Blue Breda Fowl
A rare breed, Breda are serene, curious, docile birds that are perfect for the backyard setting. They are a national bird of The Netherlands and are rare in Europe as well. Originally, they were known as Kraaikoppen, Guelderlands, or Gueldres. They have multiple unique traits including vulture hocks and cavernous nostrils, and are the only breed in the world with a complete lack of comb, making them especially cold-hardy. They sport a small, cool punk rock crest. This type will follow the BBS genetics (you can get blue, black or splash). The breed was imported by Greenfire Farms, who had this to say:
“Greenfire’s most striking imported breeds, Breda Fowl. Breda Fowl are one of the most unique, visually arresting breeds. Breda are so wild and extreme in their appearance they look like they were designed for the movie Avatar. Despite their exotic appearance, breda are large and powerful and make excellent free-range birds. The hens are reliable producers of white, delicious eggs. Greenfire Farms has twice imported breda and established separate bloodlines to ensure the genetic integrity of this vanishing breed. After being absent from this country more than a century we find ourselves at a remarkable moment: For a few lucky poultry enthusiasts breda will once again grace the barnyards and backyards of America.”
Blue Acres is proud of our Breda flock. We spent six years building a breeding program to our standards before offering breeding stock for sale. Not only did we bring in genetics from as many different breeders in the US as possible, we traveled to Canada in 2018 to add to our line. We have been breeding Breda since 2012, just one year after the first imports. Our four original birds were the granddaughters and grandsons of direct European imports. Our last one of those original four just passed away at age 11. She laid prolifically until she was 10!
We uphold rigorous standards and retain only the best birds for our breeding group. The birds that make the cut are as close to the Dutch SOP as possible while at the same maintaining the special endearing personality of the breed. Those birds that don’t make the cut go to pet homes where they are just as much appreciated. The BBS Breda in North America are essentially all from the original GFF imports. These birds had prevalent duplex combs which persist in most of the stock today. Breeder stock should only contain birds lacking combflesh. This is a challenge because the Breda comb type (p+p+r+r+DvDvbdbd) is recessive to all other comb types. Here at Blue Acres we go through a lot of birds to keep just the few that should be bred. Offspring can occasionally still exhibit a modified duplex comb or some type of combflesh. Like any breeding endeavor, it’s important to keep only the best for a breeding program.
Breda don’t like drama. They do best on their own, or with other non-aggressive breeds or bantams. They are less destructive on the ground than other breeds but still make good foragers. Breda like to watch the world go by.
