Houdans

[Mofarmgirl]

Hi all..after a lot of consideration I've decided to see what I can do with this breed! They were originally awesome dual purpose birds, said to be fine layers and have excellent meat quality. I have a pair that I'm starting out with, hatching from them now. So far the Chicks are looking well. My main goal will be to increase size and keep the laying abilities. Then will come attaining coloring closer to standard. Way too many breeds have been destroyed from breeders focusing on looks alone, while ignoring productivity. Let me tell ya I agree that its super hard to find these birds! I've tried Duane..he's soldout for the season. Just for the heck of it I checked on some bigger hatchery sites. Many have none available or only cockerals which tells me this breed must be more scarce than I thought! They're holding on tight to the pullets.
Here's the pair I'm starting with. My mom bought them as Chicks last year:

 

[nova7353]

your roo looks alot differnt then mine, but your hen looks like one of my girls befor she was killed, i think they layed and egg every three days when i had them. they were also sweet little things

 

[funnybirds]

So I started a search last year to find mottled Houdan eggs. Boy, are they hard to find. I did find a place that will ship fertile eggs but last year when I had ordered (December) the Houdans werent laying anymore, so they sent me a crested variety pack instead per my request..
Out of that hatch I got two Polish, and two Crevies. (Shipped eggs, first time hatcher)
SO...

From what I have gathered about crested chickens, they can be more difficult to hatch and its been my personal (totally unscientific) observation that they may be more prone to defects. From that one hatch I had one die early on, one crossbeak (it corrected over time) and two sets of double toenails on the middle toes.

However that could be my newbie hatching skills too. I did have one temp spike the first week.

The chickens I hatched are beautiful, healthy and thriving to date.
Anyway,
Good luck to you on your endeavor. I think they are beautiful chickens and would like to see them make a strong comeback.
Here is the link: (By the way , they did an AWESOME packing job!)

http://dblrsupply.pinnaclecart.com/products/Crested_Chicks-3361-443.html

 

[Mofarmgirl]

Aww its hard to lose them, especially to predators! This hen is very docile also. The roo is pretty exciteable lol. He's always "talkative." This girl lays every day or every other day. I look forward to seeing how the Chicks turn out.

 

[nova7353]

well if you get things going i would like to buy some eggs from ya. this is my fav type of chicken i found a pick of my girls when they were young. the one on the far right turned out way more black then this pick shows her

 

[Mofarmgirl]

Quote:
Thank you! I look forward to seeing how the Chicks grow out. I've also read that they can be hard to hatch. So far, every egg has been fertile, but not every one will hatch. The Chicks that have, have all had correct toes ect., no defects. I'm sure that I'm in for a challenge in finding quality stock to add to these lol. Thanks for the link also.

 

[Mofarmgirl]

Quote:
They were very pretty! I'll definitely come back from time to time and keep you updated. I'll try to get pics of the new babies.
It seems that one of the only sources for true-to-standard birds is in the UK and I'm sure its super hard to have birds shipped to the U.S. Some of theirs make ours look so scrawny! If I have full bators and extra eggs I'll let you all know. Maybe between all of us fanciers we get these guys back where they should be one day!

 

[nova7353]

Lets hope so good luck and thank you

 

[rtroxel]

Eventually, if I like what I have, I also plan to hatch a few every year. Maybe I can sell the rest of the eggs. But I'm getting full with too many breeds and that doesn't help anyone either. If you really want to help a breed, a person should focus on it and really improve it. I like to hatch at least 1-200 chicks a year for every variety I have, unless I'm just getting started with a pair or something. Then I'll try for 20-30 from the pair. That usually gives me a few decent to cull from and pick about 2-3 pairs to keep.

 

[corn pecker]

We just had some shipped from McMurry, I hope they grow up to look like Mofarmgirl's.

Here's a pic of ours at 5 days old I will post a pic every so often as they grow if you all are interested.