Houdans

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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That is very intimidating to hear. It seems like it SHOULD be such an awesome breed, the gene pool just isn't there anymore.

At least further research is revealing there are some flocks out there that can hold their own on the show table. I wonder what the people that own those birds would report?

Draye, where were the birds from that you have experience with, and when did you have them?

 

[janieschicks]

Do you know anyone in eastern panhandle of WV that wants some Houdan Roo's. They are under a year and breeding. This is the offspring of a Mottled houdan and an easter egger!
Only a few hours old and asleep!

This is one of the roo's
Bad photo taken about 1 month ago.

 

[draye]

Quote:
That is very intimidating to hear. It seems like it SHOULD be such an awesome breed, the gene pool just isn't there anymore.

At least further research is revealing there are some flocks out there that can hold their own on the show table. I wonder what the people that own those birds would report?

Draye, where were the birds from that you have experience with, and when did you have them?

That was about 12 to 13 years ago. They were from one of the hatcheries ( I can't remember which) we ordered from about three or four that year. I usually have great luck with hatchery chcikens but these just didn't stand up.

 

[janieschicks]

I hatched my eggs from someone I bought eggs from last spring/summer on BYC. She had an auction but I can remember her name. But they hatched out looking exactly like the ones in her photos! Mine are pretty wild birds, they mostly free range all day and are afraid of people but they are not mean at all! They are great watch dogs over the hens!

 

[Thomasturkey]

I should have read this tread before I placed a order for Houdan. I would like to work with them if I can find anything to work with. I ordered 35 Mottled Houdan from Mc Murray. I had 25 dead on arrival and a few died the first night. I had them ship again with weak and dead birds again. Out of the 35 I ordered, I ended up with 12. Two of them are pictured below. It is so sad the quality of these birds. I also have a order with Sand Hill for the white Houdan for May. I hope they are better.

 

[langshan]

I've never had any Mottled Houdan chicks from McMurray that had crossed beaks and such. It has been a good 6-7 years with Mottled Houdans but mind were all healthy. They were pretty decent layers of medium white shelled eggs, but I did have problems with them after about 15 months of age dieing. They WERE NOT up to size and the size along with the type would have to be increased. I would say it would have been a good 5 year project with someone hatching out 100 to 200 and keeping maybe 10 percent for the next hatch.

White Houdans: The last time I saw Standard White Houdans was in 1973 at the Ohio National. A very good sized LF White Houdan male that was all of 9 lbs and several hens that were 6 to 7 lbs each.

There were several that have or had Standard Mottled Houdans, one was Barb Piper who spent a number of years with hers, but I believe she sold hers to David West.

There was a farm up in Vermont ? That raised Large Fowl White Houdans, but I do not believe they have them anymore.

Bottem line is that Houdans, both in the LF and bantam are very hard to located.


I used to raised Bantam Mottled Houdans in the 70's and early 80's but the people I had sold out to do not have them anymore.


Mike

 

[janel]

So sorry. I ordered from McMurray also this year. All mine lived...thus far to 2 weeks...but I gave three away because of crossed beaks. I ordered mottled eggs from DU and JO. The former look porous and the latter were packaged poorly and mostly broke. I'm hoping for a male & female from each line. I love this breed's disposition.
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[Chilifur]

I just ordered and received 11 Mottled babies from Ideal Poultry. We're on day 6 and they are all thriving. I, too, am very interested in getting this breed back to what it is supposed to be and plan to talk to Duane Urch next month about what he has available.

Tracking their development, photos can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/chilifur/Houdans

I'll be posting week old shots tomorrow, then weekly after that. So far, three are missing one toenail on their right foot, the most prominent toe; everything else about them looks fine.

 

[Chilifur]

Does anyone understand WHY the US SOP wants a V comb instead of the original leaf? From what I can tell, the proper breed type has all but disappeared - i do not understand why it hasn't been reinstated with French bloodlines. Is this just a popularity issue? Or that people with the means to do so aren't interested in this breed?

Are there really any differences between the French and US birds besides the comb? I know the taste of the Houdan meat is very important in France, I would want my US birds to have that same standard - but does anyone know? Or check? (probably opening a can o'worms with that)

We also only have Mottled and White - any particular reason we've ignored Black and Blue/Pearl Grey?

This is a breed that I want to work on (because I never choose anything easy, apparently) but I certainly do not have the means to import birds. Trust me, I would in a second if I could! Are there any serious Large Fowl Houdan breeders on BYC?

In the meantime, have checked all the references that have been mentioned in this forum for quality Houdans and the last, Urch/Turnland Poultry, are sold out for this year. So, I'll play with the Ideal Poultry Houdans that I have now, and call back in November to get on their waitlist or whatever I need to do.

Yup - tons of questions. Hoping for answers!

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

many birds in Europe are totally different looking than their US counter parts. The standard is set by what is displayed by a min. of 5 breeders to the APA based on the original birds presented is how the standard is written if I'm not mistaken.
Many are slightly different
Crevecoeurs for example are white lobes, and a little differnt in type
sumatras have a hi tail like other roosters, here the have a near horizontal tail, etc....It's just the various ways breeds were developed over the world. Some one in France isnt going to make a breed off the same exact stuff some one in the US or Japan will, your standard to go by is the one in the country you live in, unless you plan to show overseas, LOL