Chicken Breed Focus - Fayoumi

[microchick]

Yes, mine are flighty but if I go into the coop with a crust of bread and look down, the first eager faces peering up at me expectantly are the EF hens. They will eat out of my hand but yeah, try to give any one of them a pat in passing and well, if I move real fast and pet really gentle they only scream like I'm chopping off their heads with a dull axe for a few seconds while they race out of the range of the evil human hand that dared to touch them.

 

[BleuSaphir]

I like how they have a domestic looking coloring but a wild feral like personality. lol

 

[BleuSaphir]

I want them regardless of their skittish nature. I think they are SO beautiful looking birds!

 

[sjango]

I have two Fayoumis and they are the best free rangers and have personality plus! I love them for their wild nature. They enjoy hanging out with me as I do yard work, though they aren’t ones to be cuddled. Fabulous birds.

 

[microchick]

I have four Fayoumis at the moment, one rooster and three hens. I bought them primarily to their resistance to Marek's, having that nasty disease in my flock and while mine aren't the cuddliest chickens on the earth I love them dearly. The girls are all sass and brass and the rooster, Tut, is just a sweetheart.

I want more!

 

[sjango]

How is it that Egyptian Fayoumi still aren't in the APA? No one has ever tried getting them certified? This baffles me.

 

[sjango]

I have kept them in Southern California where it gets below freezing, they are fine as long as they have each other to keep warm.

 

[Krisitne]

Good luck with your EFs! Hope you'll post photos in the spring. They'll love free ranging and their screeches will make it sound like you live millions of years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. If you have close neighbors, be sure to drop off some earplugs and fresh eggs to keep their good will lol.

@microchick is breeding EFs with other resistant breeds to raise Mareks resistant chickens with success. I also think that with good biosecurity, etc., you may never develop Mareks in your flock. Mareks came to our flock through an unethical local breeder who knowingly sold infected chicks.

lol this ought one be interesting. Part of the reason I want them is because they are loud though

 

[microchick]

A little off topic but you have to remember that when dealing with Marek's, bio security only goes so far. The disease is transported in on dander shed by other birds, either wild or domestic that are carrying the disease. It's in the wind and the wind is...well...everywhere. you cannot stop it from blowing across your property and carrying with it any old disease potential that it wants to.

I read a lot about it and had a chill when it dawned on me just how prevalent Marek's is and how impossible it is to keep it away from your flock.

Marek's is everywhere. And while resistant doesn't mean immune, it means well, resistant. Which is the good thing about Fayoumi genetics. Oh sure, any bird can get Marek's disease and don't kid yourself. Your flock has been exposed. The key is with whether or not your birds have built up resistance to the strain of the disease is in your area.

I would love to read the studies they have been doing trying to figure out why Fayoumis are resistant to MD. One thing I did read was the speculation that the birds, as a breed, are more closely related to wild fowl than domesticated and specialized breeds of chickens are. I haven't read about jungle fowl being more or less susceptible which would be interesting to look up.

 

[BleuSaphir]

Fayoumi are not the only breed from Egypt resistant to the Marek disease. Dandarawi fowl are also quite resistant to the disease.