Mille Fleurs

[silkieluvr]

My friend Madison (Kanchii) and I have been starting our new breeding business where our main focus was on Mille Fleur D'Uccles. We were really excited to have some show birds that we would be able to show at some local fairs and do some 4H stuff with. But today we just found out that it takes the D'Uccles 2 years to become ready to be shown!

Now what should we do? Do we stay with the breed or move onto some new breed? This is so dissapointing because we were planning on starting with chicks and hatching eggs so now we can't even show for two years!

 

[Wildsky]

How old do other birds need to be to be shown?

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Why does it take 2 years?

Ps...by the time they are 5 or 6 months old they should have their adult feathers, so I see no reason why they couldn't be shown. I've seen D'uccle cockerels and pullets (under a year old) at shows.

 

[silkieluvr]

Our others birds we have show as pullets, so under a year old (?), and as year old birds too.

 

[silkieluvr]

It takes two years because Mille Fleurs don't get the correct spangling until a while after their first molt

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Well, if you're worried about not showing the birds at their peak, why not the Silkies then until the D'uccles are old enough??

 

[karri25]

We are raising Millies to show and to use in 4-H also. Have you found a good website yet for Millies? WE haven't had much luck here:-(
WE showed our silkies this past year. I say you should stick with the Millies but show other birds while you are waiting. Really it could be a blessing, you will have way more experience when you begin to show your Millies.

Millies really are the prettiest birds ever I suspect

 

[silkieluvr]

I think I'll agree with you Angie, maybe we'll buy some hens that will be ready to show in spring at the January show while we wait for our babies to start maturing.

Karri- Yes they really are and that is why we became so interested in them! I just can't see giving them up yet especially after seeing their parents who are just about the prettiest birds I think I have ever seen!

 

[karri25]

Yea, I kind of got tickled at our county fair this past year. There were some people showing Millies that had almost no white on them at all. I think they won too b/c there weren't many Millie's entered. I have two that are really sharp and one that I'm not quite sure about yet. I love them all but if Dana doesn't start showing WAY more feathers dipped in white than I'm going to give her to our lonely banty Pepe la Rue. I love watching them grow. It's like you have these brown crazy looking chicks and then they change colors every day! I am so excited to see others who love them.
Good Luck!

 

[silkieluvr]

Ya, I got hooked after seeing our babies father and then seeing the birds at the show who were nowhere near the standard for Mille Fleurs we knew we should start breeding them.

This is our babies dad, its funny because we don't really want a roo, but we're holding on to one little baby boy for as long as we can after seeing this guys pic!