We've got a half dozen Fayoumi.
I purchased them due to lack of self control........we already have 34 chickens.
Their breed profile describes them as 'feral', and unlikely to ever come back after being let out. From what I've read they don't like to be picked up either.
Our Fayoumi have been out of the brooder and in the backyard for about 3 weeks now. They share one of two coops with our other chickens. The coops are in a chicken run that's opened everyday, the chickens are permitted to forage around our backyard (over an acre).
In the approximately 3 weeks since they've been out in the coop/run we've only seen one of the Fayoumi leave the chicken run. He walked around the outside of the run them went back inside. Certainly haven't been acting "feral".
When the birds were in the brooder, they did not want to be picked up and did everything possible to evade handling. Now that they're in backyard, they allow my wife to pick them up, not all the time, but quite a bit.
It appears the Fayoumi hens have started laying some eggs since we've been finding some very small eggs lately in the boxes.
The cockerels (whom we refer to as the Egyptian Mafia) seem content to hangout in the chicken run and especially inside the coops and force themselves on the hens as they go inside to lay eggs.
It's kind of funny to think about a Fayoumi cockerel that doesn't weigh much more than one pound mounting an 11 pound Black Jersey Giant.
I purchased them due to lack of self control........we already have 34 chickens.
Their breed profile describes them as 'feral', and unlikely to ever come back after being let out. From what I've read they don't like to be picked up either.
Our Fayoumi have been out of the brooder and in the backyard for about 3 weeks now. They share one of two coops with our other chickens. The coops are in a chicken run that's opened everyday, the chickens are permitted to forage around our backyard (over an acre).
In the approximately 3 weeks since they've been out in the coop/run we've only seen one of the Fayoumi leave the chicken run. He walked around the outside of the run them went back inside. Certainly haven't been acting "feral".
When the birds were in the brooder, they did not want to be picked up and did everything possible to evade handling. Now that they're in backyard, they allow my wife to pick them up, not all the time, but quite a bit.
It appears the Fayoumi hens have started laying some eggs since we've been finding some very small eggs lately in the boxes.
The cockerels (whom we refer to as the Egyptian Mafia) seem content to hangout in the chicken run and especially inside the coops and force themselves on the hens as they go inside to lay eggs.
It's kind of funny to think about a Fayoumi cockerel that doesn't weigh much more than one pound mounting an 11 pound Black Jersey Giant.