Feedback from Dorking, Speckled Sussex, and Faverolle owners?

[AtRendeAcres]

Brahmas started laying about 6 months.

They lay about 5 days aweek (with 14 hours light)

I took light away in March (so they now they are laying 4 days aweek)

Large Fowl lay med to large

Bantams lay nice size egg - 4x wk

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
They get along fine with other chickens. If I had to choose one word that would describe my Dorkings, it would be 'agreeable'. From my experience, they aren't aggressive by any means but they aren't singled out or bullied by the other breeds either.

The man I got these hens from used his Dorking pen to rehabilitate the birds picked on too much out of his other breed pens. So he would have his deformed Jersey Giants(that were being pecked and killed in the Giant's and other breed's pens) in there with his Dorkings and they wouldn't even act aggressively towards injured birds of another breed. It's never a guarantee, but this is just my personal experience with them.

-Kim

 

[Iceblink]

Thanks so much for all the info, any Salmon Faverolle people out there?

 

[kstaven]

If you want calm, easy going, lay well in the winter and tend to be consistant layers, then Dorkings and Delawares top the list you have. They take a little longer than some breeds to start laying (up to 6 months old). Dorkings tend to be amazingly quiet in comparison to the sussex or fav's.

 

[Winter]

I would have liked to get some Dorkings, but they weren't available when I ordered. I had the same requirments are you: Cold hardy, relatively quiet, decent layers.
I ended up ordering light brahmas, buff rocks, favorelles, sussex and EE's. I think I am only going to keep four hens and the more I read I might do 2 SS, 1 brahma and 1 favorelle. I am now thinking the EE's might be too noisy/flighty. We'll see I guess.

 

[raindrop]

My chicks are 6 weeks old, I have all three breeds. The SS and Dorkings are sweet, curious little chicks. The Faverolle chicks are the most flighty/reserved of any of the breeds I have now (buff orpington, BR, EE, Dorking, SS). All the breeds except the faverolles come right up to me when I go to the coop. They aren't crazy like leghorns I have had, but they aren't as relaxed/friendly as the other chicks. No idea about eggs yet obviously, but glad to hear such good things about the Dorkings. One of the reason I wanted some was for winter egg production.

 

[greenmulberry]

I have two Speckled Sussex hens. They have great personality and are very social with people.

Mine are moderate egg layers. Actually, I think that one is laying like crazy and I am not so sure the other has ever laid? They are nearly one year old. I get one egg nearly every single day from two hens, and I really think that one of them is doing all the laying.

They are NOT quiet, in fact they are every talkative. As soon as they see me come out, they start chattering at me. Mine are being particularly loud recently, but I think that is because I have recently added some new pullets to the flock, and my SS are the head chickens, so they are complaining about the new intruders. They are pretty kind to the new pullets though, some pecking and chasing, but none of the severe violence that you sometimes have when introducing new pullets to a flock.

They are excellent foragers and prefer food gathered while free ranging to their crumbles. They come back from free ranging with the biggest crops I have ever seen on a chicken.

 

[jimnjay]

In my opinion Salmon Faverolles are about as perfect a chicken as you can find. They have wonderful calm and fun loving personalities. They don't really like to be held much but tolerate you physical attention without a much fuss. The roosters are as calm as can be. My Faverolles are the least likely to fight or fuss when introduced to a new bird. I can intergrate them easily with no fuss. They lay right on schedule at 20 weeks and seem to never stop until the first molt. They are showy with the roosters being a Silver duckwing coloration and the hens a beautiful rusty and cream lacing. They will go broody but are not obsessive so you can still count on eggs for most of the year.

I have bantam Faverolles and would love to have the standards too. Like so many on this addictive forum, I find there are just to many breeds with to little room.

 

[Iceblink]

Thank you all for the info. As I feared, there seems to be some who really really love each breed, and some who have had bad experiences with them. I suppose that would be about right since they are so individual... but it doesn't help me decide one way or another. After reading on here for a few months, the only breeds that it seems everyone agrees on are Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons. I just wanted to branch out a little.

First it was two, I just wanted two chickens. That would be enough eggs, they could keep each other company, perfect.

Then I read that you should get three so if something happens to one, the other won't be alone. Ok, I can handle three. Or more accurately, my DH agreed to three.

But after getting my wonderful girls, my chicken fever increased. Now I MUST have 5, and it's so hard to choose.

If only I could have more.......

 

[Buster]

Our favorite chickens out there are our salmon faverolles and our speckled sussex. The sussex lay extremely well- out of 5 hens, I usually get 3-5 eggs a day. The faverolles were recently relocated to here so they haven't picked up on the laying again yet but were laying very well at their former home. They are very sweet and gentle birds, I couldn't ask for a better roo than the my sf roo. By the way, our speckled sussex hens are the most curious ones I've seen. We sure love them.