This is a glorious-looking bird. The ear muffs and beard! Those feathered feet! Those fluffy pantaloons!
So charming, but I don’t keep this breed. I stay away from feather-footed beauties. They’re higher maintenance than I like to have around. Ice and muck cling to those leg and foot feathers. Rather than providing warmth, they’re a detriment in New England where we say that we have five seasons – spring, summer, fall, winter, and mud.
Besides, they’re not known for their eggs.
Do you keep Faverolles? Are they worth the trouble? Let me know – your comment doesn’t have to be in a poem, but extra points if it is :)
Isn’t Pearl one of those fancy footed breeds? I think she is beautiful.
Pear is a Cochin, and as feather-footed as they come. I couldn’t resist the grey coloring. But, I’ll not have another. She suffers from heat stress in the summer and icy feet in the winter.
I have three French hens like the song, they are winter hardy as I am from Michigan, two are very sweet and love being picked up, one is very shy.
I am getting 3 Faverolles at the end if March. I live in Western Oregon where the climate is not too cold, but we have a lot of winter rain. I will let you know how it goes. But I’m wondering if I should use sand instead of pine shavings for my bedding, in the coop and run since it sheds and evaporates water so quickly. That would be helpful to keep their feathered feet from getting matted with mud.
Do let me know how you like the Faverolles! I like sand in the run, but not in the coop, as it stays damp and doesn’t dry out manure. Read more on my Coop Bedding FAQ.
Francine is one of my first hens that I have raised. She is almost 4 yr. old. She is a favorite, so sweet , and she would lay an egg nearly every day her first 2-3 yr. Her eggs were small and slightly tinted. She has a beard,muff, and feathered feet. It is amazing how she can take care of herself. She is the matriarch of the hen house now. I have tried to get more Faverolles, but they always turn out to be roosters! I have 2 pet roosters now, but they are kept separate from my hens. They fight each other, but seem to be harmless around people. They are so close to the ground, they circle me, but don’t attack! Francine even fends off the rooster, she seems to know he is her kind, though! The story on the 2 roosters is that even though the rooster has black in his feathers, I waited too long to decide they were male, so I kept them. They lived with the goats. When Sherlock and Watson, as they are named, began fighting, it was very comical at first, because they would fluff out their beautiful neck feathers and jump over each other! I didn’t see any danger to each other, at first. Then one morning Watson, had damage to his eye. I immediately separated them, and began doctoring, “One-Eyed Watson”, and he became quite the pet! He lives in a chicken tractor by night, and is loose in our yard by day, when I am home. Sherlock has lived with my other rooster, Otis, for almost 2 yr. now, but they started fighting, so now they are separated. I re-homed 5 roosters, this
summer, and one was a very young Faverolle. He went to a 4-H family with kids that show him! They are a beautiful, sweet fun breed! Only one rooster at a time, though! The only one that is around my hens on rare occasions, is “One Eye”, because they can get away from him while he circles them, with his good eye!
Though I would never raise hens to eat, the Faverolle is known as the only breed raised in France, to prepare the dish,”petite breast of chicken”..
You’re fortunate to have been able to rehome your roos. It helps that you have such a fancy breed.
I think I caught Pip and Caper practicing their midnight speech. Listen very closely Terry, I believe it had a chorus about “buckets full of peanuts” but I may be mistaken.
Thank you for remembering my story! The animals had much to say… I’ll do a post about that this week :)