D'Uccles...Tell Me Something...

[Guitartists]

CityGirlintheCountry said it right... A DIVA!!!!! That's the word! LOL

 

[Robin'sBrood]

I don't have a d'Uccle roo, only pullets (who are very sweet but like to fly and escape -- one was on the roof of our house once

) so I can't answer the roo question but check out Leon

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you for all the good information, folks. I sure know what a chicken diva is! My Blue Orpington hen, Velvet, may she rest in peace, was my fluffy blue diva. I'd say her name and ask when she was going to give me another egg this week and she'd look up at me with this expression in her eyes that just said, "I'm too pretty to lay eggs!".
Your birds are all so pretty. I love the Porcelain color more than all of the rest, but they are all beautiful birds.

 

[pbjmaker]

I have 7 D'Uccles - one of them a porcelain roo the rest are mille fleur. My only roo of the bunch that crows isn't real loud, but he sure is proud. None of my roos (3) are agressive to me or the baby cochins I have in my yard. In fact the hens like to peck at them more than the roos, but none of them are mean. I have to laugh when they try to stand down my RIR roo. They run up to him fluff up real big (in their mind anyways) like they are gonna chest bump then turn tail and run cuz they know whats comin' next.

None of mine lay yet and they are the only birds I didn't hatch myself so I cant speak to egg size. Ask me again in a couple of weeks when I get some more millie eggs from Mrs, AK-Bird Brain.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Spreading the love of Millies everywhere!

Out of all the breeds I have, Silkies are the broodiest. Millies are second, but they are easily deterred. They DO like to roost high, BTW... I "lost" my two girls a couple of nights in a row, only to find that they were 8' up and roosting on the cross-bars of the pens.

Had to wire it in afterall.
BUT... they are the sweetest things ever. Our roo (also Tyson!

) is very vocal, and sounded like a squeeky toy when he first started to crow. Very lovable... he's momma's boy.

Millie eggs are small... almost considered "pee wee"... about half the size of a large egg. And softly tinted peach color... at least mine are.

 

[shmooborp]

heres one of mine! they are really cool

 

[the simple life]

I have the porcelain and the milles mixed in with the silkies.They are their own little flock. I think the females are soooo sweet and lovable and the males(duccles) are the bossiest thing on the planet.
BUT, they are easy to handle. My porcelain roo duccle crowed at 5 weeks, and crows all day long.
But I can pick him up and carry him around and he doesn't mind.
I love them but I feel bad they get bullied by the bigger ones in the yard, thats the only issue I have with mixing them with the larger birds in the yard.
I have to watch them when I let both groups out at the same time, otherwise, I just rotate them.
My roo is another story though, he does a fabulous job of protecting his girls. When he was only 6 inches tall and I would take him out to free range and get use to the yard, he would run and jump on the backs of the big ol hens. It was the funniest thing to see. Then he would want to sqwak in their faces, only he couldn't reach so he would jump up and sqwak in their face, up and down.
They would just look at him, like what the heck is that.

 

[pbjmaker]

Mine run with an EE pullet that towers over them - but they don't seem to notice. I think it is because they all grew up together. The RIR is their bossman.

 

[speckledhen]

Out of all the breeds I have, Silkies are the broodiest. Millies are second, but they are easily deterred. They DO like to roost high, BTW... I "lost" my two girls a couple of nights in a row, only to find that they were 8' up and roosting on the cross-bars of the pens. Had to wire it in afterall.
BUT... they are the sweetest things ever. Our roo (also Tyson! ) is very vocal, and sounded like a squeeky toy when he first started to crow. Very lovable... he's momma's boy.

Millie eggs are small... almost considered "pee wee"... about half the size of a large egg. And softly tinted peach color... at least mine are.

Thank you, Tori, very informative. I'd not have thought about the high roosting preference if you hadn't said so. Shmoo, cute little thing you have there! Thank you all for all this input. I'm not being put off the D'uccles here, you know.

Natalie, this cracked me up:

My roo is another story though, he does a fabulous job of protecting his girls. When he was only 6 inches tall and I would take him out to free range and get use to the yard, he would run and jump on the backs of the big ol hens. It was the funniest thing to see. Then he would want to sqwak in their faces, only he couldn't reach so he would jump up and sqwak in their face, up and down.
They would just look at him, like what the heck is that.​

 

[tiki244]

My female d' Uccles are precious (sp?) Muffin comes running when I call her name and that is a good comic relief watching them run. Love the running, they put their head down low and run fast with their feet Once she even came off the nest when she was laying an egg when I called her. She sometimes gets real close and wants me to pick her up.

The eggs are larger than a bantam cochins eggs, esp. the second year. They are fairly good layers. I do not know if they are good broodies or not, because whenever there is a pile of eggs one of my leghorn bantams claims them as hers.

However, I have never seen them try to hatch any rocks.

My roos were a little more standoffish. They seem to be a little more frightened than some of the other bantams I have. They have never attacked me, or shown any signs of aggression. The roos may have been more frightened because the other roos I had were constantly chasing them as they seemed to be at the bottom of the totem pole .

Mine had very piercing crows that had quite a few syllables, but if you are not living in the city they are not so bad. It is just when you have neiighbors (like I do) close, the roos can be a bit annoying with their crow. I thought they had one of the cutest crows I have heard though. Very Sweet birds.