The Pita Pinta Asturiana

[Ballerina Bird]

Just had a Hooray for Pitas moment that I had to share. My neighbor went out of town for the summer, and her pool service apparently left her water running yesterday, causing her pool to overflow and then flood my side yard with several inches of water. There's nothing in that small side yard, so I never go in there, and it could have been a long time before I noticed that water was flowing right up to my house. But my lead hen Odile went poking around there this morning, clearly realizing something was different. When I went to see what she was doing and realized that she was staring meditatively at her reflection in an enormous puddle of water (?!?!), I, too, caught on that something was wrong and managed to stop the water before it was sloshing up the sides of my house.

So, hooray for Pitas, who are so smart and apparently much more aware of their surroundings than we are.

 

[ronott1]

Just had a Hooray for Pitas moment that I had to share. My neighbor went out of town for the summer, and her pool service apparently left her water running yesterday, causing her pool to overflow and then flood my side yard with several inches of water. There's nothing in that small side yard, so I never go in there, and it could have been a long time before I noticed that water was flowing right up to my house. But my lead hen Odile went poking around there this morning, clearly realizing something was different. When I went to see what she was doing and realized that she was staring meditatively at her reflection in an enormous puddle of water (?!?!), I, too, caught on that something was wrong and managed to stop the water before it was sloshing up the sides of my house.

So, hooray for Pitas, who are so smart and apparently much more aware of their surroundings than we are.

That is a great story!

They really are very curious and smart.

 

[AuroraSprings]

Anyone in the States still breed Pita Pintas?

 

[caychris]

Anyone in the States still breed Pita Pintas?

I am but my flock is small at the moment and have been having broody and fertility issues.

@PetRock has more birds but no current breeding pen.

I plan to start hatching and collecting fertile eggs again in fall.

 

[PetRock]

Anyone in the States still breed Pita Pintas?

I am but had a set back when my rooster Zorro died. I hope to get at least 1 breeding pen set up this next week. There are people interested in chicks but I only hatched Langshan this past spring.

 

[caychris]

Well it looks like September will be the month where I start hatching Pitas again. Birds willing. I also have now hatched 2 Pita Buff orp hybrids. These birds are beautifully laced (have no idea where that comes from) I have 2 buff orps in the breeding pen so I plan to hatch all the eggs and will be happy to get more of these hybrid birds (And plan to breed them together to figure out what they turn out like) However Im getting a little concerned about inbreeding within this flock. Im pretty sure that all the current Pitas in the States are from a single set of fertile eggs.

So far I only have one girl from the 5 I hatched this year however she is a very very nice looking bird. If anyone else is breeding I may be looking for a few pullets to add to the breeding flock as I've had 2 deaths recently and down to 5 hens one of which I do not think is laying and one who is a broody raising a chick.

Anyone else breeding Pitas?

 

[ronott1]

It was 100 today in Woodland--She is handling the heat just fine!

 

[Ballerina Bird]

My Spanish is not equal to this, but maybe someone else's will be. A friend from Asturias just sent me this article from a local paper about pitas and the lack of slaughterhouses; I thought it might be of interest to the thread.

 

[GabrielBane]

I'm fluent in Spanish, long story short, there is not enough infrastructure to warrant commercializing the breed in Asturia, they recognize the breed's amazing dual purpose abilities but don't have the slaughter houses, so they are proposing mobile slaughter houses going from district to district, like other countries in Europe do

 

[ronott1]

My Spanish is not equal to this, but maybe someone else's will be. A friend from Asturias just sent me this article from a local paper about pitas and the lack of slaughterhouses; I thought it might be of interest to the thread.

Thanks for posting the article!

I'm fluent in Spanish, long story short, there is not enough infrastructure to warrant commercializing the breed in Asturia, they recognize the breed's amazing dual purpose abilities but don't have the slaughter houses, so they are proposing mobile slaughter houses going from district to district, like other countries in Europe do

They are amazing dual purpose birds for sure. The cockerels grow fast and the pullets\hens lay a lot of eggs.