D'uccle Thread

[wegotchickens]

I find that if they grow up together and stay together they are okay. I separated mine for breeding this year and now they are not so okay They try to fight through the fencing, so I'm sure when they get free it will be ugly. I'll have to supervise the reintroduction and make sure no one gets seriously hurt while they sort it out. As for silkies, I can't peak for all of them, but mine are really gentle and non dominant. They hang out by themselves and no other chickens bug them. I'm not sure the others know what to make of them. One of my silkie roos is really "special". Sometimes he tries to confront the dog and when he jumps at her, he just falls over backwards. Are mine weird, or are they all like that? Sorry to bring up silkies here, but it seems like a lot of D'uccle people have silkies too......

Sometimes being raised together makes them all get along, but after 'puberty' I usually put all the girls in one pen and all the boys in another. I find that once the hormones kick in, the boys are gonna fight/ spar with one another. Sometimes one is dominant and the others submissive, and they get along. But I've had some that beat each other bloody.

My silkies can be just as bad. Falling over backwards seems to be normal for silkie roos. I think their blance is weird from all that head fluff. And they definitely can also fight if the dominant roo decides he doesn't like the others. Like people, I think they have to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Interesting note: I donated some mf eggs to a local school science class. The babes went home with some students. One young man ended up with 3 roosters from his chicks. He has no hens at all, no hens in his area to tempt the roos or cause 'urges'. Two of the roos get along fine, but the third beats the daylights out of the other 2 all the time, and had to be penned up all alone. All three were raised together, handled the same from the start by their doting owner.

 

[wegotchickens]

Okay first off, sorry for all the pics but I am a little confused on my girls coloring... She is one month old today and still has barely any comb so yes, I'm sticking with girl

She is supposed to be splash.. but looks like her feathers are coming in more like a Mille.. I'm totally new to D'uccles and their colors so please correct me if I'm wrong...




She started off as mostly yellow with a few black spots and black foot feathering. Now this is coming in. Ive seen pics of splash D'uccles and they look nothing like this... Am I just going crazy? lol

And this is why I say girl. No comb growth in the past 3 weeks I've had her, and it's still pale, no darkening at all... Now if I only had that kind of luck with the three silkies she is rooming with

This was her two weeks ago.

Millie. Thought so when I saw the baby pics, but am sure now.
I have a splash hen, and she started off looking like a not-quite-right white, before she got her few black markings.

 

[wegotchickens]

I am having one heck of a time trying to get me some porcelain d'uccles and its really agrivating i have found a few local breeders the first one they just sold their breeder trio i was like ugh..... then i found another his whole flock of all his d'uccles were killed by a pitbull the night before.... ugh!!!! so i found another guy just posted an ad today i call and he is like i have none available or eggs or anything they went broody.... ugh so I WANT PORCELAINS and can not find any..... can anyone help me???

I accidentally end up with some from time to time, as an offshoot of a breeding project. Type is awesome, but I don't know if the color will be show-quality, though, because I always sell them. They're my least-favorite d'Uccle color. I'm actually selling a pair tomorrow at the Shelbyville show in KY. I have a couple more that are chicks, that I will try and sell at a Hayesville NC swap June 2nd.

I'm wondering if my splash girl is throwing them, since she's in with a mille fleur roo right now. I have 2 'project' girls and am hatching a clutch of their eggs under a broody so that I can pinpoint what they throw from mf. Later they'll be put in with black d'Uccl roo for the same reason. I was really hoping my splash girl would throw me a blue or 6.... Having seen blue d'Uccles in person, I would LOVE to have some!!!!

 

[teddiliza]

Ah yes, there is the porcelain heritage coming out! Now you can provide some porcelains to peeps in your area! That is so cool you got 3 of each! I have so many broodies raising chicks right now it's crazy with all my 'broody' cages. Still love the babies though! It will be hard deciding who stays and who goes!

Hey Teddi- I hatched some of my MFd'Uccle eggs and Look what I got....

Three little porcelain beauties!!!!!! the other three are MilleFleur! ALL CUTE!

 

[teddiliza]

Good question..... I am kinda in the same boat.

They'll be fine unti puberty hits, when the hen's combs start turning red. that's when they'll start getting into it. But not all males fight with each other if one is submissive.

 

[teddiliza]

What color silkies? I'm showing a couple of those & a showgirl.
I hope someone else shows d'Uccles. I hate it when I'm the only one!!

I feel your pain! For the last 2 Missouri shows I went to, I was the only grown up with d'uccles. The juniors are starting to appreciate this bird though!

 

[teddiliza]

teddi crystal (the porcelain) laid her first egg today my lil girl is so happy her chicken laid an egg and both my kids are wanting to incubate the eggs already lol.

Yay! Seems like it takes forever before they do! Tell the kids to wait till the eggs are bigger so you don't end up with tiny squished chicks trying to grown in too small an egg.......My mille chicks out of 'Bruce' and one of my favorite hens hatched this week. Will keep you posted on how they turn out. I have a broody team raising them & 4 more porcelains.

 

[teddiliza]

How old are they? They both look like girls to me.

I think they are both girls too, the lighter color tends to be more females.

 

[PoultryPower]

I have a porcelain D'uccle, I'm not really sure how old she is but she just started laying. I got her around February and I don't know if this is her first time laying or if she was just still adjusting to her new surroundings.

I'm going to show her in a couple weeks at my local fair. I was wondering if you guys think she has a shot or if she is not breed standard. I had to wash her a couple weeks ago and wasn't able to get all the soap out of her beard apparently so when i blow dried her her beard got stuck together in parts. Also she was attacked by my other standard chickens so she is missing some points on her comb. She is now separate from them because they really hate her....a lot....Anyways, here's some pictures of her.

Re posting this because I didn't really get any answers about her.

 

[Indigosands]

Hello! I have a couple questions I wanted to ask about this particular breed since I'm considering adding a few to my flock. I live in the desert in Southern California and my dh and I are concerned that they may not survive the heat. How heat-tolerant are d'uccles? My other question is how well do they fly with a clipped wing? I free range my flock currently but if they were to go over the 6' fence next door with the neighbors 4 nasty dogs they'd be goners. Thanks for the input!!