BUFF CATALANA

A

A PHONE VISIT W/ REV. ROMIG

I gave Rev. Romig a call on March 22, 2004 about his Catalana stock.  He  told me that he imported eggs in 1998 from Peru.  The original stock had been imported from Cuba.  At that time he knew of no other stock, except for Curtis Oakes.  Curtis Oakes had developed a Buff Catalana from Buff Minorca and Black Minorca stock.  Rev. Romig said that his stock from Peru lost size after the first generation and that he traded stock with Curtis Oakes to increase the size.  At that time he still had some of the original stock from Peru.  *I believe that stock was later sold to Superior Farms.

This is not the best picture of my Catalanas.  But if I wait until I have professional pictures, I will never get them up.  This is a yearling rooster.  He has a little bit of a dimple on his comb.  I have about 12 hens and two young roosters.  The goal this year is to hatch out as many as possible before I start narrowing the playing field.

A

A Letter from Curtis Oakes

Feather Edge Farm 6860 State Hwy. 173 Cochranton, PA 19314 March 22, 2004 Dear Mr. Wilson I received your inquiry regarding Buff Catalanas today.  Enclosed please find my current price list. Nearly 40 years ago my parents had Catalanas they purchased from Albert McGraw in Alabama.  We raised them for several years but lost interest and I concentrated on Leghorns, which I have been breeding and for 45 years.  The Catalanas I remember from childhood were small.  The males resembled a single comb Golden Penciled Hamburg, only a little lighter colored and the females were golden buff with a black tail and both had slate blue legs. Several years ago, since there were none available to purchase, I decided to develop my own strain.  Surprisingly, it worked well and they bred true.  I crossed a buff Minorca male with a Black Minorca female.  I selected the offspring with the lightest color that had good slate blue legs and bred them back to Buff Minorcas.  Once again I selected birds that conformed to the standard, as closely as possible, and started crossing the offspring to one another to establish my line of Catalanas.  I have been breeding this line for nearly ten years.  I exchanged some stock with Rev. Roland Romig and it helped improve the buff color, however the leg color is too light according to the APA Standard.  My line carries a good slate blue leg color, excellent body size and egg production. I will be hatching only limited amounts of Catalanas this season.  I have found that there is very little interest in this breed from the poultry world. Sincerely yours, Signed--Curtis R. Oakes Curtis R. Oakes APA/ABA General Licensed Judge

Again, not the greatest picture.  I will post better ones just as soon as I get them.  They had knocked the water bucket over and were ready for a drink at chore time.  You can see the color of the hens is lighter than the males.  Some of my Cats lay the pretties pink egg.  At the present they lay the largest eggs, and are excellent layers.  They even lay larger eggs than the notorious jumbo eggs of the Minorca.  I'm very pleased with their production.  Some of my Cats have made excellent broodies, another trait I am selecting for--along with large pink eggs.

LINKS

Link to Longtailfowl.com Link to Longtail's  Buff Catty Picture The Buff Catalana is the Mediterranean descendant of the Buff Cochin that arrived from China.  Brian Reeder has a great site

Feathersite's Catalana page

Some Sources for Cat's

Feather Edge Farm 6860 State Hwy. 173 Cochranton, PA 16314 Superior Farms, LLC PO Box 22546 Oklahoma City, OK 73123 Duane and Phyllis Urch 2142 N.W. 47th Avenue Owatonna, Minnesota 55060 Of course I have some birds, and I know of a few more reputable places to get some Catalanas if your interested drop me a line.

Do you have some Catalana notes or links that you would like to share?  email me at buff.catalana@hotmail.com