Fayoumis

[Burgess]

Sekhmet is pretty sure that she is... But on the serious side, I have also heard that they are resistant to several viral diseases as shown in controlled studies, including Marek's.

 

[familypendragon]

Does any one have or know of any pics showing the size difference between their eggs and a typical chicken egg? I'd love to know how small they really are

 

[Burgess]

You know, in today's commercial world of laying hens, I just don’t have a clear feel of anything other than jumbo to large, which they are not unlike my Leghorn and Rhode Island. Perhaps grade a small to medium, but still a chicken egg. Basically, if you would use 3 “normal” sized ones in something, use 4 Fayoumi eggs. As to quantity and quality, my girls lay almost every day, and lay a white egg with a bit heavy of a shell. The albumen seems a bit stiffer and less in proportion to the total volume than my other eggs.

 

[familypendragon]

Oh yes, I understand about the difference between mass produced and backyard sweeties My Rhode Island White lays the largest of my current layers and they are still probably considered "medium". I was just wondering if these were like the tiny eggs that I once got from a local egg lady before I had chickens of my own. The entire egg was no longer than a quarter and about the width of a dime. It would have taken about 4 of those to make on of my RIW eggs, LOL! Being in HOT Texas though, I think some Fayoumis would be a fabulous addition to my flock

 

[Burgess]

I'm in Pflugerville Texas, and yes it is above 100 here too. The Fayoumi's do great here. Basically the birds I don't have to worry about in the heat are them and white leghorns. The Fayoumi's are very pretty birds, a bit loud, a bit too smart, can fly a bit too well, and lay a small chicken sized egg (~1.5 to 2" long). I like them alot, but if I had only one type, the leghorns are great.

 

[Burgess]

I'm in Pflugerville Texas, and yes it is above 100 here too. The Fayoumi's do great here. Basically the birds I don't have to worry about in the heat are them and white leghorns. The Fayoumi's are very pretty birds, a bit loud, a bit too smart, can fly a bit too well, and lay a small chicken sized egg (~1.5 to 2" long). I like them alot, but if I had only one type, the leghorns are great.

 

[Burgess]

Everyone seems to ask questions about Fayoumis. Can't say I am an expert, but I do have these two hens, so here is what I know:

Body Size and shape
Simply, they are a smaller thin bird much the size of a leghorn. They have the same body shape too with same tall thin tail. They have a good wing to weight ratio, and can fly quite well. If you want them to stay in your yard, feed them, or clip their feathers. The other unique feature of Fayoumis from all my other birds is their eyes. The eyes are a “natural” shade of dark brown, and are very large compared to other breeds. They can see very well, and frequently are the ones that warn the flock of predators.

Eggs
Unlike leghorns that lay nice large white eggs that measure from large to extra large, the Fayoumis consistently lay (except when molting), but lay a cream colored small sized egg. Mine lay most every day, just like the leghorns. The small size is a chicken sized small egg, not a quail sized egg. I took half a dozen eggs from my hens to size them (which is really weight) and the average was 47g, median 46g, with a range from 44g to 50g. So they lay on the upper side of small, and one egg was a medium. Basically if you would use 4 store bought eggs (most cartons from the store are large), then you would need 5 Fayoumis eggs. The eggs also are a bit different than the sexlink commercial birds eggs you buy. I don’t know if this is just because I don’t really feed much and most of their diet is greens, bugs, snakes, etc. However, I don’t think this is the only reason as I have leghorns too. The egg has a thicker shell and membrane with more yoke than my leghorn eggs. I don’t think you would want to try to eat the chicken either unless you were having soup, they look tough as rubber bands, and you would have to eat in the dark as that is the only time you could catch more than one (smart and fast).

Personality
This is what a Fayoumis is all about, and they have this in spades. They are very active, very keen on finding/catching their food. This makes them less willing to put up with holding and petting that can come with "handouts". It's not that my hens are not friendly, they just would rather run about, and have this instinct that being held is not really a good thing. They see themselves as chickens, not dogs. I have one that if the handout is really desirable, she will push out the leghorns and Rhode Island Reds to sit on me for as long as I have something, but she is not going to stay. She has even decided to fly up and perch on my shoulder a time or two just to assure she gets my complete attention, which as you can imagine it did. I have another one that heads my flock and she watches me, talks to me, encourages me to take care of the chicken chores. She likes me, but she is the one that doesn’t want to be touched at all. The two Fayoumis sisters are top of the pecking order in my flock, no doubt, no challenges, no fooling. They are not mean or aggressive, and they are small. But they assert quickly that they are first, everyone else is second, and they are lightning fast and have the instinct to back it up in a scrap. Seem to like the technique of wait for a strike, counter, and then ride. It's effective. Had them even cow roosters and feral cats. Remember the flying? One that is alpha of my flock is also alpha of my neighbors flock when she decides to “visit” for food, and perhaps to leave an egg too. Alpha in an afternoon should tell you something. They are smart, really annoyingly smart at times as they see everything going on. That is good and bad. If there is a predator, they warn the flock and take cover. However, they also are always watching and that includes you and your activities, which they are curious about.Those two are the chickens that are always plotting, searching, marauding, thinking... If you don’t like this type of behavior, you probably won’t like Fayoumis.

Hardiness
They are tough as it comes when it comes to heat. It is over 100 here in Texas for long periods, and they do fine (leghorns do too). They lay right through the dog days, eat all day in the sun, and have no problems that I can tell. Like I said, they eat EVERYTHING, which might be their fatal flaw (at least when I put my wife’s house plants outside to water). They are always finding small snakes, bugs, worms, butterflies, moths, etc. They are simply voracious, on the move, and could well be nearly feral. I’m not sure you would have to feed them if there wasn’t winter. Mine have laid very well even through the cold too, well as cold as Texas gets. However, it is clear that when temperatures drop to 40 or below that they are cold (unlike the Rhode Island Red). They normally have a very proud regal stance, but when they are cold they pull that neck down and stay out of the wind. If I kept them up north (that is ABOVE the Red River for me) I guess on cold mornings I would keep them in until the daytime heated up a bit. I can see where they would have problems, as they are cold much quicker than my Red or my Orpington. But the bigger birds have quite a bit of trouble with the summer heat down here. As for resistance to disease we did have a problem with Coccidiosis in some of our chicks when we got them, but the Fayoumis never showed signs or slowed down (not a very scientific test though). I also had a respatory illness in another new hen we later brough in, which I treated with tetracycline, again no signs of it spreading to the Fayoumis, but my leghorns and reds did get a touch before I could get the hen isolated and begin treatment on them (again, not a scientific test).

So there you go. They stay home for me (mostly), they roost where I want them to, usually lay eggs there in the coop to except for the few they left at my neighbors. They a bit loud with the flock, and they talk alot to me too, but are not obnocious. They do fly, and like to explore, and that happens to include the world on the other side of the fence, you can cut their feathers, but that really only discurages flying as they can even get quite a spring without primaries. But they are friendly, and even get up close for some personal time, just not too close. They have a lot of good traits, they are pretty, intelligent, and almost domesticated friendly. I love my girls, and they are good to me and really like me, which is their choice, not mine. That’s the relationship we have. But they are not lap dog type pets. They are out on the range type pets. They suit me, and I seem to suit them.

 

[thowe]

Everyone seems to ask questions about Fayoumis. Can't say I am an expert, but I do have these two hens, so here is what I know:

Body Size and shape
Simply, they are a smaller thin bird much the size of a leghorn. They have the same body shape too with same tall thin tail. They have a good wing to weight ratio, and can fly quite well.  If you want them to stay in your yard, feed them, or clip their feathers.  The other unique feature of Fayoumis from all my other birds is their eyes.  The eyes are a “natural” shade of dark brown, and are very large compared to other breeds. They can see very well, and frequently are the ones that warn the flock of predators.

Eggs
Unlike leghorns that lay nice large white eggs that measure from large to extra large, the Fayoumis consistently lay (except when molting), but lay a cream colored small sized egg. Mine lay most every day, just like the leghorns.  The small size is a chicken sized small egg, not a quail sized egg.  I took half a dozen eggs from my hens to size them (which is really weight) and the average was 47g, median 46g, with a range from 44g to 50g. So they lay on the upper side of small, and one egg was a medium. Basically if you would use 4 store bought eggs (most cartons from the store are large), then you would need 5 Fayoumis eggs.  The eggs also are a bit different than the sexlink commercial birds eggs you buy.  I don’t know if this is just because I don’t really feed much and most of their diet is greens, bugs, snakes, etc.  However, I don’t think this is the only reason as I have leghorns too.  The egg has a thicker shell and membrane with more yoke than my leghorn eggs.  I don’t think you would want to try to eat the chicken either unless you were having soup, they look tough as rubber bands, and you would have to eat in the dark as that is the only time you could catch more than one (smart and fast).

Personality
This is what a Fayoumis is all about, and they have this in spades.  They are very active, very keen on finding/catching their food.  This makes them less willing to put up with holding and petting that can come with "handouts".  It's not that my hens are not friendly, they just would rather run about, and have this instinct that being held is not really a good thing.  They see themselves as chickens, not dogs.  I have one that if the handout is really desirable, she will push out the leghorns and Rhode Island Reds to sit on me for as long as I have something, but she is not going to stay.  She has even decided to fly up and perch on my shoulder a time or two just to assure she gets my complete attention, which as you can imagine it did. I have another one that heads my flock and she watches me, talks to me, encourages me to take care of the chicken chores.  She likes me, but she is the one that doesn’t want to be touched at all.  The two Fayoumis sisters are top of the pecking order in my flock, no doubt, no challenges, no fooling.  They are not mean or aggressive, and they are small.  But they assert quickly that they are first, everyone else is second, and they are lightning fast and have the instinct to back it up in a scrap.  Seem to like the technique of wait for a strike, counter, and then ride. It's effective. Had them even cow roosters and feral cats. Remember the flying? One that is alpha of my flock is also alpha of my neighbors flock when she decides to “visit” for food, and perhaps to leave an egg too.  Alpha in an afternoon should tell you something.  They are smart, really annoyingly smart at times as they see everything going on.  That is good and bad.  If there is a predator, they warn the flock and take cover.  However, they also are always watching and that includes you and your activities, which they are curious about.Those two are the chickens that are always plotting, searching, marauding, thinking... If you don’t like this type of behavior, you probably won’t like Fayoumis.

Hardiness
They are tough as it comes when it comes to heat.  It is over 100 here in Texas for long periods, and they do fine (leghorns do too).  They lay right through the dog days, eat all day in the sun, and have no problems that I can tell.  Like I said, they eat EVERYTHING, which might be their fatal flaw (at least when I put my wife’s house plants outside to water).  They are always finding small snakes, bugs, worms, butterflies, moths, etc.  They are simply voracious, on the move, and could well be nearly feral.  I’m not sure you would have to feed them if there wasn’t winter.  Mine have laid very well even through the cold too, well as cold as Texas gets.  However, it is clear that when temperatures drop to 40 or below that they are cold (unlike the Rhode Island Red).  They normally have a very proud regal stance, but when they are cold they pull that neck down and stay out of the wind. If I kept them up north (that is ABOVE the Red River for me) I guess on cold mornings I would keep them in until the daytime heated up a bit. I can see where they would have problems, as they are cold much quicker than my Red or my Orpington. But the bigger birds have quite a bit of trouble with the summer heat down here. As for resistance to disease we did have a problem with Coccidiosis in some of our chicks when we got them, but the Fayoumis never showed signs or slowed down (not a very scientific test though). I also had a respatory illness in another new hen we later brough in, which I treated with tetracycline, again no signs of it spreading to the Fayoumis, but my leghorns and reds did get a touch before I could get the hen isolated and begin treatment on them (again, not a scientific test).


So there you go. They stay home for me (mostly), they roost where I want them to, usually lay eggs there in the coop to except for the few they left at my neighbors. They a bit loud with the flock, and they talk alot to me too, but are not obnocious. They do fly, and like to explore, and that happens to include the world on the other side of the fence, you can cut their feathers, but that really only discurages flying as they can even get quite a spring without primaries.  But they are friendly, and even get up close for some personal time, just not too close.  They have a lot of good traits, they are pretty, intelligent, and almost domesticated friendly. I love my girls, and they are good to me and really like me, which is their choice, not mine. That’s the relationship we have. But they are not lap dog type pets.  They are out on the range type pets. They suit me, and I seem to suit them.

                

Thanks for the info. It looks like I got one from macmurray. I checked the box for NO free rare exotic chick, because I think you would get mostly males, but they added this little chick. I'm sure it will turn out male, so I'll see how it goes!

 

[thowe]

When do you think I'll be able to tell if it's a boy or girl. 8 days old in this picture

 

[Burgess]

The only dependable way I know is to get up early in the morning..., but the breed matures quickly. If it is a he, the crowing could start in 5 to 6 weeks.