Houdan

I got two Houdan pullets from a local farm. They are gorgeous and sweet tempered birds, but I won’t add more of them to my flock. Easy to handle and chilled (submissive, really) with flock members, these birds forage surprisingly well considering their limited field of vision. Unfortunately, their egg production is terrible. I have two 9 month old pullets: one laid 17 pearly white eggs late last summer and then stopped. The other has yet to produce an egg. With the days getting longer in 2026, other birds are starting to lay, but not the Houdans. I’m glad I gave them a try, the add lovely visual variety to my bird yard, but I’ll focus on breeds with a more robust gene pool.

We have two gorgeous Houdans, Dorothy and Peppa. Neither is show quality but both are such sweet, quiet chickens. Dorothy has bright yellow legs. Peppa just has the top knot and not the beard but her top knot is all white at the back which looks very cute (especially when she gets a bit damp in the rain and it goes spikey). We keep them with four Old English Game Bantams and two Bantam Wyandottes. They have caused no trouble during introductions (which were very short) and they all get along very nicely. Dorothy's little shadow is our smallest chicken, a mis-marked/unusually coloured OEGB and Dorothy doesn't mind a bit. I love their low voices and Dorothy starts honking at me as soon as she hears me coming - I do think she is queen of the coop. Peppa is very quiet and sweet and they both tolerate, with eternal patience, being caught and cuddled by our kids. We travelled a long way to get them (it was a six hour round trip) but it was totally worth it as they have been adorable additions to our little flock.

I have two Mottled Houdans that were sold to me as Mottled Javas. It was quite OK with me as our chickens are pets and we don't plan to breed or anything. Tink and Leah were handled extensively by myself andf my 3 year old daughter and they seemed to love it. They learned their names quickly and run/fly across the yard or street or wherever they have wandered when we call them. They are crazy good foragers. They still (at 9 months old) squeeze through the bars of our fence to forage in our front yard....neighbors yards... across the street on city land.... totally crazy. They have both started laying before my other breeds who are older (RIR, speckled sussex, and cochins) and lay reliably every other day...about 3-4 medium white eggs per week. At lay, Tink became crazy. She pecks us (hard) on feet and bites if she gets the chance when we are in the yard. With her crazy poofed head feathers she is easy to pick up and put back in the run as she can't really see me coming from behind. I have to put her in the run while my kids are in the yard (unless she if out foraging like a crazy chicken). She will be fine and friendly and then turn and attck boots/legs the next. I am thinking of changing her name to Sybil. Leah on the other hand, is the sweetest gal and bottom of the pecking order. They both love to be held, which was a surprise to me. I think they are great additions to my flock (other than the days of bites from Tink) and they are laying even though it is winter and the days are so short.