Egyptian Fayoumis Thread!

[wild chick]

Has anyone ever seen any evidence of Egyptian Fayoumi existing in the wild?

I was sent a EF cockerel as the "free chick" in my first order of baby chicks almost 10 years ago. We free ranged and he was a complete natural at it. A few years later I added some more chicks to the flock (a variety pack) and got one female EF. She was feral as could be. She roosted in trees, stayed on the outskirts of the flock, very loud and squawked and flew if you even walked toward her, pretty much a loner. If not for the other chickens I'm not sure she would have even used the egg nests. Small eggs but usually 5 per week. I admired her but one was enough and I'd never get another one. So with just a little bit of joking, I can say EF's could exist in the wild. More like guinea fowl than chickens if you ask me.

 

[Paz]

Has anyone ever seen any evidence of Egyptian Fayoumi existing in the wild? Supposedly they're a naturally existing landrace of the Fayoum Oasis, and yet in all my digging on the subject I have seen zero evidence of wild chickens over there. All pictures of Fayoumi I find in Egypt feature them in coops

So far from what I've seen there is zero actual evidence that Fayoumi are a naturally existing landrace. I suspect they're a breed that was given a mythical background for marketing reasons

Hello, I live not far away from the “origin of the breed” and people grow them. In their back yards. They don’t accour naturally. They are the local breed of the place, perfected over generations, to be fast growing birds. They don’t need a lot of feed and can survive easily without much care.

 

[Paz]

If you really want me to do so, I can go on a “road trip” and take photos of them just chilling in peoples yards and on the outskirts of villages. There ARE chickens roaming around inside the cities, even.

 

[AmandaVetTech1985]

I was "blessed" with a pair of fayoumis in a rare breed assortment that I got from Cackle Hatchery this spring. I was able to sell all of the other odd-ball breeds that I got, but never had any interest in these guys. They're cute little buggars; they just look very out of place with my wyandottes and orpingtons

 

[Perris]

Hello @AmandaVetTech1985 , welcome to BYC

Mine are 16 weeks old today. Whether or not they will really thrive here remains to be seen, but they seem to have most of the right instincts for survival in a free range setting.

As will be obvious, they are no longer scared of me, just curious.

 

[McChooky]

I've considered getting some but we sit under a canopy of trees.
I don't keep my chickens contained but they spend a lot of time in the run and I lock them up at night

 

[Paz]

I've considered getting some but we sit under a canopy of trees.
I don't keep my chickens contained but they spend a lot of time in the run and I lock them up at night

They can sleep in the trees, they know how to fly

 

[McChooky]

They can sleep in the trees, they know how to fly

I'm sure they can and do lol

 

[heatherbeast]

Here's mine. No, not THAT chicken, the OTHER one.

 

[heatherbeast]

What i can tell you is the first flock was brought to Iowa state or Ohio i can remember off the top of my head, but that was in the 1930s.

Im very involved with a small charity and the elderly night watchman whom just passed away,told me they Egyptians call them by other names,same chicken different name depending on what part of Egypt.he stated that they have been around since his grandfathers,grandfathers grandfather x 7 or more,whatever that means, he lost me on that math.. i was doing a video link with him as he raised chickens and superb horsemsn

There is significant research dating back 100 years into these chickens in egypt,europe and the u.s. due to their resistance to mareks,some strains of avian influenza and two others but cant remember..also known as bigawi and some of older research papers name other names cant find name by googling have to look up the research papers

Newcastle and coccidia! I have been corresponding with a retired professor from the ISU lab that originally imported the flock. She confirmed that the hatchery with the most direct lineage to those birds is McMurray.