d'anver lovers,discuss the breed and post some pics!

[HotDesertChick]

Thanks, joydix for the compliment. The coop is getting even more colorful now (Yeek).

The roost and dropping set up is not original at all, merely gleaned from other BYC members pics and comments re "poop boards".

We did go a little overboard with the construction of the poop board though. By using 2 x 6 lumber we could span the entire length of the coop, and eliminate any supports beneath the board/tray. This will make it easier to clean beneath, and chase chickens. Unfortunately, the "roost ramp" is not removable though (The "in-out door ramps" are removable). The poop tray is half-inch plywood, with two coats of Porch and Floor Enamel atop. The 2x4 roost is removable (rests in cut-outs at walls), so that it can be repainted, cleaned, whatever. Perhaps overkill for bantams. We could roost the hybrid T-Rex in here?

 

[joydix]

is this your first coop or are you improving on something you had? i had chickens for 10 years a LONG time ago with minimal fuss and accommodations...they lived long lives. i have this batch for 3 years and just redid our whole set up. i call it MY TRIP TO ITALY! actually i have never longed to go there but i could have! i now have a most marvelous set up for my 17 (personal limit is 20) girls....it is all still in the works tho. will post some pics when i am closer to done.....just love what you did!

 

[HotDesertChick]

Joydix,... A brief history of my "life with chickens": When I was a teen, my mother decided to go into all kinds of fancy fowl. My partly-builder Dad built an 80-foot+ building (in OR), partitioned off into six foot units, so that seemed to initially start my interest. Before dat, chickens were chickens, and they just made a mess and sometimes laid eggs when they felt like it.

About 35 years ago, I decided to raise Old English Game Bantams in western WA. My Hubby and I built a small/respectable coop. But I had a good friend, and other friends who were into "rare chickens", and "exotic birds". This did not help! At the time, there were many "bird people" near Seattle, and surround.

After several moves later, across Canader and the US, we "alighted" in coastal GA. I bought some nice Golden Sebrights from sale-yard tailgaters. Had a few d'Anvers as well...also noisy guineas (they tasted good anyway?). About the time we moved from GA, to NM, a good friend built the most spectacular small "cottage chicken house" I had ever seen. Her husband was a very good/inventive builder by profession, and their Chicken House was very, very attractive. "Pat" is a rotten egg, to this day, and did influence my own future attempts for chicken housing..... Darn!

So, after a decade without any chickens in NM, I began to mourn, and whine. Hubby winced, but put up a brave front.

Yes...this is also "My trip to Italy". I fess up. Previously seeing dovecotes and aviaries in Europe also perhaps tainted my interest for Better Bird Digs. Hubby thinks I am unstoppable. I dunno.

Beautiful comment: "Your "TRIP TO ITALY".

Thanks, for the compliments...and Yes...Please post pics of your project. D'Anvers?

Life is short. Have a little fun. And,... I've gotten jaded dealing with the TSA.

Pics...Pics...Pics?

 

[joydix]

yes i will post on my day off....i promise! YES i have d'anvers! LOVE them. i have one quail who is a year now so i ordered hatching eggs from boggy bottoms and split with a friend. we got 12, 9 hatched with 6 roos! my friend can have roos there at her place but i can't here. we live in a neighborhood and chicken palace is right outside our bedroom window. it does not bother me or the neighbors but it does bother hubby and i did promise (along with i only wanted 6 hens....and have 17 now!) Thanks for sharing your story...pics coming very soon! XO oh, my only girl is black...a dull sort of black. is that how the girls start out? she is almost a dark gray really....

 

[HotDesertChick]

Joydix,...I am no expert on d'Anvers, and I have never had a black in the breed, until the order from BBB this summer. I received one black rooster. He did start out rather "slate-colored", if my memory serves me right. I will go back to my "chick pics" to see if he shows in the play pen crowd.

Congrats on hatching 9 out of 12 mail order eggs. Bummer, that most were roos. We can only use soooo many, even though they are gorgeous.

 

[HotDesertChick]

Joydix, ...I did a little scrounging through "early chick pics" on me Mac, ...and here's what I came up with. Not very good photos, but these (cropped) pics show the singular black rooster:


About 5 days old, the black rooster is at the very bottom of the pic.





Three weeks old: All-black chick in Fortex feed pan (for dust bath/grit).




Again at three weeks. The black roo is harder to see, within a group of chicks to the left of the white tray. He is directly against the mesh of the play pen (aka "brooder").

I guess he WAS blacker than I remember. I shot these pics so that ME might be able to recognize some of the d'Anver colors down the road.

Did any of dis help?

 

[joydix]

so this is just a work on progress but this is what i have so far..working on trim...last photo was just shot of trim...just put in the nest boxes and they are NOT going for them..had to put the one up high as my brabanter was FREAKING out and i thought she was going to try to lay on the perch...crazy bird! still a ways to go...my d'angers are now about 10 weeks and will post pics on my day off of them and maybe someone will have a clue as to what the colors are/will be? the ONLY girl seems black but feathers in her beard are coming in white or cream....

 

[joydix]

BTW they just free range all day...i had this built so that i could leave them locked up occasionally if i wanted to go out for fun BEFORE they wanted to come in and not feel guilty about having them locked up during the day...once in awhile..spoiled little creatures as they are!

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

Has anyone worked on silver laced d'anvers? I happened upon a picture of a pair and I fell in love!!!

 

[joydix]

No, but i know what you mean....i too fell in love with those! Boggy Bottom Bantams has them...