in the region, but maybe you can discuss that. I have no experience with incubating eggs myself, but is it possible to transport them that far? This is the link to the dutch website: click

Welcome to this thread kwik-kwak!

I know someone who has prize winning bantam chickens and sells them to people abroad by post. He packs every egg in soft toilet paper and after that in an egg carton for normal sized eggs. The outcome is not as good as without a mail transport, but he claims, overall, still about 50%.

 

[Maiahr]

@BDutch , @kwik-kwak , I just received a news that there will be a humanitarian truck coming from the NL to me either December or January. The two breeds which I would really like to have are Silver Lakenfelder and Brabanter, large size (bantams won't survive the wild birds and the cats). This year I lost all my Nederlandse uilebaards and mini Cochins, plus all but one bantam Barnevelders, so I don't want anymore bantams. Do you know if the Nederlandse uilebaards exist in a large size?

 

[Skyle]

Do you know if the Nederlandse uilebaards exist in a large size?

Here it's recognized in both large and bantam size.
In the large size the male weights 2,2 - 2,5 kg.
The female 1,6 - 1,8 kg

 

[kwik-kwak]

Sad to hear that your chickens didn't survive...

They exist in two sizes, the bantam variant ('kriel') and the large variant ('grote uilebaard').
In this link you find more information about the old dutch breeds. You can maybe translate it, or look at the pictures of the breeds.

Isn't the chance of good hatching eggs a lot higher in the spring? Again, i have no experience with hatching

 

[Silkie Princess]

Yes I think there is. Ill ask my brother later today

There are And I found a pic of my old bantam Oravka roo. I had him for two weeks. A fox killed him

 

[BDutch]

@BDutch , @kwik-kwak , I just received a news that there will be a humanitarian truck coming from the NL to me either December or January. The two breeds which I would really like to have are Silver Lakenfelder and Brabanter, large size (bantams won't survive the wild birds and the cats). This year I lost all my Nederlandse uilebaards and mini Cochins, plus all but one bantam Barnevelders, so I don't want anymore bantams. Do you know if the Nederlandse uilebaards exist in a large size?

Spring is definitely a better time to collect eggs. Many breeds stops laying , or lay less eggs, this time of the year. Especially the ornamental breeds lay not/ little during the winter.

We also have bird flew going on. A worse type of flew than last year. Therefore its not allowed to visit other poultry keepers. And if that isn’t enough , it’s recommended to avoid contact with people because we have another outbreak of the Corona virus. So ..
I think it’s wiser to wait a few months.

 

[kwik-kwak]

We also have bird flew going on. A worse type of flew than last year. Therefore its not allowed to visit other poultry keepers. And if that isn’t enough , it’s recommended to avoid contact with people because we have another outbreak of the Corona virus. So ..
I think it’s wiser to wait a few months.

Interesting thought about bird flu. Personally I wouldn't take the risk, but after a bit of googling I found this document indicating that the risk is low, but low is still a risk of course. In addition, they indicate that they have not conducted a real study.

´Commercially produced day-old chicks are unlikely to be infected with H5N1 viruses when they leave the incubator given the limited likelihood that eggs from infected hens would hatch and the poor prospects for survival of exposed virus at 37oC in incubators. However, no experimental studies have been conducted using eggs contaminated or infected with H5N1 HPAI viruses to prove this and therefore this possibility cannot be ruled out (Brugh and Johnson, 1986).

This suggests that if day-old chicks are spreading disease this is more likely to be via contact with contaminated transport containers or through exposure to infection after hatching. This could be facilitated by management practices such as the sale of day-old chicks in live-poultry markets, the use of natural brooding (especially the use of surrogate poultry to brood and hatch eggs) and, as with day-old ducklings, the use of recycled transport containers or contaminated straw for packing and movement of chicks.´
source

Coronavirus as a reason doesn't really seem like a problem to me with ordering eggs by mail. Picking up in person is already unwise because of the bird flu...

 

[BDutch]

Interesting thought about bird flu. Personally I wouldn't take the risk, but after a bit of googling I found this document indicating that the risk is low, but low is still a risk of course. In addition, they indicate that they have not conducted a real study.

´Commercially produced day-old chicks are unlikely to be infected with H5N1 viruses when they leave the incubator given the limited likelihood that eggs from infected hens would hatch and the poor prospects for survival of exposed virus at 37oC in incubators. However, no experimental studies have been conducted using eggs contaminated or infected with H5N1 HPAI viruses to prove this and therefore this possibility cannot be ruled out (Brugh and Johnson, 1986).

This suggests that if day-old chicks are spreading disease this is more likely to be via contact with contaminated transport containers or through exposure to infection after hatching. This could be facilitated by management practices such as the sale of day-old chicks in live-poultry markets, the use of natural brooding (especially the use of surrogate poultry to brood and hatch eggs) and, as with day-old ducklings, the use of recycled transport containers or contaminated straw for packing and movement of chicks.´
source

Coronavirus as a reason doesn't really seem like a problem to me with ordering eggs by mail. Picking up in person is already unwise because of the bird flu...

Yes, of course it is possible to arrange something without paying any visits. But I wouldn’t like to buy eggs without knowing /seeing where they come from.

Because viruses mutate , this old H5N1 study might not be very thrust-worthy for the virus that is spreading today.

For Dutch (and others by google translate) who like to read more about this bird flew: https://www.wur.nl/nl/onderzoek-res...w-bvr/vogelgriep-bij-pluimvee-in-20212022.htm