***Crevecoeur Thread***

[cluck-cluck]

Thank you, I got 10 pullets. I ordered 15, but they didn't have enough hatch. One got killed because Belina is a klutz and stepped on it full force the first day, it never recovered. She's made up for it since though, being a good mama to the rest. I'll be keeping 3 of them. Boy, one of them looked awful today! A serious case of the teenage uglies! LOL. I hadn't noticed before, but her wing feathers were long and the webbing hasn't escaped that membrane that holds it to the shaft, so she looked like she had sticks for feathers until the ends. where the web started to come out.

Other than that, I'm pleased with their size so far, they have heft to them and they're curious and not afraid of me. I need to take more pictures

Thank you for looking

 

[cluck-cluck]

LOL, my babies are hitting that ugly phase!



" What? It's my eyebrows!"



"I"m not a chicken, I'm an Ostrich!"

Actually, I'm a little worried the way those crests are coming in. The other birds I have had their crest come in Mohawk style, centered and they bloomed out from that point into a compact globular crest in my girls, but these... well, I hope they don't spread to the sides and end up like a polish crest. That would be the wrong look

Here are some rudimentary tails. They're very ^ shaped, so that would be nice if they stay that way.



"Who you callin' ugly?"



Seriously weird looking crests. Many of them have the two sides poking in, like eyebrows. One girl has strange feathers, they're coming in light grey/white and have the webs yet to escape the membrane that holds it to the shaft. Odd girl. I wonder how she'll look grown out?

 

[poularde]

I would be most concerned about all that yellow on their beaks/legs. They should have white skin. Look forward seeing chicks you get from Urch or Exop. I sure miss my boys. It is a lot quieter with them gone. My other roosters just do not crow as much.

 

[cluck-cluck]

I know, it's so hard in the city. I'm designing a sound reduced coop right now. I hope it will work so I can put the boys outside. It has to be better than the kitchen or I won't put them in it. They are stuck in the Kitchen most of the day because it isolates their crows a bit, and my husband works from home... so... I'm planning on wide double paned windows so they get plenty of light and a ventilation system. This way they can live without those diapers which they don't like. They do get some evenings with their ladies, but it's very limited.

To be honest, when I think of the numbers of chicks I'd have to produce to get somewhere, I just don't know if I can really make progress here. I've been working the plan over and over and over, and it frankly would take a lot more room than I can squeeze out. I'm seriously thinking of just getting Urch lines, and maintaining them until we can move to a place with room. This might be 2-3 more years. Might even be 6 more years if we stay here until the last kid finishes high school (ugh, hope not!).

Oh well, it was fun to plan... but I have to rain myself in I'm afraid. Hopefully I can get some Urch eggs in the winter/spring. It will be nice to finally see what the best available is like At least my hatchery bird was a good producer of eggs, so if it's the same for the McMurray pullets, I think it will be easy to sell them, which is what I was counting on all along

I'm still going to try to learn all I can, and when the time is right, I will hopefully be ready!

It's all learning, and I'm having fun, so that's the important thing, LOL. Also, There really isn't any objective information out there on hatchery stock, so at least now, we have two hatcheries covered and newbs like myself can at least get an idea of what's out there. (and satisfy curiosity, as well as make more informed decisions) I'll do the same with whatever I can hatch from Mr. Urch's lines

BTW, thanks for pointing out the beaks! Wow, they started out so dark, and went so yellow! Funny how I didn't notice! See? There is so much in front of my eyes, I become blind, LOL. Probably enjoying their silly antics too much, LOL

 

[cluck-cluck]

Update on McMurray Crevecoeur chicks

They have REALLY Polish looking crests! They act like Creves, in that from the first moment they came here, they were curious and adventurous, and seemed rather intelligent, but those crests are....no!





A few of them have more controlled crests, but they're only 6 weeks old, so if those also get wild do's, I may not keep any of them.... Still curious to see how big they get, though, and how well they'll lay, but, I'd rather have the Ideal birds and call them humongous bantams,

Also, some of the chicks I hatched at the end of April from my ideal birds look like they're getting pink lobes?? I can't wait to see if I get color in any of the female lobes???

I called Mr. Duane Urch and he said I could order eggs in November, so I'm counting the days.... LOL I want to see what the best available is like now, and I'll try to be honest, though I might exaggerate if I'm seriously hopeful and excited while they're chicks. However, the scale and adult pictures should be the final call there At least this thread will have a sampling of 3 sources, and I hope it helps someone

I can't wait until we cover Crevecoeurs on the CSU thread, because I feel certain that the drawings done in the SOP have WAY too large a crest, not flowing backwards enough. Not compact enough. The SOP picture looks almost polish, not quite, but almost. I'm confused by it.

Now, I don't want to breed to my own ideal, I want to breed to the SOP, but I need confirmation that the picture is indeed what everyone agrees is correct??

 

[cluck-cluck]

popping in to report that these chicks have ridiculous crests, they don't flow back. Also, as Poularde pointed out, the beaks and feet are not getting better. I thought my Ideal birds looked similar when they were babies, but not at this age, and I think the old pictures show they weren't as bad. My ideal birds grew up to have black legs and beaks.

I was prepared for them to be sub-par, but I'm disappointed that none of these are keepers. Only if one has red earlobes, would I consider keeping it. It's sad I hope I can re-home them easily.

I like the way my chicks from my existing birds are turning out except I have little hope for their size... The cockerels have a fuller crest, I think? And the girls look good too, but they're only 16 weeks old, and are way smaller than their mom still. My first time having two generations next to each other

So my recommendation is, go to Duane Urch or exop, if you want to breed Crevecoeurs, and work off of them. Of course that's what everyone was saying when I first popped in, LOL, but nobody stubborn as I am left a record showing what's out there. I'll post more pictures asap. I'm planning on putting them up for sale in another week or so. Belina is still protective of them, so I don't want to cause her stress by taking them all away from her until she's "sick of 'em" LOL.

 

[hstave]

I haven't introduced myself, so I'll start by showing off my Creve chick.12 weeks and she's already a nice size.
This is Foxy Brown.

 

[uglychickens]

Hi just a quick drop in... I currently only have NN's and am wanting another project... Does anyone know where I can get ahold of some ( non bantam ) down here in Texas? I'd prefer an older pullet or cockeral not chicks as my NN's can be quite mean! Maybe 18-20 weeks?

 

[cluck-cluck]

I'm sorry, what are NN's? I get so confused with abbreviations!

She is a cutie, hstave! Looks like a happy little girl! Is she getting along with the rest of your flock?

On a very very sad note, I'm devastated because our neighbor was so angry at hearing the birds, he came down and yelled at us. I honestly thought I had them plenty quiet? I don't know how he could hear the birds, in the house, in a dog crate with a blanket on them. They spent their whole day in the house, letting them out only in the evenings once every two weeks on Fridays. The neighbor's house is at least 50 feet away from ours (flag lot), and the neighbors on the other side are 10 feet away but hear nothing. So anyway, we ended up giving away all of our boys. Every last one.

I think my husband has a great book he is finishing, and if it sells, he promised me we'll move where I can raise chickens in solitude. I hope it'll be Washington, but it might be Texas (too hot for me though!) Well, for now I at least have my laying flock, and hopefully Duane Urch will still be in business when we move so I can get started on the right foot.

I guess I'm just another flaky start-up. I should have known I couldn't do this in the city

 

[uglychickens]

...

I'm sorry, what are NN's?  I get so confused with abbreviations!

NN's are Naked Necks otherwise known as Turkens