D'uccle Thread

[joanie_maine]

how do you pronounce mille fleur?

Meal Flurr

 

[TexasChick09]

I finally remembered to grab a photo of my juvenile porcelain roo. He's an odd little bird and flies all over like crazy. Here he is hiding in the hay barn. I would have tried to get a better photo, but after the camera went off, he took off flying back to his pen.

 

[dsfrango]

Ok, I just finished reading all 580 pages. Some real gems of info tucked away in this thread.

Doug in Canada, do you have updated pictures of your Citron project? I don't remember how you got started on that color - it's so incredibly beautiful that I think lots of us here would also like to try breeding for it.

Hdowden, so you are working towards a d'Uccle with the silkie feathers? How interesting! I'm not fond of my single Silkie chick, either in looks or temperament, but I know I'm in the minority on that. The pictures of your little babies look very sweet, and I really like the black color on the chicks.

Someone here has a "penguin" chick - what another BYCer called the cutest thing in the world - what does that baby look like now? Mstricer (I'm sorry I know I am spelling it wrong). I believe is the owner?

Waiting eagerly here for more pictures of all your pretty birds, everyone!

Wow!...you actuallyread/skimmed all of this thread! I only skimmed through all the pics when I first got into D'uccles last year but NOT read it.....

to you!!

 

[phoebs]

I love the black ones. I have a little silkie mutt that looks like a crested black d'uccle. She's my favorite, and the reason I got d'uccles, trying to get another hen like her.

yer they are lovley birds i would like to see a pic of this gorgous sounding silkie

 

[kristip]

Hi,

I am hoping you guys can help me with some info on D'uccles. They are gorgeous and I have a mille fleur d'uccle pullet that is close to POL. My neighbor is getting out of d'uccle that he has been breeding for 20 some years. I saw them yesterday adn fell in love. Dont have alot of space right now. But...

Can you tell me how loud roosters tend to be? (I only want one rooster of a bantam breed that is fairly gentle.. I currently have a silkie that is nice to the ladies but not my kids)
Are there colors that are more desired. Would you only get a roo of the same color type as the girls? He had lavenders(only sex linked to his roos)red/white and mille fleur and maybe a mille fleur blue.
Hens he had a gorgeous 2 year old black and white mottled, mille fleur, mille fleur blue, a yellow and white and a red and white.
Most of those were juveniles. WOuld you get the older gorgeous bird or the younger, yet to fully develop birds?

thanks

 

[CFellows]

Hi,

I am hoping you guys can help me with some info on D'uccles. They are gorgeous and I have a mille fleur d'uccle pullet that is close to POL. My neighbor is getting out of d'uccle that he has been breeding for 20 some years. I saw them yesterday adn fell in love. Dont have alot of space right now. But...

Can you tell me how loud roosters tend to be? (I only want one rooster of a bantam breed that is fairly gentle.. I currently have a silkie that is nice to the ladies but not my kids)
Are there colors that are more desired. Would you only get a roo of the same color type as the girls? He had lavenders(only sex linked to his roos)red/white and mille fleur and maybe a mille fleur blue.
Hens he had a gorgeous 2 year old black and white mottled, mille fleur, mille fleur blue, a yellow and white and a red and white.
Most of those were juveniles. WOuld you get the older gorgeous bird or the younger, yet to fully develop birds?

thanks

That sounds like a great opportunity! D'Uccles are very small birds and therefore their crow is very small as well. In my experience d'Uccles are very gentle, I have never seen a mean d'Uccle. As far as color is concerned, I think that is a personal choice. If you like variety then get a variety, if there is one color that stands out to you then stick with that color.

With the older birds you know what you are getting and as long as you have a rooster you can always make more babies. If you go with the younger birds you will have to wait for eggs and to see their adult feathers. So I would go with mature birds.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[hdowden]

some updated pics


100% d'uccle



75% d'uccle and 25% silkie beard is growing in but has been plucked out







50% d'uccle and 50% silkie

 

[wegotchickens]

Hi,

I am hoping you guys can help me with some info on D'uccles. They are gorgeous and I have a mille fleur d'uccle pullet that is close to POL. My neighbor is getting out of d'uccle that he has been breeding for 20 some years. I saw them yesterday adn fell in love. Dont have alot of space right now. But...

Can you tell me how loud roosters tend to be? (I only want one rooster of a bantam breed that is fairly gentle.. I currently have a silkie that is nice to the ladies but not my kids)
Are there colors that are more desired. Would you only get a roo of the same color type as the girls? He had lavenders(only sex linked to his roos)red/white and mille fleur and maybe a mille fleur blue.
Hens he had a gorgeous 2 year old black and white mottled, mille fleur, mille fleur blue, a yellow and white and a red and white.
Most of those were juveniles. WOuld you get the older gorgeous bird or the younger, yet to fully develop birds?

thanks

Are you just wanting pretty pet birds, or do you want future showbirds & purity for selling hatching eggs someday?
If you just want pretty pets, go with an assortment.

If you want birds that you can show, and get a good price when selling hatching eggs, then pick a variety and get a breeding set of that variety as well as a couple of young birds in that variety. Then you have a current flock with future breeders. Also, if you want to show, go with the approved colors like self-blue (lavender), black, white, goldneck, mille fleur, and mottled (black). Other varieties, while pretty, will not win you a lot of points at any show.

Hope this helps!

 

[JulieNKC]

It's my understanding that the APA Standard of Perfection also includes bantams, at least our hardcover book did. Since I am still learning about D'Uccles I still take my book out to the pens with me when it is time to sort the birds as prime choice and back-up birds for breeding and showing.

Thank you~

Good for you! That's exactly what you should be doing. In addition you might want to consider taking your Standard to some shows & compare your understanding to the birds that win. It's easy to get "barn blind", that's when your birds all start to look better to you than they really are, [another version is when all your birds look like junk to you but they aren't]. Another good learning tool while at those shows is to talk to the breeders of the winning birds, many of them are great resources & most love to talk about their birds.

Great information!

yer they are lovley birds i would like to see a pic of this gorgous sounding silkie

This is my little silkie/possibly mixed with d'uccle that made me want to get d'uccles. I would love some black d'uccles someday, she's our favorite little girl.

Are you just wanting pretty pet birds, or do you want future showbirds & purity for selling hatching eggs someday?
If you just want pretty pets, go with an assortment.

If you want birds that you can show, and get a good price when selling hatching eggs, then pick a variety and get a breeding set of that variety as well as a couple of young birds in that variety. Then you have a current flock with future breeders. Also, if you want to show, go with the approved colors like self-blue (lavender), black, white, goldneck, mille fleur, and mottled (black). Other varieties, while pretty, will not win you a lot of points at any show.

Hope this helps!

Is the splash mille golden neck version showable or just the dominant white one? I really want blue mille's, but was wanting to show so hoping I could show the regular and splash one's I would get form breeding.

 

[coffeekittie]

Well, as you can tell, I am not a good photographer, plus I think I have the world's oldest digital camera. But I wanted to contribute more pictures of some of my birds, since you all are being so nice as to show yours!

Taking some of the knowledge I obtained from reading through all the posts up to this point (it did take a while, and I've unfortunately forgotten some of the good bits already), I redid my d'Uccle's little pen. I now have it covered in pine shavings, put together a nifty little gravity crumble feeder from ABS pipe for them, and built a sort-of coop. I still need to replace the branches I gave them to roost on with 2x4s so they will stop sleeping in a heap on the ground. I also gave them a pan with sand mixed with DE for dust baths which they aren't using.

The ground here is so hard due to being pretty much all clay, that I think that's why their foot feathers are all tattered, not to mention that the ground in their pen is lined with chicken wire. With the softer shavings, already new, long (!) feathers are growing in, including on the all-important middle toe.

I so appreciate the information that has been shared here. I recommend going through the entire thread to anyone new to these birds - I've learned tons.

After the new feathers on their feet have grown in, I'll take more pictures (maybe borrow a decent camera) and post them for any evaluation people care to make.