D'uccle Thread

[EgglandVest]

View attachment 1365552 View attachment 1365553 Shannon from Georgia, here. I’m not a seasoned d’uccle mom just yet and I need to ask y’all for some help. My Porcelain d’uccle, Gertrude, really loves yogurt! She plunges her beak into half of a cantaloupe filled with yogurt (no seeds), and throws her goofy head back (rather dramatically) as she guzzles it down, over and over , up and down, bobbing her head like...a chicken. When she finishes, she wipes her beak on the ground to clean away the yogurt. (How lady-like of her, right?!) However, as clever as she is, she apparently hasn’t figured out how to effectively clean. her. dang. beard!
The problem is, the yogurt and sandy soil have combined forces to create some sort of supernatural chicken-crete capable of holding together the Colosseum in Rome! HELP! What can I safely use to try to remove it? She’s not a show bird or anything, but she’s usually quite beautiful (see photo 1) and right now she looks like Pig-Pen from The Peanuts (see photo 2)! TIA

 

[SueT]

@EgglandVest ...I don't know how to clean it but she may clean it herself.....one of my leghorns had a torn comb and her head/face was covered in blood on one side. I treated the wound without cleaning her head, and next day her face was completely clean! As if it never happened.
But if she doesn't clean it, maybe give up yogurt....BTW, chickens LOVE cantaloupe seeds!

 

[HippyGardener]

My new breeding groups! <3 I've got a Mille Fleur pair and a trio of Porcelains. I don't yet have a good pic of the Porcelain cock.

These are the parent birds to the 20 split in the brooder that I posted a few comments up. The porcelain hens have slightly large combs, but the MF hen's is nice & small. And the Mille Fleurs don't have good feathering on the middle toes as the Porcelains do. I'm hoping the splits bred back to the Porc and to the MF's separately will fix both of those. Time will tell.

 

[cluck101]

Beautiful birds! How well do they lay?

They lay really good. Tiny but really good.

 

[cluck101]

What kind of temps do you all keep your D'uccles in the winter? Mine are house birds but because of wood heat the temps go from 50's to 80's. Right now they're in my son's electrically heated bedroom because it's pretty stable.

Northern Illinois here and they are kept outside with the other birds. They do just fine.

 

[cluck101]

So how exactly do you pronounce d'uccle.

I'm inclined to say Duh Uncle, but I'm sure that's not right.

Du clay.

 

[cluck101]

Quote:

Oh dear

again I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you're in the wrong breed if you're looking for a sweet, loving, maternal little broody. You should have gotten into Silkies, or Cochins. It is highly unlikely that you'll ever get one of your hens to go broody. I've just never heard of it, or at least not as a general rule, and if they do they won't stay that way, they'll abandon the nest or they'll fail to raise the chicks if they would happen to manage to sit the nest; they just don't make moms. Sorry

As far as laying is concerned, some of that may depend on where you're located. If you got chicks in March or April, you might be able to expect them to lay in November if you lived in So. California or the South someplace where it is warm and they can stay outside, but for the most part it is totally dependent on the amount of daylight. If you provide artificial light you can force them to start laying in the fall because they are in truth old enough, it's just that the season isn't right. Many hens born in the spring, unless they are egg machines, won't lay until the following year just because of the number of hours of light in the day. I had a couple of day old mid-March pullets that didn't start laying until this January. However, the second that the days began to lengthen, they began to lay. I live in OHIO! The weather has been a nightmare here, bitter cold, snow up to your Adams-apple, but they started to lay and they really cranked 'em out, one a day - until I sold them a week ago.
teddiliza, I see that you've got one a hen that is acting broody. Good luck! and keep us posted. She will be a VERY unusual hen if she sets her eggs and also a hen that you would want to continue to breed to and encourage that line. What I am trying to say is, hang on to the babies and watch how they do also. Do any of the hens from her exhibit broodiness? Broodiness is an inherited trait and if in fact she would happen to succeed in setting and raising chicks (I'm sceptical), but IF she does you would want to hang on to those babies and try to encourage that trait in your line.
Of course all of this is IMHO

Mine go broody all the time and have raised their own.

 

[cluck101]

I need help sexing my D'uccles chicks. If anyone has time please check out the link. Thanks!!


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=320279

Wait a couple weeks. It doesn’t take long for the little combs to turn red and grow for those little boys.

 

[cluck101]

Thanks. Is lavender the same as blue genetically, or do 2 lavenders make lavender? I have eggs in the bator now that are lavender, mille fluer, porcelain, and mottled. I'm so excited to have more of these sweet little birds!

Did you find an answer? I have read that in US we call Self Blue which is Lavender.

 

[SueT]

Du clay.

Someone said they asked a judge at a poultry show how to pronounce it and he said, "we say de-ookle." I don't know how widespread this Americanized version is...