White faced black Spanish enthusiasts, come hither!

[HHandbasket]

I have posted in other WFBS threads, but I thought I would start a fresh one. These are great birds, hard to find, and very few people have them. I absolutely LOVE these birds and just got my first batch. I had to start with hatchery stock, but these seem like nice, healthy birds. I have also recently made arrangements to acquire eggs from Jim Bell of Tennessee this fall.

If you have pics of your birds, PLEASE post them here! I love to see pics of everybody's WFBS.

As soon as I have pics of my chicks, I'll post them.

 

[Dirt Farmer]

Thanks so for your response. I love these two they are really cool! I spend a lot of time with them and all my chicks are pretty comfortable with me. Dali bonded with me though on the first day I brought them home. I used to have a flock of silkies and I love those too but this time I want full sized egg producers and I understand the WFBS are that too. I look forward to seeing your photos.

I finally got my camera and computer to talk. Here's a few shots of Apr 2019 hatch. I'm not really sure I've made improvement. As I've said the parents seemed to need 18 months to peak.

 

[cindysrooster]

I had longed for a White Faced Black Spanish rooster for years! I finally found a breeder that was showing his at the Fort Worth stock show and I now have a trio! My rooster is very good at alerting the hens of hawks, cats etc. He is gorgeous!

 

[josh44]

Here's one of my large fowl hens, currently working with a trio as of now

 

[anderson8505]

My WFBS arrived from Lund today!!! Thank you Terry!!!!!! I am so happy!

 

[anderson8505]

It's not the thread I am worried about, it's the breed. I think this is such a special, beautiful breed of chicken. I am so happy to finally have some myself and I look forward to helping to keep this breed going!

 

[DaveK]

These are my favorite breed of chicken and I spent many years with them. Large fowl. It does not take the face a couple of years or even only a year to come in at all. Cockerels and pullets hatched in April and May will go in to the winter with well developed faces. The face is not just a great big lobe like a Minorca. The lobe extends downward and actually meets under the wattles. We all used to call that the bib. Easier to see on the males and especially if handled but the effect is that of a bib. And it can be quite a nice big bib by October/November. The best ones will start out showing turquoise blue faces and not pink. The white creeps in and everything starts to grow downward. Smoothness is desired as is a thick, heavy leathery substance to the skin forming the face/bib. As they haven't been bred enough of late a detail like the red pencil mark over the eye, usually on a male, would be tolerated on an otherwise good and useful bird. At least in my yards. They can be a bit flighty as very young chicks but as mentioned are smart. And they stay smart and become extremely companionable. Give them lots of room and hopefully the ability to be outside. As soon as they learn that they can get away from you they decide they don't need or want to. I do not know why they are so little and sometimes so badly bred. They might just not appeal to everyone. They are unique as to appearance and character. As a young teen an old man I knew who bred them said they would become my favorites. They did, by far, and it was their great brains and overall temperament that got to me before their appearance did. So yes, hard to understand why more do not work with them.

Yes, it is an unusual and endangered breed. I don't know why, perhaps people got tired of waiting 1-2 years for the white face to come in? I love that they come in bantam and LF, I prefer LF myself, but if I got into small chickens, I'd have WFBS bantams, too! Glad someone near you is keeping them up, seems bantams are not as endangered as LF, many hatcheries sell the bantams.

 

[Bo Garrett]

Granted that I have never worked with the Spanish before but I have been working with chickens for 41 years and just have learned over the years to see different signs at hatch. Most of these had an uneven feather pattern in the wing at hatch which is a pretty good indicator they are pullets. Typically within two to three weeks one can tell sex by the shape of the body, the males will have larger abdomens than will the females in most all breeds which causes them to have a heavier blocky appearance than the females.
I have also worked in commercial hatcheries for several years and learned to feather sex chicks at hatch but this only works if they have the rapid feathering gene.

Bo

 

[anderson8505]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/115040158685042/
I'm trying something new, a FB group for this breed.

 

[Gallusfarm]

Quote:

Hi Gallus,


Look at the faces on those birds, so few wrinkles and long backs, that's great, may have to buy some stock from you next year if my wife allows me to get a second breeding pen going Or perhaps some eggs or chicks later in the year?

I still have to put them on a scale, but will post the results as soon as I do, but they feel pretty good, the cock around 7-8 lbs, and the hens at 6 or over. So I'm planning to hatch 40 chicks out of that pen this year, and keep somewhere between 0-5 as they mature, but we'll see how it goes.

What I meant by leggier was literally a longer shank and tibia, so that the birds carriage is higher off the ground. I keep reading turn-of-the-century periodicals, where the authors lament about the 'abomination of short legs on the distinguished Spanish', which apparently was one of the type characteristics that were given up by 'fadist' breeders in lieu of the over-development of the white lobes. So I think I'm going to be taking the measuring tape to my chicks as they grow, and specifically keeping vigil on the variance of leg length, and keep the birds with the longest legs (unless they're defective in other type characteristics of course.)

Thanks and I would love to swap eggs sometime. The long leg selection that you have planned sounds good. The chicks are interesting int hat they stand really tall even when they are very young. I think below is a great illustration. These are magnificent.