D'uccle Thread

[teddiliza]

I like your funky blue cockerel. You should keep him!

 

[wegotchickens]

Sorry LH. Mom's here and I caught enough flak from DH as I posted pics, so I didn't dare watch any videos. Will see if they'll load while I'm at work tomorrow, unless they bury me under paperwork.... I took a 1/2 day Friday to start driving to the show.
If you came for a visit you could see the new birds

Otherwise you'll have to wait and see if I hit the Selbyville show in May, so you can see him then.

I had the only goldneck shown, so she did just fine. But I sold off my butterscotch. Just not enough time/space for another project. I'll have the goldnecks (trio), and can head that way again if I want.

I've been thinking a lot about what Ronnie told me as we discussed colors; We've lost recognized colors. Buffs & blues show up, but aren't being dependably bred. And we appear to have completely lost gray. He loves the challenge of new colors, but was thinking that maybe we should also work towards bringing back colors that were already recognized in the breed. It's a very valid point. After seeing blues and silver milles, I'm thinking grays would be gorgeous!
He agreed that I could label my blues 'lemon blue' but encouraged me to breed out the gold smut and get to actual blues. Then I could show them. I see his point; I have limited space and should breed to show and earn points. Won't stop me from playing with the silvers though

But for now, I'll stick with my current 'rainbow' assortment of d'Uccles. My goal is to have a pair of birds in each color to show this year, even if I can't always take everybody to every show.


My new black roo had an attitude this afternoon, and bit me more than once. So we had a 'talk'. Mom was laughing at us and said, "He's going to have to get used to being loved on!"
I said, "No, he has to get used to me being the boss! The 'loved on' is just the icing on the cake."

About an hour after I had a little talk with him, I picked him up and gave him a chance to give me attitude. He didn't. Mom laughed again. He got some manna pro as a treat.
I'm thinking about naming him Auriga (aw-RYE-guh). It means charioteer, and is a constellation. He reminds me of the big stallions from the King Arthur movie (the one with Kiera Knightley in it). I need to get better pictures, since the one I posted doesn't do him justice.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
Not sure about that. Do you know the dates/city? Is it a d'Uccle meet?

I'm trying to hit a d'Uccle show per month so that I can earn some points. The info for the January show wasn't turned in

Ronnie will make sure that it's turned in for this show though.

He also recommended that I hit some NC shows, and the nationals this year. Am looking at possibilities for those. May have a conflict for the Nationals though

 

[Cetawin]

Well hope you can see them soon....I intended to put the project girl out with Spike and his girls and ease Jet back with the silkies because they have been cage companions since I lost the other projects. Well she and Spike hated each other and were fighting constantly so I had to put project girl in with the silkies. So looks like no Porcelain over Project girl. hahahahaha

 

[shelleyd2008]

Looks like the auctions worked, the only one not spoken for is my mille fleur boy

Hopefully I can find him a good home.

 

[teddiliza]

I'm feeling so guilty. I am really making an effort to downsize my chickens, and I have 2 porcelain d'uccle boys that aren't making the cut. I'm getting rid of one because despite his good looks and best of breed in last fall's show (which only had 7 d'uccles -- 4 of which were mine), his shoulder feathering has got that linear bare spot. Plus, he's flighty and doesn't like me petting him. Not much of a loss for me personally, as I'm breeding for temperment FIRST. My other little guy, while fine and tame with me, has a poor comb, the bare spot (linear) on his shoulder/wing feathers, and turns into an Airforce Jet waiting to bomb any other chicken he encounters. It's really funny watching him round up the Jersey's like a herding dog. But, it is not good for longterm peace and breeding. Plus the little turd nipped me twice this week- which makes me think he has an aggressive streak. My husband is planning on making chicken soup out of them. I'm really worried about tomorrow, because the pecking order will be all shaken up. I have all my birds moved in to 2 coops as of tonight, so that way I can reclaim my yard again and not have to step in chicken poop everytime I go out my patio door. It was fine for winter so they could forage, and we weren't outside without our boots on anyhow, but I really don't want my kids running around and getting nasty shoes when it gets nicer outside. So I have my younger rooster 'Sugardaddy' and his porcelain and mille hen, who I just moved in with 'Beau' and his ladies, and removed Beau's competition from the coop (replacing him with Sugardaddy). I hope I"m not making a mistake. I told my husband I had to get up at the crack of dawn so I could open the chicken doors to allow the roosters to run and hide from each other if need be. I ALSO moved my 4 Jersey Giants into my big coop with my 5 Langshan hens and my older d'uccles. I let them all run around the yard together today as an introduction. It was hilarious earlier today, watching a little d'uccle hen challenge a blue Jersey hen. The Jersey hen was intimidated at first, but then chased my little d'uccle hen (who started it) back to the run. I've been debating whether I'm going to show this spring. I like being able to raise a young brood, then show them in the fall which helps me decide who to keep. I'm going to post a few pics in a minute of the 3 roosters in my other coop to see if you all can help me decide of them who to breed and who to sell. All 3 are good boys, and not nippy or flighty.

 

[teddiliza]

Quote:
Not sure about that. Do you know the dates/city? Is it a d'Uccle meet?

I'm trying to hit a d'Uccle show per month so that I can earn some points. The info for the January show wasn't turned in

Ronnie will make sure that it's turned in for this show though.

He also recommended that I hit some NC shows, and the nationals this year. Am looking at possibilities for those. May have a conflict for the Nationals though

It is April 16th in Sedalia Missouri. I wonder if we could get it arranged to be a d'uccle meet, then I might actually consider bringing my younger ones so you all can give me some pointers!

 

[teddiliza]

Okay, of these three who has the best body type? I tried to get my pics which had upright postures. 3 different roosters. Ignore the foot feathering part of it.

Oh, and does anyone have a photo of what a d'uccle's wingfeathers are 'supposed' to look like for show? You can see on the top rooster how he has a grey wing feather that 'sticks' out on my mind in the front of his wing.

Each has their good points and bad. The bottom has the 'bare spot' line on his wing, the middle has one wattle that is slightly larger than the other- even though it's hardly noticeable, and the top has more bleeding of white in his feathers.

Thanks!

 

[Cetawin]

Well I am not a judge but I know what I like....I like #3 for body and carriage.


Shelleyd ... why are you selling the MF boy if I may ask? Got his pretty picture?

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I'm selling all my d'uccles, I need to thin down on my birds/breeds and they didn't make the cut.