Houdans

[heritagehabitatfarms]

Where are u located??? i have 2 adult pairs and a few chicks...

That's a shame. It's hard to find people who want to work with either Houdans or Crevecoeurs. I'll keep my opinions to myself as we each have to make our own decisions. It is good to hear that the person you sold your birds to plans on continuing with them and that you are helping them along.

When you were working with houdans, how successful breeding and raising them were you?
Frankly, I'm looking for a houdan guru to help me with advice. I have a small flock of 20+ LF Houdan.

 

[toybarons]

Where are u located??? i have 2 adult pairs and a few chicks...

I'm in Canada.

 

[LemonMeringue]

I put in a search on youtube for "houdan chicken" It came up with some really great examples of the breed. I also was shocked by a video by Cackle Hatchery. It was a vid of their breeding stock. They either have terrible crests or they chop almost all of their crests off! Ekkk!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I put in a search on youtube for "houdan chicken" It came up with some really great examples of the breed. I also was shocked by a video by Cackle Hatchery. It was a vid of their breeding stock. They either have terrible crests or they chop almost all of their crests off! Ekkk!

I suspect feather picking.

I'd be curious to see what Walt and everyone thinks about these birds. This video was posted in April, so should be this year's breeding stock.

 

[fowlman01]

I suspect feather picking.

I'd be curious to see what Walt and everyone thinks about these birds. This video was posted in April, so should be this year's breeding stock.

It says that is their breeder flock. There is too many birds in there, so they are picking the crests, but they are not great crests to begin with. They look like a flock of Polish to me with the typical somewhat slim bodies of a Polish. Most have a tail break and high tail carriage. I don't see any males that look even close to 7 lbs. (cockerel) or 8 lbs (a cock). They will all look alike in a couple years breeding like this, but I'm not sure they are going to look like Houdans. Once you have seen the real ones, it is hard to say nice things about a flock like that.

Walt

 

[LemonMeringue]

HenDaisy has some videos posted on youtube that I did enjoy. Not sure what country they are from. But the birds are really beautiful! While my birds are young, I already know they would never hold a candle to these in the videos. The cockerels combs are different from the ones we have here in the states but they are stunning as well(butterfly?). The posted video of the white version is stunning as well. I am no expert in this particular bird. But I do have a decent eye for detail and I would love to know what details of the US SOP is. It is something to aspire towards.

I have never had plucking/picking like that in my flock so I didn't recognize that as what it was in the Cackle video. But of course I don't keep my chickens in those conditions either.

 

[fowlman01]

HenDaisy has some videos posted on youtube that I did enjoy. Not sure what country they are from. But the birds are really beautiful! While my birds are young, I already know they would never hold a candle to these in the videos. The cockerels combs are different from the ones we have here in the states but they are stunning as well(butterfly?). The posted video of the white version is stunning as well. I am no expert in this particular bird. But I do have a decent eye for detail and I would love to know what details of the US SOP is. It is something to aspire towards.

I have never had plucking/picking like that in my flock so I didn't recognize that as what it was in the Cackle video. But of course I don't keep my chickens in those conditions either.

With the exception of the leaf combs, this is more like what you want to see a Houdan look like. There is a huge difference in bodies in these birds compared to Cackles birds.

Walt

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

That's a shame. It's hard to find people who want to work with either Houdans or Crevecoeurs. I'll keep my opinions to myself as we each have to make our own decisions. It is good to hear that the person you sold your birds to plans on continuing with them and that you are helping them along.

When you were working with houdans, how successful breeding and raising them were you?
Frankly, I'm looking for a houdan guru to help me with advice. I have a small flock of 20+ LF Houdan.

Well, it was hard to keep them alive in our winters. I had to keep lights on them and even with an insulated, heated coop, I lost more than one due to them staying out in blizzard conditions too long and laying down in the runs and freezing to death (not the brightest). I ended up having to lock them in for weeks at a time to prevent their crests from freezing. I did not ever lose any toes on them which was surprising but I could guess that was because they're clean-legged. I had some bantam Favs that lost toes last winter.

The Crevecoeurs I did well with...I had way more eggs than demand for them but I had some very nice birds and we always had eggs in the fridge. The Houdan bantams I had would maybe lay an egg once or twice a week (per hen) and I had lots of fertility issues. I hardly offered eggs for sale because I couldn't hatch them at home, so why try and sell them/ship them and risk none hatching?

The LF whites were NICE. They were HUGE, thick and had good type. I battled brassiness in them, though and never did show them.

I did show all of them and did well--only ever getting Best of Breed and yes--mine were the only bantam Houdan and Crevecoeur at the shows. But no DQ's and I was complimented quite a few times by quite a few judges. Maybe one day if we move somewhere without horrific winters, I'll get back to breeding the Crevecoeur or the LF white Houdan....I do miss them.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

That video is sad. As much as we all bash hatcheries--when I did finally get my LF Whites from Sandhill (it took two years) I was pleasantly surprised. Not that they were show-quality or anything too spectacular but they were a good starting point--especially when no one else had eggs, chicks or adults for sale. The Crevecoeurs I got from there were all pullets and WAY too lanky. They had bright white ear lobes and were nuts. LOL I let them grow out to just see what I had to work with and ended up selling them to an old lady who wanted some white eggs in her fridge to go with the brown. The SH birds did lay very well and produced HUGE eggs...but their type wasn't there and I did not feel like going backwards.

This was my main Crevecoeur rooster from Duane Urch lines, he was very large, thick and meaner than heck!

 

[toybarons]

I loved my Crevies. I did find the male I had was pretty mean at times. He could really shin kick you.

I have never had issues with wintering my Houdans. I am in northern Canada where temps can drop down past -30C over night. It also isn't uncommon to have cold streaks where the warmest it gets during the day is -20C. I do have a heat light in my coops. I deep litter. I have solid walls in my barn interior which helps with keeping temps even. My interior temp at it's coldest is around -15C.

Freezing of the crests is an easy solution. I use tower waters that are placed up on platforms. The tower wall pushes the crests up and away when the bird drinks. I seldom have issues with frozen crests with either my houdans or polish.