Faverolles Thread

[keesmom]

How about building them a bachelor pad? With no hens to bicker over they should get along better and your current male will be happier too.

 

[YgritteChick]

I currently have four 9 week old Salmon Faverolles chicks and I am not sure what to do with them, they aren't working very well in my mixed flock. All my chicks were bought from the same farm and are within a few days old of each other, so I thought there wouldn't be too many issues, I knew that faverolles can be bullied easily. I was very excited to get the Salmon Faverolles and was ideally hoping for 3 hens and 1 rooster since I think the roosters are absolutely gorgeous! For the good news, I did get one, in my biased eyes, beautiful pullet and also have one cockerel that I adore! He has the fluffiest feet and is so handsome! On the negative side, I also got another cockerel who is very mean and a total troublemaker. The fourth chick I believe is either a very badly marked pullet or is a faverolles mix. I'm pretty sure it is a pullet though, and she has the cutest beard...muff?...not sure the correct terminology.

The main actual issue I am having with the Faverolles is that they basically won't free range outside with the rest of my flock! Finally last night, I got tired of the Faverolles always staying in the coop and not enjoying the fun of being outside and made them all get out of the coop for a little bit and had them in the fenced in run with the rest of the flock, with the coop door closed. Unfortunately, the other birds were not very nice to them at all...especially to my favorite cockerel. I never saw him instigate any trouble but he was constantly getting picked on, often after the mean Faverolle cockerel would go create mischief. Eventually all the Faverolles ended up huddled together in a corner under the coop looking pretty miserable

... so I took pity on them and let them all back in the coop where they went back to roosting by the windows and just watching the other chicks outside. Originally I was planning to re-home the mean cockerel and to re-home the badly marked pullet and keep the two nice and pretty ones...but now I am worried if there are only two of them that they will get picked on even more. Does anyone who has more experience with Faverolles have any ideas?

 

[Farmer Viola]

I currently have four 9 week old Salmon Faverolles chicks and I am not sure what to do with them, they aren't working very well in my mixed flock. All my chicks were bought from the same farm and are within a few days old of each other, so I thought there wouldn't be too many issues, I knew that faverolles can be bullied easily. I was very excited to get the Salmon Faverolles and was ideally hoping for 3 hens and 1 rooster since I think the roosters are absolutely gorgeous! For the good news, I did get one, in my biased eyes, beautiful pullet and also have one cockerel that I adore! He has the fluffiest feet and is so handsome! On the negative side, I also got another cockerel who is very mean and a total troublemaker. The fourth chick I believe is either a very badly marked pullet or is a faverolles mix. I'm pretty sure it is a pullet though, and she has the cutest beard...muff?...not sure the correct terminology.

The main actual issue I am having with the Faverolles is that they basically won't free range outside with the rest of my flock! Finally last night, I got tired of the Faverolles always staying in the coop and not enjoying the fun of being outside and made them all get out of the coop for a little bit and had them in the fenced in run with the rest of the flock, with the coop door closed. Unfortunately, the other birds were not very nice to them at all...especially to my favorite cockerel. I never saw him instigate any trouble but he was constantly getting picked on, often after the mean Faverolle cockerel would go create mischief. Eventually all the Faverolles ended up huddled together in a corner under the coop looking pretty miserable

... so I took pity on them and let them all back in the coop where they went back to roosting by the windows and just watching the other chicks outside. Originally I was planning to re-home the mean cockerel and to re-home the badly marked pullet and keep the two nice and pretty ones...but now I am worried if there are only two of them that they will get picked on even more. Does anyone who has more experience with Faverolles have any ideas?

I think the muff is the part close to their eyes, on their cheeks. and the beard is the part under the chin!

I'm sorry I don't have much to offer about the bullying, I'm interested to see what experienced faverolles folks have to say about it. I raised faverolles chicks with 15ish chicks of another breed, so having a "pack" they belonged to when integrating to the main flock helped, I think. There is going to be bullying when they are introduced, no matter what breed they are.. its just a matter of how much is too much. outright violence, injury, or blood is too far obviously.

one option you might consider, if there is one particular instigator, you can separate them from the main flock for a little bit (while adding faverolles back in) and that will reset the bully's place in the pecking order at the bottom. may not work if there isn't one ringleader.

giving them extra places to hide, I put tree logs in corners of the run that they can fit behind and that helps.. also, if you have multi-level roosts available (even in the run) a vertical escape route might help them too

I'm happy to announce my Faverolles pullet Sara laid her first egg today!!!

pictured here in the center, with marans and welsummer eggs

she's 24 weeks / 6 months old

 

[YgritteChick]

I think the muff is the part close to their eyes, on their cheeks. and the beard is the part under the chin!

I'm sorry I don't have much to offer about the bullying, I'm interested to see what experienced faverolles folks have to say about it. I raised faverolles chicks with 15ish chicks of another breed, so having a "pack" they belonged to when integrating to the main flock helped, I think. There is going to be bullying when they are introduced, no matter what breed they are.. its just a matter of how much is too much. outright violence, injury, or blood is too far obviously.

one option you might consider, if there is one particular instigator, you can separate them from the main flock for a little bit (while adding faverolles back in) and that will reset the bully's place in the pecking order at the bottom. may not work if there isn't one ringleader.

giving them extra places to hide, I put tree logs in corners of the run that they can fit behind and that helps.. also, if you have multi-level roosts available (even in the run) a vertical escape route might help them too

I'm happy to announce my Faverolles pullet Sara laid her first egg today!!!

pictured here in the center, with marans and welsummer eggs

she's 24 weeks / 6 months old

Ohhhh beautiful eggs! I am hoping to eventually have all of those chicken breeds to have such pretty colored eggs like you have. Which type of Marans do you have? And how exciting! I can't wait for my favorite sweet Faverolles pullet to start laying! The picture of yours is also adorable, she is very pretty! I hope my girl matures into a similar looking hen.

Thank you for giving me some more information! I think my one Faverolles is getting a really cool beard then, although its just coming in so we'll see what happens there. I did have all the chicks grow up together, they were fine when they were all in the brooder together, they seemed fine when they got moved to the coop together, and I just recently started letting them go outside and that seems to be when the problems started.

There isn't any specific instigator, but the other cockerels (most of whom are going to be re-homed soon) I think were the main problems, so I may try letting the Faverolles out (probably minus the trouble making Faverolles cockerel that I am not planning on keeping) just with the rest of the hens of the flock and have all the other cockerels somewhere else and see if they get along then. The hens were picking on them too before, but it may have been because they couldn't resist after seeing the cockerels being so mean? I hope.

And also thank you for the idea about vertical roosts in the run, I don't actually have much vertical things in the run currently besides some things for them to hop on. That is a great idea!

 

[Angiebubs]

Farmer Viola: Sara is adorable!!! I swear their lil muffs make them look like they have big cheesey smiles on their face! They always look so happy to see their "people"!!!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Ohhhh beautiful eggs! I am hoping to eventually have all of those chicken breeds to have such pretty colored eggs like you have. Which type of Marans do you have? And how exciting! I can't wait for my favorite sweet Faverolles pullet to start laying! The picture of yours is also adorable, she is very pretty! I hope my girl matures into a similar looking hen.

Thank you for giving me some more information! I think my one Faverolles is getting a really cool beard then, although its just coming in so we'll see what happens there. I did have all the chicks grow up together, they were fine when they were all in the brooder together, they seemed fine when they got moved to the coop together, and I just recently started letting them go outside and that seems to be when the problems started.

There isn't any specific instigator, but the other cockerels (most of whom are going to be re-homed soon) I think were the main problems, so I may try letting the Faverolles out (probably minus the trouble making Faverolles cockerel that I am not planning on keeping) just with the rest of the hens of the flock and have all the other cockerels somewhere else and see if they get along then. The hens were picking on them too before, but it may have been because they couldn't resist after seeing the cockerels being so mean? I hope.

And also thank you for the idea about vertical roosts in the run, I don't actually have much vertical things in the run currently besides some things for them to hop on. That is a great idea!

Oh thank you! She is my favorite hen, she is so sweet and calm. Never startles when I'm close to her, I would step on her if I weren't careful! The Marans I have are Black Coppers 2 of 3 have been broody for almost two months, so I was really missing their eggs. they have the best flavor hard-boiled over any other breed I have. they just started laying again last week! Soon I'm going to have eggs coming out my ears again. Just in time, because I had to buy store eggs, ew!

Your idea about making a separate pen for the cockerels to be re-homed is a great idea. 9 weeks is still pretty young, but when they get a little bigger and hormones kick in, you will be grateful they are separate.

I feel like the hens closest to the bottom of TPO (pecking order) are usually the meanest and most aggressive to new flock members. It's like they have to assert themselves extra because they're already at the bottom. Now you're at the bottom! they have to let them know. I will sit and observe them on the other side of the fence and usually it's just a quick peck saying hey, that's my food, scram. And they usually do, it's just how the communicate. only when they get extra violent (usually around 6 months old, usually cockerels) will I feel it necessary to intervene.

since they were raised together, I would keep doing what you're doing and putting them together. and time will help

 

[Farmer Viola]

Farmer Viola: Sara is adorable!!! I swear their lil muffs make them look like they have big cheesey smiles on their face! They always look so happy to see their "people"!!!

Thank you Angie!!!!!!!

doesn't she look like she's smiling ALL THE TIME??!?!?! gosh I love her.........

 

[EvilleGardener]

Hi! I have enjoyed reading this thread - only the first year and this last year, lol 'cause I don't have the time to read the whole thing. Y'all are talkative! Anyway, I have fallen hard for Salmon Faverolles after stumbling on a Craigslist breeder in my neck of the woods. My girls and boys are just the sweetest things and fit in well with my existing flock of year olds and my 6 month girls. We raised them in a puppy playpen in our fenced front yard since they were younger and I was worried they would be bullied, but no, they are brazen little things! The boys are now around4 months and they are already spending time trying to impress the girls by giving them seeds and strutting. But I haven't heard either one try to crow. When does that usually happen? Here's a pic of my three pullets. They had beautiful white muffs and beards but just the last couple of weeks the older two started turning black. Will this go away? If I decide to breed in the future would it be better to try for hens with better color? I won't consider the middle girl as she doesn't have the desired blocky body shape but they all have great toes! Would hens with dark beards have even a little chance of producing white beards?

I can't figure out how to post multiple pics so I'll have to post pics of the boys separately. I can only keep one and I'm not sure which to choose at this point.

 

[EvilleGardener]

Here is my older (by a couple of weeks) cockerel. He looks to have great color, but I don't know about his comb. How do you count the points? Does he have too many? I'm not sure whether I would ever breed but if I change my mind I'd like to keep the roo with the most potential. They are both pretty calm so far but they are young yet.

 

[EvilleGardener]

Finally, here is the younger cockerel. He's pretty spotty, but I guess his color can improve with age? His head feathers are more silver than cream like the older guy. Notice I haven't named either one? I just can't bear to do that until I make my pick. It would be too hard to give away a named pet!