Wyondotte Breed Questions

[rooster0209]

I am thinking of getting Wyondotte's and was reading up on the breed characteristics.

Do they breed well? Read where they don't naturally breed well because of the abundance of tail feathers. Any problems with this?

Also, cleaning the vent area because of tail feathers...is this true?

Any problems or issues I should consider?

They will be free range birds

 

[Lothiriel]

I haven't bred any of mine, but they do have a lot of tail feathers. That could pose a problem...

Cleaning the vent area I also wouldn't know about - my girls' backsides usally stay pretty clean.

Wyandottes are very flighty and skitterish. That is a good thing for when they are free ranged, as they are very fast and can escape from predators easily. But if you are wanting to catch them or stuff like that, you'll have a hard time of it. (Believe me... I've tried it before and it's quite a workout! LOL) They are moderate layers.

Any other problems or issues.... oh yes. Last year one of my girls became an internal layer. She was 2 years old. I don't know if this is a problem that many other Wyandottes have, or what. But just to let you know.

What breed of Wyandottes are you thinking about getting? I have Silver Laced... but I've always wanted the Golden Laced, or Pencil Laced..... *sigh* Dreams......

Hope this helps a little! Good luck!

 

[rooster0209]

Thanks for the info. I can't catch any of my chickens, unless I snag one off the roost. They are not very tame at all.

I was looking at Sliver laced & blue/red laced. Right now I have some mixed breeds and wanted to add Wyandottes

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

First are you thinking about just hatchery wyandottes or show type wyandottes?
I have the show type wyandottes and they are calm as can be and lay pretty well. I have never had any problems with breeding and I never clip the vent feathers or anything. The 'true' wyandottes are big, calm, fluffy, dual purpose birds. The hatchery wyandottes are thin, close feathered, good layers, but dont look like wyandottes or act like them at all.

The only problem you may have with wyandottes is broodyness. It seems that there is atleast one wyandotte hen trying to be broody every day of the year which is good if you want to hatch eggs. I have heard that the hatchery roosters can be agressive.

 

[Blisschick]

I don't have a problem at all with flightiness with mine. Mine are not afraid to come right up to me and demand to be fed, even jumping up in the bucket as chicks. A few are very friendly and will let me pet them. None of mine are hatchery birds, so they're big, broad and have nice, big fluffy butts, but none have ever had a problem with producing chicks. The only thing that is truly known to cause infertility issues with Wyandottes as a breed is the fact that rosecombs are linked to low fertility, so you don't get as many fertile eggs as you would get with a single comb. (Keeping a single-combed roo is a good thing. They throw less singles, but increase your chick production.) I have never had a roo that was aggressive to people out of my Wyandottes, and they do a good job of looking out for their girls. As for broodiness, FMP is right...there's always going to be one or two in the bunch that think they need to sit.

 

[JanieMarie]

Hey Rooster0209! Hows the weather down there? Something is definitely wrong when -11 feels warm!! Just wanted to say I'm just starting to get into the BLRWs. I have one that hatched with some welsummers 3 1/2 weeks ago and that chick is the calmest sweetest chick Ive ever had! So I'm hoping for good things from this breed. Got some eggs coming (hopefully) next week of BLRs from some really good stock since its sposed to warm up. So if youre interested maybe we can meet up down the road. Also theres a BYC meet up on Sat in the cities if youre interested.

 

[ghulst]

Good choice. They are calm and very fertile. Good for free range.

 

[chicken quartet]

I just sold 3 of my hatchery Wyandottes. 1 GLW and 2 SLW. They were all VERY flighty and super hard to catch. In fact, you should have seen my husband sprinting around our yard Monday morning trying to catch the last one! It was hilarious! I have 1 GLW left that I got from a breeder and she is just wonderful. I got her first and loved her so much I ordered 3 more from the hatchery. The hatchery chicks were NOTHING like my other one. I'm really glad the other 3 are gone! LOL

The one that I have now was hatched in May of last year and still hasn't laid a darn egg! She better get with the program or she'll be gone too!