East Frisian Gulls

[paloma1785]

I have just one who at 5-6 weeks and a silver. I thought or was hoping he would be a hen. Here he is at nearly 12 weeks now. Nervous but gentle so far. Looking to sell or trade him because I have no hens of this breed and would like him to be put to good use breeding.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Anyone have any updates on your experience with East Frisian Gulls? Anyone try free ranging them? I’m wondering if they are any better at avoiding predators than any other chicken breeds...

 

[Cwimbish]

Resurrecting this thread. Any new opinions on East Frisian Gulls? It doesn’t sound like many people in here have them

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Resurrecting this thread. Any new opinions on East Frisian Gulls? It doesn’t sound like many people in here have them

We had a pair, but the cockerel died of Marek’s disease. We still have the hen, Goldie, who is currently in our broody breaker box. Both the lemon cockerel and the gold hen are really gorgeous birds and the penciled feathers are to die for. However, Goldie is not very friendly and has the hardest bite I’ve gotten from a chicken! She is low on the pecking order of our mixed flock but not so low that she can’t look out for herself. She does lay very consistently, and her eggs have increased in size from med to almost large. She is not nearly as broody as some of our other chickens but is occasionally. When we lost our cockerel we put our plans of having a free ranging flock of them on hold so I don’t know how they would do free ranging.

 

[Cwimbish]

We had a pair, but the cockerel died of Marek’s disease. We still have the hen, Goldie, who is currently in our broody breaker box. Both the lemon cockerel and the gold hen are really gorgeous birds and the penciled feathers are to die for. However, Goldie is not very friendly and has the hardest bite I’ve gotten from a chicken! She is low on the pecking order of our mixed flock but not so low that she can’t look out for herself. She does lay very consistently, and her eggs have increased in size from med to almost large. She is not nearly as broody as some of our other chickens but is occasionally. When we lost our cockerel we put our plans of having a free ranging flock of them on hold so I don’t know how they would do free ranging.

Thank you. That is very helpful. I ended up with a pair of day old chicks in a random assortment and am trying to determine if they’ll stay or maybe go to a friend’s flock. Sounds like they aren’t very affectionate like some other breeds. I don’t necessarily want a lap chicken but ones that enjoy interacting with their people are preferred.

 

[BDutch]

@Mixed flock enthusiast
Great you are stil active on this forum,

For me it will be quit easy to buy EF gulls. The are originally a Dutch chicken breed. (Here we call them Groninger gulls)
I love the looks, the laying quality and the small size.

But I do wonder about their character. Do you know or they are skittish in general? Are they hard to tame? Bc for me its quit important the chickens are easy to handle and don’t fly away if I want to inspect them. And I don’t like it if they prefer to stay in the trees for the night.

I ask this because I want yo buy fertile eggs next spring and started to make a list of breeds I am interested in.

 

[BDutch]

In search for more information I found that there are 2 kind of Rbreeds;

https://dier-en-natuur.infonu.nl/di...nger-meeuw-en-oost-friese-meeuw.html#karakter

Important (translated with google):
The Groninger gull and the East Frisian gull are two breeds of fowl that are very similar to each other. In fact, the similarities are so great that in fact only the eye color, tail range and weight differ between the two breeds. Descriptions are provided for both breeds throughout this article. Where there are differences, this will be discussed per topic in a separate sub-heading.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

@Mixed flock enthusiast
Great you are stil active on this forum,

For me it will be quit easy to buy EF gulls. The are originally a Dutch chicken breed. (Here we call them Groninger gulls)
I love the looks, the laying quality and the small size.

But I do wonder about their character. Do you know or they are skittish in general? Are they hard to tame? Bc for me its quit important the chickens are easy to handle and don’t fly away if I want to inspect them. And I don’t like it if they prefer to stay in the trees for the night.

I ask this because I want yo buy fertile eggs next spring and started to make a list of breeds I am interested in.
View attachment 2349045

I wish I had more experience with them! I only had the pair, and lost the cockerel. We still have the hen, Goldie, now 2 years old. She’s a great forager and self-sufficient while getting along well with the other birds. She’s also very flighty and difficult to handle. I’m interested to hear what you end up with!

 

[BDutch]

Thanks gor the reply. But if these chickens are flighty and difficult to handle I will not buy them. Not even if they lay 365 eggs a year.

bc the East Frisian gull is mixed with the Groninger gull, I expect the characteristics are not very different.

To be sure I posted a question on the website of a member of the Groninger gull association who breeds bantams.

 

[BDutch]

Today I was in a park where they have the Groninger Gulls. Not the bantam size. They seemed very relaxed.
Just for sharing: