Chicken Breed Focus - Faverolles

[Cockatrice6420]

Ten babes, missing mom and three chicks. All these little ones have 5 toes. Crossed with partridge rock.

 

[Phoenixsw]

I'm new to chickens this year and started my flock with 2 Faverolles, 2 Speckled Sussex, and 2 Buff Orpington chicks. Turns out I ended up with 1 rooster of each breed. After I found homes for 2 of them, I decided to keep Sammy, the Faverolles rooster, even though he is an unlawful pet in my area. I replaced the other 2 with an Easter Egger and a Welsummer. I love my mixed flock and they all have their personalities, but Nugget, my female Faverolles is by far my favorite.
She is the top hen in the yard and second only to Sammy, who she gladly stands up to. She is sweet and vocal and always curious to see what I'm doing. They are a fabulous breed and I will always have a few in my flock and recommend everyone else does too!
My first ones did come from a local store and in turn a hatchery (and I love them!), but I think next time I will find a breeder.

 

[amygop]

I am new to this breed, but am excited to learn all of the wonderful Salmon Faverolles traits that I am reading about on these message boards. I have have just added one new (what I think is a pullet) to my flock, but am starting to wonder if I really have a roo on my hands! Can anyone look at these photos and give me their sage advice?

 

[junebuggena]

I am new to this breed, but am excited to learn all of the wonderful Salmon Faverolles traits that I am reading about on these message boards. I have have just added one new (what I think is a pullet) to my flock, but am starting to wonder if I really have a roo on my hands! Can anyone look at these photos and give me their sage advice?

That dark chest is a male feature.

 

[amygop]

Thank you! I had a feeling! Honestly, although I wanted a hen, the SF roosters are so striking, it might be cool to have one.

 

[araeihrig]

I have 2 hatchery quality salmon faverolles hens. They are definitely different in appearance than each other. One is dark and the other is light. They are super cute. They remind of toasted marshmallows.

 

[applebutter14]

i have 1 faveroles hen, her name is sally, she is 6 months old and she has started to lay eggs last week, i got her as a chick chick from murrya mcmurray hatchery, i was not very set about getting a faverolle, i just went through their catalog and choose a few birds that popped out to me, but im glad i got her, she is my tamest chicken, i am so glad i got sally she is so sweet! i think they are one of the best breeds, i was planning on getting her for showing this year but due to the bird flue i was unable to. the one thing that i really think is cute about her is how silly and sometimes how stupid she is! for an example: she tends to trip on things, like a water dish, or a rock, and she cant run right, her head goes side ways, and she like to run in circles and hop up and down, i thought that my chicken was just a mentle chicken but my friend has some and she said her chicken does that, too. but i love her little quirks!

this is a picture of her as a chick. (she is on the left)

 

[Falena]

I got my first Faverolles hen, Gossie, on a whim at the local flock swap. I didn't know too much about the breed, since at the time I was focusing on Silkies. Anyway, after bringing her home and seeing her personality (after quarantine of course) I just really started to fall in love with the breed! I poured over any info I could find, looked at countless pictures, and lurked around the threads here (lol!) until I decided to shift my focus onto Favs instead of Silkies. A big selling point for me was the relative ease of determining gender. I was so over the Silkie guessing games! Not to mention the fact that they are dual purpose as well... But really, they are just so stinkin' CUTE! I love the boofy beards/muffs and the pillowy bodies! The Salmon color is so lovely as well.

Anyway, this past spring, I decided to take the plunge and get some more Faverolles. I ordered from Valley Hatchery out of Ohio, as they touted their birds as 'the best of the best exhibition quality'. I ordered 6 pullets and two cockerels. They arrived next-day after their hatch date, all in one piece, but I lost the two that were marked as cockerels and a pullet right away. The remaining ones did indeed turn out as pullets, but they are a far cry from 'exhibition quality'. All of them have black sooty markings in their beards and chests, and one is completely beard/muff-less. Moral of the story: avoid Valley Hatchery's Faverolles stock!
So, the summer gets into full swing, and quite a few of my Silkies go broody. I decided to take advantage of the situation and ordered some Salmon Faverolles hatching eggs from Coastline Poultry for them to incubate. Well, due to hens playing musical nest box, I only ended up with two hatching out of 14 eggs (and four dud Favaucana eggs too). Both are pullets. Again. (BUT they are looking very nice color-wise and have proper toes! Beards haven't come in yet.) Soo... I start searching around, hoping to come across a cockerel for sale nearby. I tried the local flock swaps, Craigslist ads, looking for local breeders on here... I was starting to get dejected. FINALLY, a couple of weeks ago, I found a lady about 2 hours away with chicks and pullets for sale. She was quite sure she had at least one cockerel chick, and the prices were very good, so I made the trek down there. Some of her birds were darker than I would like, but I just bit the bullet and got 11 more. *long satisfied sigh of relief*

Now, I have a nice large group. One adult hen, 9 half grown pullets, and 9 chicks... two or three of which I'm fairly sure are male. The color is far off, and two are going to live with a friend (beardless hatchery bird and one with clean legs and wrong toes), but I think I'll have a good baseline to start with come next year!! My plan is to put the best hens with the best cock and try to improve what I've got currently, then get an Ameraucana cock to put with the pet quality ones and do some Favaucanas out of them.

As a side note, Gossie is currently in what's left of the Silkie flock, but my Silkie cock will not breed her. She is about the same size as him... maybe a tad bigger. I've checked her eggs all summer, and none have been fertile. :/ Not sure if it's just his preference or what, but he's not into her. Ahh well...

Anyway, here's a few pics:


Miss Gossie Bird! She has always had that notch in her comb... but I think it was an injury. She was in with some rough birds when I got her.
Gossie does have a nice tail, but she broke her feathers off somehow and they haven't come back in yet. I miss them! I think she's a nice color and shape though.










Valley Hatchery pullets. The 'quality' speaks for itsself. >8|




Coastline Poultry chicks. Looking good so far! These pics were a couple of weeks ago... they have feathered out all but their little heads at this point.

I don't have any pics of the newest group yet, sorry.

 

[araeihrig]

Sorry for the picture quality. They would not stand still. In the first pic are 2 salmon faverolles amongst other breeds. The second and third pic are the same bird. She looks to be more to breed standard then the other one. She is much darker and has a sooty muff and beard. But they are so darn fluffy and cute. *edited to add that they are from Meyer Hatchery in Polk Ohio*

 

[applebutter14]

here is another pic i took of sally yesterday:


she has been eating watermelon so her beard is all sticky!!!