tell me about your faverolles!!

[artsyrobin]

i am new to faverolles and the more stories i hear the more i want to hear about everyones!! i have 4 chicks, 2 boys and 2 girls and they are stealing my heart! let hear about yours!!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

They were my first chickens, and I still have all 3 of them. They're a really docile breed, but mine aren't on the bottom of the pecking order because they grew up with a Delaware hen, who is queen of the yard. So they're her crew, and they get preference with everything. I'd like to say they're really quiet, but I have one named Barbeque who will cackle for 30 minutes after laying an egg. She also has her preference of nesting boxes, but isn't aggressive enough to take her turn when she's next in line. So she'll stand outside the box and complain for HOURS as the other hens shove in line in front of her, to lay in that box. And I have 5 boxes for 10 hens. They definitely have the most personality of all my chickens, maybe with the exception of the Delaware. I have one who is sweet, one who is gentle and opinionated, and the one who expresses her feelings over everything egg-related.

 

[artsyrobin]

thats cute! they are talkers then? mine are the bantams, what are yours?

 

[Lobzi]

OK, well Ill start by telling you about Roo. I was going to do so on the derpy thread but decided not to. Its sort of a follow up to my tidbit of info on Faverolles gaining weight if penned up as they LOVE to eat.
Well Roo was my first Faverolle and he is not with me any more as he died of a respiratory issue over two years ago. He loved to perch on a sawhorse I have in the yard. When he would jump off he always did a belly flop as his little legs just couldnt sustain the impact of the weight of his body. It was so cute to watch.
Here is a pic of him on his favorite perching sawhorse.

 

[Pele]

I was inspired to get Faverolles this winter after deciding that I wanted to take the next step and get purebred birds. I love my hatchery egg-factory girls, but there's just something special about owning show-quality birds.

I read my eyes to death about breeds, and decided that wanted something A.) fluffy, B.) friendly, and C.) not a broody Silkie or Cochin. I ended up deciding that Faverolles were the way to go, and wanted to get an unusual color, so I focused on Blue Salmons. I located a breeder through BYC, and had eggs shipped all the way from Texas. Luckily it was a mild winter, but it's still a hike!

Out of my hatch, I ended up with two girls: Luna and Butterscotch. As they are true purebreds, they are SUPER docile, and will let me carry them around under my arm. The downside to this (and something few people mention about the breed) is that they are so docile, that they don't mix well with my egglayer girls. The silly things will literally Ostrich their heads into a corner of the coop, and just let themselves be pecked. They won't even move to feed themselves

Needless to say, they now have their own little house:



I do expect them to get fat and sassy since they stay penned for most of the day (they are supposed to be a dual purpose breed, after all). And they are making the most adorable honks (not cluck, honk) since they're getting close to laying age now.

My only complaint is how scared they are of the evil camera monster. Humans are ok, cameras not so much. Here is Luna getting smooshed so she'll hold still for the camera:

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Right, mine are so docile that they might not have done well during my mixing of flocks if they hadn't been Original's girls. They were about 10 months and I added 6 more that were 6 months months old now... 6 added to 4 (3 faverolles, 1 Delaware) and the other 6 were standard layers. BR, BO, SLW, BA. So they had their own semi-aggressive tendencies already. Blood flew in the coop, because I locked them up for a few days to get acquainted and so the new ladies would recognize the coop as home. (Because I free-range in my yard.) All my faverolles would have been shoved to the very bottom if they hadn't been protected by Original the Delaware. Now they're right in the middle of the pecking order, even though they're still some of the most docile. They have seniority.

I have salmon faverolles, standard size, that are hatchery stock. I got them from the local feed store after my husband and I got this wild idea to get a few chickens to control earwigs. Honestly, I wouldn't have picked them as my first ones because we had the standard layers growing up... the RIR and BR type. But I'm so glad I got them. As they get older, we might have to put them in the pot to keep the eggs going, but my husband says he'll be sad because he loves the way they run.

They're a little talkative, but mostly related to their personalities. I see them have more personality than any of my other chickens. Gourmet is sweet and quiet, almost dignified. Barbeque is vocal about her egg-laying habits. El Pollo Loco is just opinionated, and will let you know when she doesn't want to be held. She roosts in odd places, too, often the coldest and most isolated spot in the coop. It was Loco that helped me associate the dogs to roaming free in the yard with the chickens, because whenever they came close she'd peck their noses then just get on with whatever she was doing before.

The only disadvatage I've seen is that their eggs could be a bit larger. They lay very well, very regularly, but they lay a medium egg. So I use the eggs from the other girls in my baking and fry up the eggs from the faverolles.

Here is Loco, glaring at my dogs during one of our first association exercises.

 

[Lobzi]

This is my Honey girl begging for food at the door. She is always the first one over to me when I bring out lunch. I call "whose hungry" and there she appears. I always follow up with "Honey is always hungry." I hope she doesnt get a complex!

 

[artsyrobin]

oh i love reading all these! y guys are still babies, and today were seriously being piranhas! i gave them a little bread and they were attacking the wire to get it... i do know they will be in their own run and coop, will have to get some new pics of them...