I haven't seen this type of behavior either. Along the way I have had a small few that were nasty and they were culled. I am surprised the mature hens put up with it. I would have expected them to put him in his place.
it is my first time with a male I didn't 100% trust. I don't have that feeling around any wyandottes, but this guy has taught me to be a little wary.
Farmer Viola, i don't think anything You have shared would have ruined Your chickens…there can be many reasons somebody turns out odd, hereditary, enviornmental, peer pressure, feed mix, something during the egg/hatching process,….We are all learning….If he should at any time fly at You with the intent to spur You or take You on,,,,,that would not be normal Faverolle behavior. They are primarily a gentle breed. Best of Luck, eliz
thank you
that is very reassuring... their gentleness is what attracted me in the first place.
Sorry to hear about your cockerel!
Hmmm, never had a mean faverolles... I dont know what would make yours spaz. Hereditary/ and too much competition between males would be my guess, but yours doesnt have competition.
The only mean roosters I have ever dealt with where from my black copper marans. I dont breed them any more, I just didnt like dealing . It didnt seem to matter what I did... handle them as the grew, or just leave them to grow out... they would just get mean. Since it happened more then once, I reasoned it was genetics.
it's hard to describe, but he gets this look, where he zones out for a minute and almost becomes a psycho Mr Hyde chicken for a few seconds and then it turns off. it's like he's a few cards short of a full deck. I dunno, it's not...normal.
he's getting older now, so I will need to be culling him soon. goodbye Mr Fav nice knowing ya!
I still want more faverolles which is the hard part. There is a breeder here in Oregon named piper omar who has faverolles and I have to decide if I want to bring in adult birds. until now I have only ever hatched eggs or brought in chicks. I just have an urge to 'replace' my faverolles since I wanted to breed my own flock, now I want to buy one of piper's males to breed to my hen OR maybe just pullets. I really cannot decide. chicks would just be better but she doesn't have any.. I think that piper has very nice faverolles but to tell you the truth I don't know the Faverolles SOP so I don't necessarily know what to look for. they just look amazingly beautiful, to me
any thoughts on her birds, or any other breeders (with chicks) around the pacific NW area?
Amy recommendations for raising cockerals to be the most docile? More handling as chicks? Less handling? (I have 12 LF SF two weeks old of which I am sure I will have my fair share of boys!)
I will have to post pics this weekend for assistance on boy/girl. There are a couple that are obviously girls, but quite a few that are uncertain. Seem to have lots of mottled black in primaries but then beige/cream/ some white/gray in the secondaries?
I don't think holding them a lot is really necessary because that isn't what you will do to them as adults. eating out of the hand is the main thing I try to get mine to be comfortable with, I use oatmeal when they are chicks and scratch when they are adults. mostly as adults I just throw it on the ground. but I find that if they aren't afraid to eat out of your hand as adults, they just fear you less in general moving around in the run. you also can't use the "hand full of feed, snatch and grab" trick too often, or no one will ever trust you again. basically just be cool, calm, not too grabby. always move very slowly and they won't be startled. I don't make eye contact with roosters on the ground, I just walk through them and they avoid me. never let any rooster walk toward you advancingly, without walking him backward. if he charges again, walk him back again. never let him have the last word so to speak.
