D'uccle Thread

[EggShells2013]

Have you heard of a Mille liking a Silkie?.....mine are attached to the Splash Silkie. Nots sure if they think she is their mother. But there is one that all times is with her. My Silkie is just a few weeks older.

 

[hdowden]

Have you heard of a Mille liking a Silkie?.....mine are attached to the Splash Silkie. Nots sure if they think she is their mother. But there is one that all times is with her. My Silkie is just a few weeks older.

no chicken discriminates against another (maybe we should take lessons from the LOL). they will mate and hang out with any other bird that will let them

 

[insanity]

no chicken discriminates against another (maybe we should take lessons from the LOL). they will mate and hang out with any other bird that will let them

I don't know about them not discriminating. My mixed flock is mostly made of pairs of breeds,2 wyandottes, 2 silkies 2 buff Brahmas, etc, All are the same age,purchased as day old, raised together, always kept together as a group. They stay in the breed pairs almost always. roosting, foraging, you always see them with their partner first.The few singles I have are paired with similar looking breeds ( speckled Sussex likes the Russian orlorf). when I first noticed it I thought it was weird. When I had to pick out ten to go to to another flock I separated some of the pairs. They acted like it was the end of the world. Squawked for days, then paired up with new similar looking hens. I know they run as a flock and will breed no matter what the breeds are but there is an obvious division by "race".

 

[Godiva]

They do seem to have preference,s though those can be over ridden very easily when it comes down to survival Our mille fleur d'Uccles were raised by a white silkie and adored her. When she (the silkie) died the two d'Uccle pullets stood over her and wouldn't allow any of the flock to pick on her until we found them later. They were also the only hens that would run with the black silkie roo we had and as a result we had some gorgeous cross breeds - like the roo in my avatar.

 

[insanity]

Last week I separated out my 1.3 mille fluer d'uccle, .1 leghorn and .1 silkie pullet. I built a pen inside my normal run ( 6 ft high ) just for them.Are d'uccles escape artists or something. I can't seem to keep them in. The leghorn and silkie stay put but not the others. Today I'll run some netting to see if it helps.

 

[hdowden]

I don't know about them not discriminating. My mixed flock is mostly made of pairs of breeds,2 wyandottes, 2 silkies 2 buff Brahmas, etc, All are the same age,purchased as day old, raised together, always kept together as a group. They stay in the breed pairs almost always. roosting, foraging, you always see them with their partner first.The few singles I have are paired with similar looking breeds ( speckled Sussex likes the Russian orlorf). when I first noticed it I thought it was weird. When I had to pick out ten to go to to another flock I separated some of the pairs. They acted like it was the end of the world. Squawked for days, then paired up with new similar looking hens. I know they run as a flock and will breed no matter what the breeds are but there is an obvious division by "race".

not here there is not they do have their faves, which look nothing alike, but they do not pair off like that one bit

 

[insanity]

Well, maybe my chickens are weird. Any ideas how to keep my d'uccles penned up? They seem to get out of every run I put them in even with the wings clipped.

 

[hdowden]

a completely enclosed area including top they are great fliers so can easily get out of a 6 foot pen with no top and if they can fit in an area they will get out.

 

[Metella]

Two completely different sets of my flocks coming from various places separate by color with the ability to choose.

I free range almost every day - so they really have room freedom .... I have a mixed flock, so they can't all pair by breed -and ALL OF THEM pair or trio up by COLOR ! They are racists! They do mate and eat and roost with all - so they don't seem be be hateful racists like our human species .... but they certainly prefer the saying: Birds of a feather, flock together.

And again - some are back yard mixes, some are hatchery and a small amount are expensive breeder ones - and this is from two different starting years of 4 years apart.

Perhaps if you are not seeing this in yours, they don't have too much extra space? when I leave them in the small run, they don't really pair up - they just mill around. The rooster is not afflicted with color choice. ha ha ha

 

[rachmickmurphy]

They do seem to have preference,s though those can be over ridden very easily when it comes down to survival   Our mille fleur d'Uccles were raised by a white silkie and adored her. When she (the silkie) died the two d'Uccle pullets stood over her and wouldn't allow any of the flock to pick on her until we found them later. They were also the only hens that would run with the black silkie roo we had and as a result we had some gorgeous cross breeds - like the roo in my avatar.

wow goreous your avatar. silkie would not of picked that. Does it have black skin