Putting Faverolles to bed

[thepoorehouse]

Hi all,

Love the forum. This is my first post.

My four 8-week-old chicks -- one barred rock, one Polish, and two faverolles -- have been out since July 3. I've got a coop surrounded by an 8x8x7(height) run. After the first night, the barred rock and polish were going into the coop at dusk. They also come out using the ladder in the mornings. The faverolles seem to want to bed down outside under the coop. I also have to pick them up and kind of nudge them into the coop, and I have to open the big side door of the coop so they can fly out instead of using the ladder.

Normal?

The faverolles are beautiful but their temperament has been much harder to figure out than the Polish and barred rock. I have a very sturdy run made with 2x4s, hardware cloth, etc. But I like to lock them into the coop at night for added safety. It'd be nice to have them going in on their own, but not vital.

Ideas? About putting them to bed and about faverolle temperament?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Put a light inside the coop - even a string of solar Christmas lights. It'll fix the problem.

Visit my BYC page for lots of hints and ideas, and welcome to the party!!

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i always found my favs like to be up high on their roost in my summer coop, so when i open the door in the morning i usually have to duck from the flying favs coming straight down from their perches! there are the occasional spazzy fav but many are very timid around other breeds and can get bullied by them. if they realize you are their 'comforter' they will always come running for you or hide by your feet to be protected or picked up for a sunggle.

it will just take some time for them to figure out their proper bedtime. faverolles sometimes love good things and like to get it a lot! treats also help to train them. find what they like for treats and use that as a motivation to get them to go into the coop at night. only put the treat in the evening so they associate it with that time.

eta, when referring to favs, it is always spelled with an 's' at the end since they are named for the city in France that they come from! just a good fact if you ever decide to get into breeding them in the future!

 

[thepoorehouse]

Hey,

Great tips. And thanks for the correction on faverolles spelling. While we're on the topic, could you let me know whether I should be capitalizing? Also, if you have any good reference material on the breed that I can find online I'd love to have it.

Chris

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

while i'm on the message boards i don't bother with the capitalization of things much, i just shorten it to 'favs'. just when i'm looking for hatching eggs from people i like to be sure they know the breed they are raising and i look for them under both spellings of Faverolles and Faverolle since it is a very common issue, i try to avoid those with any other spelling mistakes unless they can answer a few questions and provide pics of their birds. i have seen some horrible issues with some 'breeders' representing their favs saying they should have 7 toes or that they have 4 and that they are purebred with these issues.

a really good resource for breeding is Peter Merlin's website about his favs. he is one of the top breeders that helped to bring in the British bloodlines to the US i think during the early 90's. his champion male Brit Boi is shown on FeatherSite.com under the faverolles section. there is also a site for the Faverolles Fanciers of America which was recently revamped. my signature line has the link to the Faverolles thread so you can post more questions on there and get them answered by others that have favs. also look into the British Faverolles Fanciers, they have some gorgeous birds over there in lots of colors! just do a search online and you will find a lot of valuable information!

are your birds from a breeder or are they hatchery? bantam or LF? i keep bantams and have loved their personalities a lot! each one is slightly different but still seem to follow me around the yard or in the coop. i tried to get some LF but i hatched out a bunch of boys and they were flighty vs the bantams.

 

[thepoorehouse]

Mine are from Meyers Hatchery. To be honest, I got them because I liked the way they looked and that they were characterized as docile. I have two kids who are good with animals. The favs haven't been as easy to hold, but they seem to be warming up to us. So far, they love strawberries and my toes sticking out of my sandals as treats. I'm trying to find other treats to help them warm up to me.

I noticed on Merlin's site that Favs don't do so well in pens. Mine's a good-sized pen. But I have a huge backyard right downtown in our 250,000+ city. I'd like to let them roam the yard in the evening, but my other chicken-keeping neighbors say once you do that there's no going back. And I worry that my yard is a sort of landing strip for hawks. I see them routinely in the summer and fall -- both red tailed and cooper's hawks. So as much as I'd like to let them wander, I worry it would end in disaster.

Chris

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i've been letting mine out in the yard lately but they tend to stick close to me since we have lots of hawks in the area too. with the bantams they seem fine with being confined if they have enough space to roam. Keesmom on the faverolles thread has LF and she has her's confined and they seem fine, but i know her's are from breeders and are very calm.

it may just take some time for your young ones to calm down and realize that you are their protector/roo. coming from a hatchery they can sometimes have a different personality than what is expected since hatcheries don't breed for all the right characteristics you need to keep the breed true to type. they are a hatchery and trying to breed the birds to produce more eggs than the birds from breeders would normally produce. even hatchery birds can help contribute to the breeding population if you have a very good looking roo to put them with! (Peter Merlin has said this a few times-he's on the message boards on occasion). any girls with smudge spots will usually help to produce better looking males. i think i've heard that Meyer's has some of the better looking favs than most hatcheries.

i found that my birds love an occasional treat of meal worms. i get them from the local feed store. they are usually sold dried for the song birds but they are fine to give to chickens too! once they know what the worms are they should go crazy over them! they are good for hand feeding since they are dried you can hold one or two in your fingers and they should grab them and run around playing keep away with the other chicks/chickens. also, plucking weeds from around the yard is good! mine like a certain type of clover that likes to pop up in my garden. occasional bits of grass thrown in their pen is a good way to help find something they like. watermelon is a good treat on really hot days but it can stain their beards a little.

have you tried sitting with your favs? i have a couple of girls that just have to jump into my lap when i go to sit with them. when they were younger they didn't seem to like this but as they aged and got picked on by the other breeds i had they started coming to my lap for some attention and protection.