Poo help please!

[CallyChook]

Hi folks, I have been thinking about the new year (already!) after my mum said that she wouldn't at all mind me keeping chickens in her 2.5 acre small holding, provided I do all the work of course. Now that's no problem as for me, even the most mundane of jobs is great fun, with the sole exception of poo picking! I'm on maternity leave until the end of Jan and on half pay during that time, so no spare cash for chookie houses or fencing, but hopefully by April next yr I'll have enough for some gear.

 

Having fallen in love with the polands this year, I fancy hatching out some of the rarer breeds that are similar-ish, namely houdans and crevecoeurs. Also some la fleche - these were my original choice for chickens but due to them being flighty and having a fondness for large free ranging areas I chose more "usual" birds to start off with. The possiblity of keeping chooks at my parent's house though means I can really branch out.

 

Does anyone have experience with these breeds? With them being not quite the norm, do you think there would be more chance of finding homes for cockerels rather than having to cull? Any advice welcome please!

[Redwing]

Really the crevecoeur cockerels are the only ones likely to find homes, if you are going to breed on even an amateur level you'll need to come to terms with culling at some point sadly

 

Houdans and La Fleche are not small birds, also they take a long time to mature

 

Maybe consider a bird that comes in bantam size - Orloffs, Thuringians and Vorwerks are all nice

 

Or consider a small large breed, Thuringians come in a large fowl version but are still diddy and Campines are another good one

 

Some useful info here: http://www.rarepoultrysociety.co.uk/breeds

[CallyChook]

Thanks Tasha

 

I'm definitely set on the houdans, there's just something about them that I find so appealing. Their poise and also the fact they look a bit like bob marley on top but a big city banker in the body (in my head anyways that what they're like!) makes me go gooey in the core of my poultry-loving heart!! the la fleche - I know their meat is considered very tasty so if I can get over the deadly deed, I would like to make use of any unwanted boys. I had a la fleche coq-au-vin in the Dordogne once in a superlatively posh restaurant, and remember thinking how beautiful it was. No idea why I remembered what breed of chicken it was in my dinner

 

I have a friend who keeps pheasants who has always said he doesn't mind either culling for me or teaching me to do it myself, I suppose sooner or later I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and do it. The silkies I'm rearing at the moment, it may well be that a couple of those have to be dispatched if I have too many boys which is going to be really hard since they've been spoilt rotten and all cuddled from hatching. Obviously for all future breeding though, if there is the option of a boy having a FR'ing happy life over me having a tasty dinner then I would prefer that of course

 

I seem to like orloff girls but the boys just dont quite have that certain je ne sais quoi which makes me go giddy over a bird. Vorwerks again just dont match my ideals although when I found out that "they are the only breed of chicken to share their name with a brand of vacuum cleaner" that did make me really smile!!

 

... but thuringians... I had never heard of them before so have googled... oh my. What an absolutely fantastic looking chicken! I may have to find out a lot more about those!!

[Daphne]

We must share the same idea of what looks good in a chicken! I have long hankered after crevecoeurs but am slightly put off by the idea that the gene pool is very small in this country; having had problems with a closely bred line of chooks I don't want to go down that road again. I am saving them for when I go to live in France (ha ha).