D'uccle Thread

[HHandbasket]

I finally got good pictures of Portia, my porcelain d'uccle girl. It's not easy to get good pictures of chicks! I think the d'uccles hatched end of February/early March.

Here she is!

This weekend, we're getting her a boyfriend.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

What a doll! I can't believe that is how old she is. What a pretty girl.

 

[HHandbasket]

Ok, I just checked... according to DH's notes, she hatched the weekend of March 12/13.

 

[teddiliza]

Quote:
Oh good! Then they can have cute d'uccle babies in the future! It looks like you have welded wire fence bending over your run. I did that for my little coop that's got my 3 mille hens. Their escape talents haven't mastered it.

Soon I'm going to have to start picking and choosing who to keep and who not. Such a hard decision! But the little boys are starting to get hormonal and peck each other, so I can't wait too long. It's finally starting to warm up enough to where I feel like they'd be okay in the grower coop with a heat lamp. Right now, my speckled sussexes are in there.

 

[newgoosegirl]

Quote:
I commend you on researching the different breeds before deciding on a pet. You can't beat the right mille hen. I agree it is a good idea to hatch a dozen, keep your favorites, and sell the rest. After about 2 months their personalities really come out, so I would hold onto them at least that long. I think you'd be better with a pair of hens than a hen and a rooster if you are talking little ones, that way you don't have to worry about rooster possessiveness if your little sister should choose to pet the hen and accidentally made her squawk. A pair of hens would be better so that they can keep each other company when no one is around. Their is a Youtube video of someone who actually has a pet porcelain d'uccle rooster. He wears a diaper and dances around his toys, it cracks me up. If you don't have luck hatching eggs, you can still buy a small order from My pet chicken, or even Cackle is doing small orders now, and sell of the extras when they are older. 'My pet chicken' does offer sexed bantams at a high fee, but worth it if you want to decrease rooster #'s. Welcome to the d'uccle thread by the way! I love my d'uccles, they actually seek out attention compared to some of the other breeds I've owned which makes them such excellent poultry pets. Make sure you don't wear your Sunday best when you're around them for when they do want to fly up and perch on your shoulder.

Haha, it'll be a while before I can actually get anything so all I have to do is research.

Picking after two months sounds like a good idea, if that's when they show their personalities. I was thinking I would try and sell them to someone just after they were hatched, but that sounds like a much better idea.
Assuming, of course, that I manage to hatch more than a chick or two from 6-12 shipped eggs!
I thought about a pair but I'm not sure. We've had two birds that were raised together before, and they're really attached to each other, so that means that they would be that much less attached to anybody else. So far I think one chicken will be fine since I'm homeschooled and therefore at home a lot of the time, but I guess time, more research, and what I actually get will decide.
Ok. If we're talking two birds it would definitely be hens...You're right, don't want to get into rooster politics around kids/pets/people who are not me and might actually mind when a pet hurts them.

I'll have to look that video up! Sounds hilarious!

I knew My Pet Chicken did small orders, but Cackle does too now? I don't really want a hatchery d'uccle, but if I end up having trouble with eggs I'll check them out.

Thank you! This is a neat thread, I like finding out more about these guys. All the people who've said their d'uccles fly up to them like that have pretty much decided me on the breed.

You'll probably see more of me if I end up ordering eggs next year!

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Oh good! Then they can have cute d'uccle babies in the future! It looks like you have welded wire fence bending over your run. I did that for my little coop that's got my 3 mille hens. Their escape talents haven't mastered it.

Soon I'm going to have to start picking and choosing who to keep and who not. Such a hard decision! But the little boys are starting to get hormonal and peck each other, so I can't wait too long. It's finally starting to warm up enough to where I feel like they'd be okay in the grower coop with a heat lamp. Right now, my speckled sussexes are in there.

We have coops but no run. The welded wire is for something else & we just happened to put her there to take the shot.

 

[Doug the Chicken Man]

Here in Eastern Ontario yesterday was not a pleasant day.
60 MPH winds and lots of flying debris.
Loss of power to the incubators for 6 hours. DW had the incubators rapped in blakets by the time I got home. They were down to 80-85 by the time we got power back.
so we lost 4 D'Uccle chicks that were piping, and 2 dozen other eggs that should have been hatching over the next 4 days. Some were from Citron which is disappointing. When we candled them there is no movement in them.
We put them back in just in case they are going to make it.
When we candled the ones for next weekend they were still moving so that was good.

I must get pictures of the little black chicks from the lavender to mille fluer crossing. They are black but are getting brown markings on thier wings. Calculator says they should just be black.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
Thank you. Calculato told me the same thing. It was NOT what I got. If you start to get some gold lacing around the necks of some chicks (mostly on the ones without the red) then I will be dancing and you'll have duplicated my experience.

Really sorry bout your power outage. We had the asme thing last week, but luckily no one was pipping. I have 7 new chicks today that I expected would hatch 2 days ago (the day after the outage). So don't give up hope!

 

[teddiliza]

Well, I now have one d'uccle hen raising a brood, and I have another d'uccle hen gone broody ----and darned mad at me for trying to tell her otherwise

, so I broke down and gave her 3 Jersey Giant eggs!

I'm going to put her skills to the test!

Tomorrow I am rehoming one of my favorite porcelain d'uccles 'Cookie' because he developed a napoleon complex this year. He still likes to cuddle and be petted and perch on my arm, but gets so mad at me when I'm not paying attention to him, it is so weird. I think the 'too many roosters' thing has affected him. Right now I've got my sweetest natured one 'Bo' as the current man of the coop with my youngest porcelain hens, as I'm working on personality this year. I think the next broody hen is going to get some of Bo's bunch. I'd promised my hubby no more incubating, but broody hens don't count I told him.

 

[smoothmule]

Doug and all,
You might consider a battery back up, I have one for my computer. It's a battery that is plugged into the wall that continuously charges, checks itself and you plug the computer and anything else into it, it's also surge protection. They're under $100. I have my computer on it and behind me is another desk where my styrofoam incubator sits. The incubator and turner are plugged into the battery back up too and one guess to what will get unplugged first if the power goes down

It will power the computer nearly 8 hours and there is no delay like with an emergency generator so I figure if the incubator is the only thing on it, it would last even longer. I work in a surgery center and it's the exact same battery we use in the procedure room for our equipment to do scopes (colonoscopy and the other scopes) to protect our patients as well as the equipment during a power outage.....getting a scope out without seeing what you're doing is impossible and dangerous

Teddiliza,
Your hens sound lovely! I'm really liking the ones I got today and I'm looking forward to seeing them to maturity. I've already shared them with Teddiliza but I got my first D'Uccles today, a trio plus an extra cockerel (who will be culled if anyone wants a free pet).

Cathy