Houdans

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awesome to see they are having fun.
tongue2.gif
 
Hi everyone. I just found this houdan thread a couple weeks ago and finally finished reading all the posts. Lots of good info and pics!

I have had Mottled Houdans for 9 years. Due to unforseen circumstances over the last 5 yrs or so I haven't bred them much but I still have a trio that I am starting to work with this year again. One of the hens is 8 yrs old and I hope to get a few eggs from her to hatch this year. She layed resonably well last year but only for about 4-5 months (about 3-4 eggs a week) but at her age I am amazed that she layed at all. She is from the very first year I hatched houdans the year after I got my first ones.

They are not the very best quality but have resonably good color and type. Their biggest fault is their size as I have never had one that reached much over about 5-6lbs. But I am going to be working on that again this year. The younger hen (3 yrs old) is laying around 4-5 eggs a week so I am in the process off hatching some of her eggs right now. My first ones of the season ahould be hatching next sunday.

I am also getting some from Duane Urch and a batch from Cackle Hatchery. I know the hatrchery birds will need lots of culling but hopefully Urches birds should be pretty nice. I am going to keep the 3 lines seperate so that I can keep the some genetic diversity in the breed though I may Use some of Urchs birds to add a bit of improvement into the other 2 lines. I will be hatching as many as I can over the next several years and beyond so that I can work on improving them.

I really love the houdans and am happy to see so many others also that want to bring the breed back to its former glory.
 
HoudnFavs said:
Hi everyone. I just found this houdan thread a couple weeks ago and finally finished reading all the posts. Lots of good info and pics!

I have had Mottled Houdans for 9 years. Due to unforseen circumstances over the last 5 yrs or so I haven't bred them much but I still have a trio that I am starting to work with this year again. One of the hens is 8 yrs old and I hope to get a few eggs from her to hatch this year. She layed resonably well last year but only for about 4-5 months (about 3-4 eggs a week) but at her age I am amazed that she layed at all. She is from the very first year I hatched houdans the year after I got my first ones.

They are not the very best quality but have resonably good color and type. Their biggest fault is their size as I have never had one that reached much over about 5-6lbs. But I am going to be working on that again this year. The younger hen (3 yrs old) is laying around 4-5 eggs a week so I am in the process off hatching some of her eggs right now. My first ones of the season ahould be hatching next sunday.

I am also getting some from Duane Urch and a batch from Cackle Hatchery. I know the hatrchery birds will need lots of culling but hopefully Urches birds should be pretty nice. I am going to keep the 3 lines seperate so that I can keep the some genetic diversity in the breed though I may Use some of Urchs birds to add a bit of improvement into the other 2 lines. I will be hatching as many as I can over the next several years and beyond so that I can work on improving them.

I really love the houdans and am happy to see so many others also that want to bring the breed back to its former glory.
Click to expand...

It is so nice to hear of someone working with them!
clap.gif
Welcome to BYC and the Houdan thread!

Where are you located?
 
I hatched one a few years ago, and she is such a lovey, I got 3 more last year, but one died as a chick. But the 3 I have are a bit bigger than Polish and have fluffy feathers, and are very affectionate. Being hatchery birds, that's okay by me. They are an overlooked breed.
 
seminolewind said:
I hatched one a few years ago, and she is such a lovey, I got 3 more last year, but one died as a chick.  But the 3 I have are a bit bigger than Polish and have fluffy feathers, and are very affectionate.  Being hatchery birds, that's okay by me.  They are an overlooked breed.  
Click to expand...


We have one girl and she is my "lap chicken". She will follow you around until you hold her and pet her.:D
 
I am located on Northeast PA.

Yes it is too bad more people don't raise them as they do need a lot of work but the few really good ones I've seen so far are just beautiful. Being that there are some people that do have some good ones I don't think it would be that hard to get them back to the quality that they once were. We just need some more very dedicated people that are willing to work on them and cull very hard and eat lots of chicken meat..LOL
 

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