Opinions on Mille Fleur D’uccles

[Mmcelhanon1]

Recently bought some Mille Fleur D’uccles, but don’t know a thing about the breed, just think they are very pretty. I am a hobbyist interested in perhaps breeding and letting my granddaughter show some chickens locally. This is a breed I haven’t seen locally & I bought them from what was essentially a hoarder with a lot of chickens and other fowl in ramshackle conditions. Two roosters, three hens. Not the best pics, but the best I have at the moment. Would like a knowledgeable critique.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Cute birds.

Looks like the ladies are missing their beards... could be flaw or maybe just pecking order stuff. When I fed fermented feed, all of my bearded birds had them picked out by others cleaning the left overs.

Looks like some comb wonkiness on the ladies as well. And not seeing the white wing bands on the males that I usually see.

3/2... is an awful ratio usually. Will likely have to put in separate housing as show time approaches to allow for good feather condition. I have not yet shown. so this is just my current understanding.

They aren't perfect, like most. But with careful selection you could end up with a nice line of birds. The key is hatching a lot and NOT expecting every cockerel to find a good home. Have a plan for the extras... like pet feed for those raw feeders, feed your family as bantams are totally edible just less meat, maybe a wildlife center needs some live (or dispatched) birds for their raptors or other carnivorous residents, plant an apple tree on top of them, etc.

Also a plan to cull any deformities that hatch. My first time I wasn't able and things got worse with age, I regretted my weakness. Cross break, splay leg, bent toes, etc... best not to try and fix and allow the genetic weakness into your breeding stock. And surely even giving them away... is a bad idea to litter the community with the genetic weaknesses.

Breeding has been a wonderful challenge and learning adventure. It's not for the faint of heart.

Have you got your copy of the D'uccle SOP already? If not... do so, study it.. practice trains the eye. Here is one resource...
http://www.belgianduccle.org/belgian-duccles.html

I have not worked with this particular breed. But I believe @Folly's place may be working with them... and I know she's got a great attention to detail and lots of good info. Maybe she will have some useful input for ya!

Hope you and your grand daughter have a world of fun doing this together!

 

[Cyprus]

I breed that breed for exhibition and tbh I would not use those for anything but pets. You're gonna have yourself a headache trying to get anywhere with them.

Also, Mille Fleur is a color. D'Uccle is the breed. Mille fleur d'Uccle is a color variety of the breed, not a breed as one and the same.

This is what a male should look like.

 

[Mmcelhanon1]

I’m aware that Mille Fleur refers to the color and D’Uccle is the breed. I was also pretty confident that buying birds I had no knowledge about from an unknown backyard breeder was unlikely to net me anything of “show quality”, lol. I would like to know where my current birds fall short in an effort to better educate myself. They are cute and healthy & that’s a win for me. My granddaughter is six & will be showing at a local level, so expectations at this point are not high, I just want her to have fun. That rooster is gorgeous!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
I have 'pet quality' birds, very cute but not SQ. I try to have birds that resemble the SOP, but since showing them isn't going to happen here, it's all fine for me.
@Cyprus , that bird is totally beautiful!
For 4H showmanship, less than perfect birds will likely be okay. For actual showing, not really.
What scares me about buying 'random source' birds is about biosecurity, and the risk of bringing in bad diseases into your flock. Do be careful!
Read and look at the SOP, and try to produce birds who are closer to that standard.
Generally breeders produce a lot of chicks, because few reach 'wonderfulness', so many many are culls, especially the cockerels. It's hard.
Mary