Houdans

[exop]

Hi DuckiesGarden,

So glad you are interested! I looked on the map because I wasn't sure where Terre Haute was, which is embarrassing. You all sure have some interesting place names down there, Clay City, Coal City and Saline City all in the same area, there must have been some mining back in the old days? I commute to Covington during the week, that's at the intersection of 63 and 74, and maybe twice a month I drive near Crawfordsville on 74, to get to Lebanon which is where I buy feed. Maybe we could co-ordinate and meet up somewhere some day, I could go a ways south and you could go a ways north. Or perhaps you know someone who lives / works in one of those towns. I was thinking $6 - $7 per chick, that would cover what I paid plus the food they have eaten so far. It might be safest to wait until you are sure what sex your chick is - if your husband isn't keen on chickens now he will be less keen if you end up with 2 Houdan males. They tend to be somewhat high powered and competitive with each other. Unless active steps are taken to keep a Houdan boy confined, everything you hatch will be half Houdan, not just with the Anconas, and if you have several, the hens start to look worn. Anyway, I would love to see the result of a Cackle - McMurray cross! How old is it / he / she now? If you post a picture of the face (head on close up) it might be possible to tell sex from the comb, if the chick is old enough.

 

[exop]

Hi Cynthia12, nice to see your pics! Where are yours from? Looking forward to seeing them develop.

I would hold off on deciding which are "keepers" until they are a little older, so you don't end up with 2 roos, and also so you can get a look at their comb... all Houdan populations I have seen have quite a bit of comb variation, which is not a bad thing in itself, and in the 1800s there were a lot of the antler shaped combs which we still see today. When they are a few weeks old you can stare at the tiny bits growing on their forehead and pretty much tell whose combs are going to look like what. If you want a standard looking US Houdan, you would look for a plain vanilla "V" comb, which on a baby would look like 2 tiny chick toenails separated by an empy space.

When they get older, you will also see differences in crest size / shape... the crest is supposed to flow backwards so the birds can see... and when you can tell which are boys and which are girls, you should pick the largest / heaviest birds from each sex because the breed needs to be selected for a larger size.

There, I'm off my high horse now. ;-)

I don't know if you are a show person, but for show, judges like a darker bird with tiny white spots. These come from chicks which have more black on them, and especially from ones which have several black spots on their head. But if your lighter chicks look better in general and you like them, don't worry about it. If you are willing to put in a few years breeding effort, it is supposed to be pretty easy to select darker chicks each generation until you get a dark bird,

Best of luck, exop

PS. Hello to everyone who hangs out on this thread... I think it was 2011 when I last posted here and I haven't been following. 80+ pages is a lot to catch up on...

 

[DuckiesGarden]

Exop, Hi! That all sounds great but that's a bit of a drive for me and I don't know anyone close to those places. I'll have to come up with a good excuse to go so far. The problem is that I'll have to think of a reason to be gone so long without him with me(we usually go everywhere together) and I'll have to bring the kids with me so I'll have to figure out how to keep them from blabbing, then even if i manage that I'll have to figure out how I'm going to sneak them in with the others without being noticed.I might be able to figure it out though, believe me I'm going to try! I really want those chickens! Oh the things we go through for the chickens we love! And your right about the males! I'd read that about them so I definitely don't want to have more than one roo! Thanks again for the offer, I hope I can take you up on it before they get much bigger! here's a pic of my houdan, it'd be great if you could know what he is so soon! Another person on here told me I'd have to wait 13 weeks or so and she seemed to know her stuff so if I can find out sooner I can quit dying of curiosity! I put some pics of my houdan above, it's 2 1/2 weeks old now.

 

[exop]

Wow, looks like a new baby - 1 - 2 weeks old? At about 4-5 weeks most boys' comb area starts to flush red. Most, but not all. It's a nice early way to detect a rooster, there are generally no false positives, but there may be some false negatives (you think it's a girl but it turns out it's a boy eventually). . If you have other breeds of chick from the same order, keep an eye on their combs too: as soon as you see some combs start to turn pink, while others stay the same, that is when you should be looking for developments on your Houdan.

We will work something out! I am into this idea of smuggling some Houdans

 

[DuckiesGarden]

The hatch date was marked as april 19 , so that's what I'm going by for the age. Definitely no red at all showing yet. I've also got a silver spangled hamburg chick that's the same age/same hatch date and it's comb is already flushing red so I'm going to assume that it's a roo. Is my houdan just a slow grower or what? Maybe the hamburg is just a quick grower! Either way I wish it would hurry up and decide what it's going to be! I'm still pondering my smuggling scheme. Is it legal to ship larger birds in the mail? How much do you think that would cost? I know my mail lady wouldn't spill the beans! If I didn't have so many already (I'm at 32 with maybe another dozen ((or two)) getting close to hatching out) he wouldn't be putting up such a fuss .I'm mean really, what's 2 more at this point? We've got more than enough room! I feel like I'm in an I love lucy episode and everyone knows how those end! LOL. Anyway I'm not giving up yet! I figure I've got til I'm sure he/she is a he or she. Thanks for being so patient! It's wonderful of you to have offered in the first place!

 

[exop]

Nice, there is only 11 - 12 days age difference between our chicks. That should work well.

I actually have some of those shipping boxes. A couple years ago I sent a pair of adult chickens to someone in Florida, and the shipping was horrendous, I think around $60, plus the $ I paid for the (reusable) box ( $5 - $8?) ... Birds have to ship via express mail. There was also the cost of a vet exam, because the state of Florida wanted a health certificate, and I think the FL Ag Dept might have assessed an importation fee too, I know I had to get an entry permit ahead of time.

But, there would be none of that hoo haa when shipping birds within state, plus the postage would be a lot less less because of the much shorter distance, and much smaller weight. 2 - 3 chicks will be a lot lighter than 2 light breed adults. With gas prices as high as they are this might be a cheaper alternative. I will check it out!

Best - exop

 

[DuckiesGarden]

Exop you might have just saved the day!!! You find out what it'll take to ship em and if it's not too bad I'll get the $ together. Maybe you could ask them if I can call or go online and pay the shipping with a credit card. That would help in case I have a hard time getting cash right away. Then the only money I'll have to actually send in the mail will be to you for the birds and box and such. Although, by the time I figure out if it's a he/she I might just have it in cash. Anyway, if we can do it this way I can just pick them up at the post office and sneak them back here and in with the others with no one the wiser! If ours are that close in age I'm sure he wouldn't notice the difference.I hate to be so sneaky but desperate times call for desperate measures! Let me know what you find out and I'll work on getting some money together! Thanks again for being such a big help!!!!

 

[PsycoPeep]

Oooo! I found a Houdan thread! I'll have to post pics later. Right now I need to jump in the shower, take the dogs out, lock them up, pack my supper for tonite and head to work. TTYS!!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

My babies came in from Cackle today! Poor things were hatched and shipped Monday but they sent them to my local PO branch instead of the annex like they usually do, and didn't call me so I couldn't find them until this morning! I lost almost all of the 15 bantams that shipped with them, but only one Houdan. I'm impressed. Maybe this is a hearty batch!

They all seem to be very much on the lighter side. I do see one or two with very prominent domed skulls. Is this good or bad? No crossed beaks, all that I've checked so far have correct toes. I am happy.

 

[DuckiesGarden]

My babies came in from Cackle today! Poor things were hatched and shipped Monday but they sent them to my local PO branch instead of the annex like they usually do, and didn't call me so I couldn't find them until this morning! I lost almost all of the 15 bantams that shipped with them, but only one Houdan. I'm impressed. Maybe this is a hearty batch!

They all seem to be very much on the lighter side. I do see one or two with very prominent domed skulls. Is this good or bad? No crossed beaks, all that I've checked so far have correct toes. I am happy.

Congratulations on your new babies!! They sure are cute! Best of luck with them!