Peeps in Europe!

[Kippenboertje]

Welcome @Kippenboertje , Your hen looks like mine, which I have as a Harco, I will post pictures later. I see you are from Brabant, wasn't there a Dutch breed Brabant??

Now, funny...I set my broody on the 9th November with Olive Eggers, some Australorps and some of my eggs. I put two of the old eggs which I normally keep in the nests to show my hens where to lay. Well, today a chick hatched from one of the old eggs! Apparently this old egg was fertile and since there were hens laying eggs in that nest, it started developing. I am planning to put the early bird chick under another mama who already has chicks.

Yes, you're right. Brabants boerenhoen or Brabançonne is a rare local breed.

 

[chickengr]

Thank you! Unfortunately all the cockerels came out with that comb or worse, the parents' are very bad, too. Maybe I'll find a nice pullet or cockerel at some other show.

you have great girls. just find a handsome guy for them!

 

[chickengr]

Yes, you're right. Brabants boerenhoen or Brabançonne is a rare local breed.

I thought they were crested, with v comb and mottled.

 

[kwik-kwak]

Hi there, I also live in Europe. I am from the Netherlands and live in Bulgaria since this year. Since a few months we have two ducks.
@chickengr Do you perhaps mean the brabanter?

 

[Skyle]

Congratulations @Skyle !

Thank you!

My experience: Find a breeder, contact him or her, drive there and pick up a rooster. I purchased a rooster and some hens 1,3 at a show in my first year. Everybody told me I should have more than one rooster to start out... fresh blood etc. All but one hen came from the same breeder. I was told not to mix too many lines. He was the best at the show of my breed. He cost a lot of money! 80 Euros! The birds at a show always cost more than when you go thru the breeder directly. That's one reason! The second reason... that rooster was nuts. Scared of everything and everyone. Eventually he calmed down with me some but not fully. He freaked out the hens. They were suddenly scared of me too. So you never know what you are getting... that bird behaves totally different sitting in that cage. Third reason... I knew nothing of this breeder or his genetics... only that he had this one good rooster with good ratings. It's better to pick up a rooster that did not have ratings at all from a breeder with good birds throughout the years. Becaue that's what makes it... the genes not just the luck of this one good bird. That rooster did not produce well. I ended up culling him and getting rid of all his chicks. I wasted a lot of money learning my lesson.

Thank you! I really appreciate this tip, because I wanted to search for a good rooster at the national Championships, I did't even thought of that! Instead, I think I'll talk a lot with the other breeders and I'll try to find someone experienced willing to give me some of his/her birds.
Thank you again!

 

[chickengr]

Hi there, I also live in Europe. I am from the Netherlands and live in Bulgaria since this year. Since a few months we have two ducks.
@chickengr Do you perhaps mean the brabanter?

welcome!

yes, I meant brabanter.

 

[Maiahr]

@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.

 

[chickengr]

@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.

you have: partridge, light, dark, buff (?) and white brahma, 4 pullets and 1 cockerel. did breeders keep them in separate pens (by colour)?

 

[Maiahr]

Well, the silver is a silver Brahma, at least that one I know for sure - picture 3. I bought the eggs from different breeders and neither of them is keeping them separately - I visited and checked. In fact two of the breeders (the cockerel and the light orange one) had mixed Brahmas with another breed that's why I am not sure they are pure. Anyway, I like them, they just grow sooooo slowly comparative to other breeds. Phew!!! I have RIR over Leghorn hatched together with these Brahmas and they started laying eggs at 4 months. Brahmas - the white one 7 months and the dark orange not yet!

 

[kwik-kwak]

@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 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