Troyer Farm Adventures and Breeding Projects

[troyer]

Bantam 2022 Cubalaya cockerel.

 

[troyer]

@troyer i know you have breeds other than Cubalaya but it seems like you have several of those and it seems like you like to work on their quality. How and why did you choose to work with them?

Cubalaya have been my favorites since 1994 which is the first time I ever saw them. In 1996 I got my first ones from Marti Poultry which was a hatchery and no longer in business. Ever since 1996 except for 03 & 04 I've had Cubalaya. They are without question my favorite breed. Their shape is what drew me initially to purchase them and then their temperament is what persuaded me to breed them. They are courageous by nature and very human friendly without being handled much. Human friendly varies a bit by genetic lines.
Their temperament is curious and friendly without being handled. They were intended to be a meat and eggs breed and that sits well with me. They are perfect for a small homestead that wants to be able to raise and replace their own stock.
I mostly use the pullets as layers in their first year, after that if they are what I'm looking for in the breed I'll breed from them and use them to keep it all going here. The hens/pullets are broody and if allowed to will raise at least two batches of chicks a year. The hens are good mothers and tend to raise 7-12 chicks with no problems.
I have been breeding mine to be free range, (very hawk wary). I live in a hawk/falcon migration route. I have tried to raise enough every year to allow for the possibility of some being taken by hawks. I do my best to prevent hawk casualties by giving them cover to flee into.
For instance one Sunday afternoon last summer I was in the chicken yard when I heard a commotion as though there was a hawk around, I hurried to where the commotion was and observed a hawk hovering above a patch of fairly dense weed cover, there was a bantam hen that had seven chicks in that weed patch, parts of the patch had thicker clumps than others. The hen was dashing from thicker patch to thicker patch within the whole to keep the attention of the hawk away from her chicks that were flattened out in the thicker patches. This went on for seven minutes, I did not intervene, but I was ready to if needed. Finally the hawk gave up because he couldn't really get into the thicker parts of the weed patch and that's where the babies were hunkered down. The hen stayed under cover for approximately three minutes after the hawk left, she then waited about ten minutes before calling to her chicks to come out from under the cover they had been hiding in. For the rest of the day the chicks stuck pretty close to cover. Their coop was only five feet away from the weed patch, but they preferred the weed cover to their coop. At dusk they did go into the coop for the night.
The mother hen was also a target as she was easily small enough for the hawk to take her, but she had also been free range raised and is a survivor of the same. I say free range, but we provide safety from coyotes, raccoon and such as would like to eat chickens. They are securely penned up every night and fed a good quality feed daily.
We just don't have aerial cover. We have since last summer, purchased a couple pups that we hope to have on guard by next hatching season.
I purposely bred these to be aerial predator savvy from the beginning, I want the survivor genetics to be strong with as little human intervention as possible.

 

[troyer]

Easter Egger line that my wife is working on, hoping to eventually get all lavenders. Beginning sire.

Beginning dam.

Some of the offspring.

 

[troyer]

Captain the Cur.

Kicking up his heels and ears a floppin! He was off to wherever his inquisitive mind took him. I was taking a walk on a private farm.

 

[troyer]

Bantam Cubalaya cockerel.

 

[troyer]

Bantam Cubalaya brothers

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[troyer]

Supper time! Boiled potatoes covered with a combination of beans, boiled tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and seasoning. Shaved carrots fried with chopped green onion tops on the side.

 

[troyer]

Silver blue partridge pullet probably with a few other things going on. .

 

[troyer]

Bantam Cubalaya hens, both hatched in 2021.

 

[troyer]

Mottled pair.