The Pita Pinta Asturiana

[PetRock]

First pita egg of the season.

Wow! That's a big egg!

 

[caychris]

All these rare breeds are making me want to start a chicken hatchery!

Tell me about it. I have Pitas that Im trying to increase my flock by,
Delawares that were my first chickens and am hatching my own this year (too bad I dont have more of Kathy's line of them)
Cream Legbars my roo wont mate with the 1 girl I have and my attempts at hatching eggs have been dismal
and a Barred Holland girl that needs a boy

 

[allosaurusrock]

Oh geez!

 

[PetRock]

No new chick pics but here are a few of my breeding flock.

Pedro (young, around 10 months old) and 1 of his ladies. He has nice size but not enough white and his comb is too big. He is particular on who he mates and prefers my big Langshan. He is in a breeding pen with 8 of my best hens. Fertility is only around 50%.

Three more of the girls and 1 blue Langshan that loves Pedro!

This is a 3 yr old boy that is running free at the farm. I may either take some girls out there and put them in a breeding pen with him or bring him into town for a few days for a conjugal visit. He has more white thanPedro but he has molted at least once and they get more white with each molt. He isn't as big as Pedro and holds his wings a little lower which is one thing that I have been culling for.

 

[allosaurusrock]

Wow! Those are pretty! How do you know what to cull for? what standard do you go by?

 

[PetRock]

Wow! Those are pretty! How do you know what to cull for? what standard do you go by?

I try to breed to the Spanish breed standard since that's where they are from. They are a rare breed there and a very rare breed here in the USA. Working with a small gene pool is definitely challenging. I've had to cull for white legs, blue eyes, and brassy neck feathers.

http://www.lapitapintaasturiana.com/en/racial-pattern

 

[allosaurusrock]

I'm glad there is a standard to go by!

 

[caychris]

I try to breed to the Spanish breed standard since that's where they are from. They are a rare breed there and a very rare breed here in the USA. Working with a small gene pool is definitely challenging. I've had to cull for white legs, blue eyes, and brassy neck feathers.

http://www.lapitapintaasturiana.com/en/racial-pattern

Sam is starting to show brassy neck feathers but he is years old now. That boy out at the farm looks nice for a 3 year old

 

[ronott1]

No new chick pics but here are a few of my breeding flock.

Pedro (young, around 10 months old) and 1 of his ladies. He has nice size but not enough white and his comb is too big. He is particular on who he mates and prefers my big Langshan. He is in a breeding pen with 8 of my best hens. Fertility is only around 50%.

Three more of the girls and 1 blue Langshan that loves Pedro!

This is a 3 yr old boy that is running free at the farm. I may either take some girls out there and put them in a breeding pen with him or bring him into town for a few days for a conjugal visit. He has more white thanPedro but he has molted at least once and they get more white with each molt. He isn't as big as Pedro and holds his wings a little lower which is one thing that I have been culling for.

Pita Pintas get white as they molt. They look darker at 10 months. The pictures we see of them from Spain are older birds.

He looks great!

 

[caychris]

Here is my little flock out on the grass patch I have outside their pen. I alternate giving them some grass time with the delawares. The Roo in this picture is my older roo I dont have a recent picture of the current one. The Pitas are so polite its easy to herd them back into the pen and they are so patient about treats and so forth. the Delawares not so much yesterday I was bringing the mason jar of sprouted grains out to them and one tried to bite through the bottom of the jar. They have ripped treat bags out of my hands and Im often pouring their feed onto a couple standing in the food bowl. I seeded it with a chicken forage blend I may have to seed it again soon as they have really mowed it down.