Where can I find day-old Frizzle pullets this time of year?

[ChickyBangBang]

Hello all,

My apologies in advance if any of my words are not the "accepted" words, but I am brand new to this chicken ownership thing.

I think I have finally decided on what kind of looks I want, but they are not available anywhere (that I've seen) online, nor are they available locally.

I want three frizzle day-old pullets - color isn't *super* important but I would like all three of them to be different colors, because otherwise it will be hard for me (a noob) to tell them apart.

What I CAN promise:

They will be spoiled.
They will be vetted when necessary (1 hour away from the nearest fowl vet)
They will be fed the best available feed out there.
They will be kept absolutely immaculately clean

What I CAN'T promise:

They'll be perfectly raised, because I'm brand new and I'm bound to make mistakes.

Thank you in advance

 

[Bunnylady]

Hey, we all had to start somewhere.

Your question is a fairly simple one, but the answer isn't quite so simple.

For starters, Frizzle isn't actually a breed, it's a type of feathering. There are several breeds which are commonly seen with frizzled feathers, the Bantam Cochin being probably the most common. Unfortunately, as they are bantams, most of the hatcheries don't try to sex them, but sell them as straight run (meaning, luck of the draw, pullets and cockerels just as they hatched).

Frizzled is one of those genes that has a real snag associated with it. At the place where it occurs, there are two possible genes, one causing frizzled feathers, the other causing normal feathers. Frizzled is what is known as a dominant trait, meaning that if the bird inherited the gene for frizzled, you will see it (probably - I hear there are other genes that may suppress the degree to which it shows). Anyway, if a bird gets a frizzled gene from one parent, and a normal gene from the other parent, you get frizzled feathers. The problem is, if you breed two frizzled birds together, some of the offspring will inherit a frizzled gene from both parents - that is sometimes called a frazzle. Frazzles have very brittle feathers, which break off at the least excuse, resulting in one sorry looking bird that is at least half bald most of the time. No responsible breeder wants to produce birds like that, so the normal thing one does when breeding for frizzles is to breed a normal feathered (smooth) bird to a frizzled bird. From such a cross, roughly half of the offspring will have frizzled feathers, and the other half of them will have normal feathers. When they hatch, you can't tell the frizzles from the smooth birds. The chicks need to be a few days old before the wing feathers get long enough to see the curliness that signals the presence of the frizzle gene. So while somebody could sell you day old chicks from a frizzle breeding, they couldn't be sure whether the chicks would be frizzled.

 

[ChickyBangBang]

Your answer was exactly what I wanted - someone who reads my mind and answers all the other questions that I didn't know I had until someone answered them.

Thank you very much! I went ahead and ordered 5 eggs + extra(s) for first order from "somewhere", and they said they can be any of the following:

Frizzle Silkie
Frizzle Cochin
Frizzle Wyandotte
Frizzle Polish
Frizzle Sultan

but...that they can only guarantee that 2 out of every 3 eggs will contain frizzle-feathered birds. And furthermore there is no guarantee on gender. So...if we end up with any roosters they are going to have to go live with my cousin on her farm, as I'm not allowed to have roosters I don't think.

That's not the bad part. I ALSO forgot to buy an incubator BEFORE I bought the blasted eggs - got too excited too soon. We have the chick starter and heat lamp and area for the chicks but that's all! We have to hatch them first (weren't expecting to get eggs).

SO now I will go to the egg-hatching forum because now we're getting eggs instead of chicks. SO NERVOUS I feel like a new mom LOL

 

[Bunnylady]

Hatching eggs can be hair-raising, but it can be fun, too. I love those mixed-bag hatches, they always have a Christmas morning feeling!


Sending you good hatching vibes!