Faverolles Thread

[hcammack]

Quote:

X2! I prefer the chicken poop!

No snow yet in Burlington which is weird it flurried last night though while I was down at the barn. Hopefully some cows should be calving out tonight and tomorrow and I want to go down and learn how so I should be busy for a while.


Henry

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:

X2! I prefer the chicken poop!

No snow yet in Burlington which is weird it flurried last night though while I was down at the barn. Hopefully some cows should be calving out tonight and tomorrow and I want to go down and learn how so I should be busy for a while.


Henry

Well, you've likely got your work cut out for you Henry! The last calf that I dealt with was one that when my friend and I were supposed to go have a "girls night out", we thought we'd better check "just one more time" on the heifer that was due...ended up spending the next 4 hours pulling her calf! In "go out" clothes! Yuck. It was much better than going out though!!

Have fun!

 

[faverolles]

I'm planning on going to the Crossroad show in Indy. I understand the dates are the 28th, 29th and 30th of October. My son will be coming with me so he'll do most of the driving which is great for me. Next week I'll put in for vacation time.
Here's what I'm hoping to breed for the spring.
One pen of large salmons headed by a cockerel from this year with four pullets from this year and four older hens.
One special pen with my old salmon male with an old hen that I still have. She is 3/4 English stock. She doesn't lay many eggs but if I can get 6 to 9 eggs out of her I'll be happy.
Large blacks.
Only have a trio. Lost one other hen yesterday. Need to hatch about a dozen. After I have enough chicks I will put the black male on all my large splash hens. This should give me all large blues.
Another pen will have my large splash male on my blue hens. Hatch a lot and cull hard.
Bantam salmons.
Right now I have 3 older salmon males and one cockerel. I plan on having four pens for them and I'm sure I can put at least 2 pullets or 2 hens with each male.
Bantam whites.
I have two males from last year and four cockerels from this year. Planning on pushing the whites. So that would be six more pens. Each should have at least 2 pullets or 2 hens with each of the males.
Buff bantams.
One male with black in his tail back to his mother. Planning on getting rid of the pullets from this breeding and keeping the cockerels. The cockerels hopefully will be all buff showing no black.
Bantam blacks.
I only have one pair. Need to hatch at least 10 chicks so I can keep them going. After I have these chicks I'll put the lavender bantam male with this black hen and keep switching him to a salmon pen, again trying to create the lavender bantam Faverolles and the lavender salmon bantam Faverolles.
Lavender project.
One pen with the solid blacks and one pen with the blacks leaking salmon. Any black chicks from these breedings will be culled immediately. I will only keep the lavender colored chicks.
So these are my plans. Hopefully I can follow through on everything. A lot depends on the birds surviving the winter. I don't know about you but sometimes I'll go into my coops and find a bird that just doesn't look right and the next day its gone. That is how it goes. In the past, whenever I had a sick bird I would do everything I could to pull it through. The ones I did save were useless after. If it was a hen she wouldn't lay eggs and one male I saved wasn't fertile. So now I don't wast my time. I lost some great birds but that's the way it goes.
Does anyone on here receive the Poultry Press? I'm planning on ordering it next week. Give me something to read through the winter.
Dick

 

[keesmom]

I have a question for you Dick. How would you pair up the following bantams?

2 blue roos
1 black cockerel
2 blue hens
1 black hen
1 splash hen
1 blue pullet

Right now I have the older blue male in with a blue hen, black hen and splash hen. The other blue boy is in with the other blue hen. I do have to go back and find David's mail as to how they're all related.

As for sick birds I cull them, though this year they all died before I could get to it.

 

[GypsyChic]

Quote:
Cindy, I hate to be stupid, but would you not want to pair you BBS together like silkies or do the genetics not work that way? I'm stabbing in the dark here.

Dick, I desperately need your advice on what to do/how to incorp a mottled (or 3) into my current program. I have no mott adults, these were surprise babies and I need direction/input from someone who's had experience with them. I only have blue, black, splash, A lavender and salmon/blue salmon birds.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Dick, yep I get the poultry press. Most of it's usually pretty interesting, and if you feed Purina feeds, the coupons in if more than pay for the subscription!

Hoping to get to Indy myself...gotta start saving my pennies now!

 

[keesmom]

Quote:
Oh the BBS genetics is the same no matter the breed.

I was just wondering if it would be better for me to pair the black boy with the black hen to maybe get better blacks, or put him with the splash to get all blues, or put the splash girl with one of the blues to get blue and splash, and so on.

I know little of the mottled gene, but I would go with either blue or black. I should pull out my genetics book.

I would also be interested in hearing people's opinion on the Poultry Press. Maybe I'll give myself a Christmas present.

 

[mame1616]

Quote:
Dick - I'm planning on going out to Indianapolis, also! I'm so excited! I don't know how I'm going to get through the next year waiting for it. Hopefully I'll get to meet you at the Congress in January - hope it doesn't snow too much!

Please keep me in mind for two or three LF salmon girls for showing.

I have had this "dying" thing pretty regularly since I've had chickens. Not that everyone is dying off on me, but it's just like you describe - one day they're all fluffed up, the next day they're dead. I've lost some favorites that way. Of course, the "also-rans" are completely healthy. I've not been able to save one yet, and even had a necropsy done, and the vet couldn't tell me what it was, except to say it's a chicken thing - great, thanks...

Yes, I get the Poultry Press. I got it to learn more about showing. Some of it is like reading another language, but you should understand everything. There certainly is a lot to read, and some of the articles are very helpful.

 

[mame1616]

BTW, how DO you get birds here from England? What kind of quarantine is required? Or, does everyone just get eggs? and, if that is the case, how well do they ship?

If anyone knows of another thread I should put this on, let me know. Thanks!

 

[faverolles]

Quote:
It all depends are what you are looking for. I've read a lot on BBS breedings and they tend to conflict. Some will get better blues from a blue to blue breeding. Some will get better blues from splash to blue breeding. Here's a suggestion. I would put the black male with the splash hen and the black hen. All your blue chicks would come from splash hen and all your black chicks would come from the black hen. I would keep the blue pens going. Just blue to blue, this should give you blues, blacks and splash. Hopefully you can get a splash male for next year. To try and get better blues for the following year I would try this:
blue to blue
splash to black
black to splash
blue to splash
splash to blue
If you have the birds and space, you should be able to see which breeding gives you the best blues. You will still get plenty of blacks and splashes from these breedings so there shouldn't be a problem there. Its the lacing on the blues that need to be improved. I hope this helps.
Dick