Do you have Salmon Faverolles birds? What color are their beards?

[ybmagpye]

I ordered 4 Faverolle hen-chicks, received and fell in love with the little things when they were one day old. Now at 38 days two, which is half of my flock, have black beards! Does this mean my four future egg layers are 2 hens and 2 roos or do I have the four young hens I ordered (from mypetchicken.com)?

I know there is variety in breeds, but did the hatchery completely screw up and send me two roosters???

I'm freaking out! Please, tell me, can Faverolles hens have black beards (muffs)????

Here's a description of the suspect roos - they, unlike the other two, have chestnut breasts, the black muffs/beards. They are largely chestnut in color.

The other two birds, which I am totally sure are hens, are completely white underneath and are growing white muffs/beards. No doubt in my mind the pair are hens.

Here's a photo of Colette, she and the other maybe-roo bird are pretty much the same. Her black beard wasn't visable just one day ago. Darned but they grow fast!

One more thing - the obviously hen birds have white-ish legs feet.
The two suspect birds have yellow feet. All four have white-ish leggings.

 

[keesmom]

Some hatchery pullets have a lot of black ticking in the beards and chest. What color are the wing feathers and body feathers?

-Cindy

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

The beard on my chicken is white or a very light buff color and very fuzzy

 

[keesmom]

If they are mostly chestnut in color then they are pullets. I had one from Meyer (and MPC gets some birds from them) that was a chestnut color with splashes of black on the breast and beard. Now if the wings and breast are black then that's another thing. Then you'd need to think roo.

-Cindy

 

[ybmagpye]

Cindy! Thank you! I'm hopeful that my two suspect birds are just off-colored hens. I don't care what color they are or if they have black beards, pirate eye patches and squawk like parrots as LONG as they are hens!

Yesterday they had no beards, just fluff, now today there are those sudden black feathers. They change so much from one day to the next, I'm frantic about this and v. upset.

I just took and posted a photo of one of the suspect birds in my first post of this thread.

I keep editing my posts - sorry if that is a bad thing to do, but I'm so flippin' frantic about the sudden possibility of having 50% of my hens turn out to be roos!

Back story: I ordered four hen chicks and got 2 that were buttery yellow, and two with a cute cinnamon tinge to their yellow.

A few days ago, as I had planned all along, I gave away one white breasted (obviously hen) chick to good friends, keeping the runt chick (which I had been so sure was going to die but survived, knock on wood) who is white chested and female for sure.

The remaining 2 of my 3 birds are the ones I'm freakin' over. *takes deep healing breathes... they are PULLETS with black facial fuzz, they are PULLETS with black facial fuzz....*

 

[keesmom]

That is definitely a pullet. The boys would be almost black all over.

This isn't the best picture but here's a bantam faverolle boy.

Black breast, lighter hackles. Both would be obvious by now if you had a boy.

-Cindy

 

[ybmagpye]

Thank you keesmom! Not having raised chicks to full adulthood before, I thought maybe the roos look like hens for a while or something. I've been searching all over the web, and found some photos (plus your photo THANKS!) and now feel secure.

So, my hens are hens, but I swear, this is the run down folks.

I ordered four Faverolle hens that came from some hatchery in Ohio.

The upshot is 1 true-to-type hen (which I gave away DUH!), 2 mahogany 'sport' hen Faverolles (bet their eggs taste the same as the fancier buff chested hen).

There is a final mystery, but I think I'll stuff her into a different post. Thank you! Will definately sleep better tonight.

 

[keesmom]

You definitely have girls.

Though if you ever decide to get a roo then get a faverolle boy. Nice, easy going roos.

-Cindy

 

[ybmagpye]

*Whew!*

Thanks again Cindy.

I think I had in my head that the roos go through a juvenile phase before they get into their adult plumage. That's the way many wild birds get their feathering, and being a birder, I thought that's how the domestics do it too.

My girls will look a bit weird with black beards, but hey, those French like hairy legs and arm pits too, so what's a little girly beard among friends, eh?

 

[BarkerChickens]

That is definitely a girl! Hatcheries don't breed for great color, but rather great egg production. Roos will have A LOT of black, whereas, the girls have hardly any if at all. Here is my salmon faverolle roo:

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pics of my hens, but they are definitely a peachy, cream and tan color...opposite of my roo!