Hello, my name is Ana and since I have been lurking for way too long, I need to introduce myself.
We had chickens when I was a teenager, but they were just "there" for me. When I moved out and we (me and the then boyfriend) went back to visit my mom in Belgium, it was clear that at some point we would have chickens. We bought a house and after a couple of years, it was time. So at some point I started making room for a coop/run to force him into the build.
I wanted a heritage breed that was native to Germany and came across the German Faverolles. I even found a breeder not too far away, but he did not have any extra pullets at the time. I started looking everywhere, even France, to no avail. But luckily my first breeder went through another selection and was able to give me 5 salmon Faverolles and one white Faverolles. That was 2 years ago.
Unfortunately, the white pullet did not live very long. Another hen had to be culled a couple of weeks ago. She was deteriorating quickly and it was time to let her go. This year I went to the same breeder and asked for more white hens, which he said he did not breed anymore, but he could give me eggs. So 9 eggs wandered into a Brinsea Mini Advance. 2 were not fertile and all other 7 hatched. End result? 1 pullet, 6 roosters.
Since the pullet shouldn't be alone when she moved to the others, I asked the breeder if he had a Blue Salmon girl for me, which he did. What else did he have? White! So one of each moved in.
Initially, we did not want a rooster, but a friend thought differently and put one in our run while I was at work. Since then, I have been through a Brahma (got sick), an Araucana (did not develop properly and passed before he was 1) and another Araucana which we removed from the flock. I really liked the idea of an Araucana-Faverolles cross, but the eggs were all infertile. He had trouble staying on the hens and even tore one's back open. I had 6 white Faverolles rooster, so one of them was chosen to stay. He is now my current rooster and will hopefully produce some pretty offspring next year.
Our initial flock:
Our current flock:
From top to bottom: Aya, Shiro, Charlie
A very timid girl, Shai
We had chickens when I was a teenager, but they were just "there" for me. When I moved out and we (me and the then boyfriend) went back to visit my mom in Belgium, it was clear that at some point we would have chickens. We bought a house and after a couple of years, it was time. So at some point I started making room for a coop/run to force him into the build.
I wanted a heritage breed that was native to Germany and came across the German Faverolles. I even found a breeder not too far away, but he did not have any extra pullets at the time. I started looking everywhere, even France, to no avail. But luckily my first breeder went through another selection and was able to give me 5 salmon Faverolles and one white Faverolles. That was 2 years ago.
Unfortunately, the white pullet did not live very long. Another hen had to be culled a couple of weeks ago. She was deteriorating quickly and it was time to let her go. This year I went to the same breeder and asked for more white hens, which he said he did not breed anymore, but he could give me eggs. So 9 eggs wandered into a Brinsea Mini Advance. 2 were not fertile and all other 7 hatched. End result? 1 pullet, 6 roosters.
Since the pullet shouldn't be alone when she moved to the others, I asked the breeder if he had a Blue Salmon girl for me, which he did. What else did he have? White! So one of each moved in.
Initially, we did not want a rooster, but a friend thought differently and put one in our run while I was at work. Since then, I have been through a Brahma (got sick), an Araucana (did not develop properly and passed before he was 1) and another Araucana which we removed from the flock. I really liked the idea of an Araucana-Faverolles cross, but the eggs were all infertile. He had trouble staying on the hens and even tore one's back open. I had 6 white Faverolles rooster, so one of them was chosen to stay. He is now my current rooster and will hopefully produce some pretty offspring next year.
Our initial flock:
Our current flock:
From top to bottom: Aya, Shiro, Charlie
A very timid girl, Shai