Faverolles Thread

[Alphahen]

I do not know who judged...I barely got there in time to throw them into their coops w/feed and water

...then had to drive back home to work on Friday...I was too tired to come back on Friday, so I only arrived after noon on Saturday.

 

[Alphahen]

I is extremely wonderful to find the Obi-Wan of Faverolles on-line talking 5th toes!

It feels great to be back!

 

[buffbeauty]

Hey Rose. Welcome to our thread!! It was a pleasure meeting you at crossroads. If you'll read this thread you'll see your names mentioned. I think people decided you were a myth. Ha. Anyhow. Welcome.

 

[Alphahen]

Quote:
Oh, I exist...just too many jobs and little time for everything. I have only been showing turkeys (easy to prep) and my birds think they are jungle fowl living the lives of a wild chicken in the woods. Peter is the Obi-Wan of Faverolles..he taught me everything I know..made for a successful breeding program, for certain!

 

[comerspoultry]

yyyy

 

[mame1616]

No criticisms from my end - I was thrilled to see so many LF in one place. What an education for someone who only ever sees her own faverolles at a show!

Kassandra, I'm so sorry about your barn and your babies! I wasn't expecting to see that when I got on here to say how much I'm enjoying my soap and how much I enjoyed meeting you and your kids - they were so well behaved for such a long weekend. Hugs to you!

I came home with four favs, when I only intended to get two. I brought home four chicks from Ron Patterson, although two are destined for another yard:

I begged Leisha for a pullet and she let me have this one. (Not a great pic - she wouldn't sit still)

And, I got a pullet off the show floor from Bridget Riddle:

Now, the judge will see more favs at our show - and they'll STILL all be mine!

But, I am working on spreading the word!

 

[keesmom]

Wow, I have a lot to catch up on. We lost power Saturday evening during the snowstorm, and only got it back late this afternoon.

Thanks to those of you who posted pictures from Crossroads.

To Kassandra - So sorry you lost your babies. Brooder fires have always have me worried. Did your kids get to go Trick or Treating?

Wow, Rose has now joined us on BYC? Thank you for joining us!

And thank you Peter, for your input!

 

[Alphahen]

I want to tell you some of Faverolles history...I got my first bird when I went to the Lucasville swap meet and saw a rooster..I bought him as a lark because my husband has a full beard, but this fellow had personality and just had something special..I had been working only on Barred Rocks at the time. The guy who sold me the bird is someone I had never seen nor heard of since, the bird wasn't much on show. When I went to the Ohio National later that fall, Dave West had a couple of bantam pullets he had brought for someone who never showed up, so he sold them to me. Marie and Yvette; I bought a hen and 2 dozen eggs from Sharon Underwood to give me my small flock. Whatever that original rooster had in him, it was what gave me my champion line. Dave got his from one of the established breeders, Peter would know his name, I've long forgotten it.
I sent many birds and eggs west, to Michigan, to NY, to Florida...Ron Patterson's bantams came from me as did Mike Stapish's and Gayle Pontious'. I'm sure they also got birds from Dick Boulanger and Ed Willoughby to build their own lines. I sent eggs to Canada, sent them to every state on the mainland. My friend Jeff Oxley bantams from me and he's gotten birds from Ed Willoughby to give them a difference, and we trade cockerels on occasion to keep the birds from getting way to inbred. Showing bantams can be frustrating because the featherleg class is brutal...I was always up against Bill Bowman's brahmas, Kendra Aldrich's and Pat Lacey's cochins...and then the billions of silkies. When Bill died and Pat went in to judging, that freed things up a bit and I didn't see many brahmas or cochins, but it looks like they're back..The LF continental class isn't easy, but much easier than featherlegs..they only worry about Hamburgs and Polish, not lots of people have those.
Dick Boulanger and Peter Merlin are to be credited for keeping Faverolles on the map and making them competitive. The rest of us are benefiting from their hard work and promotion of the breed.

 

[NapoleanGoose]

So I know that type trumps everything else when breeding Faverolles, but I wanted to know how much I should care about other faults if I had a birds with really good type. When I bought my first birds 3 years ago, I started with a too-large bantam rooster and some LF hens. I didn't know practically anything about chickens at the time, and didn't know he was a bantam but I found out later. He was very large though, and bred to LF hens produced larger offspring. So that became my little project, to first improve my bird's size and type, and then secondly to fix several color and toe flaws. In 3 years I've managed to fix the color flaws and for the most part, the toes, but I still struggle with size and type. I know for a fact my birds aren't anywhere near the quality put out by the more experienced breeders, but I'm still really happy with their improvement.

My 6 month old cockerels are filling out now, and I'm really happy with the size and type of one in particular. He has okay lacing but his colors are really clean. I can't grow out a ton of cockerels this winter, so I'm looking at which ones I can single out to be re-homed now. He's big and typey, bigger then any other rooster I've had so far but he has a couple of flaws. He has 7 points on his comb and wattles that are too big for my liking. Most of my pullets have 5 or 6 comb points and only one girl has 4 points. So I don't have a lot to work with for combs with him. Because of his size, should I breed him anyways and just be choosy with the chicks??

Here's some pictures of him

Is he good enough, at this point, to grow out despite his comb and wattles?

 

[comerspoultry]

Quote:
I agree with everything you say about Dick and Peter. Dick has been my mentor and greatly appreciate everything he has taught me.