Day 208#: Faverolles Chicken
Today's animal of the day is the Faverolles breed of Domestic Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus)!
Photo credit: appps on backyardchickens.com
LET'S GOOOOO!!!! MY FIRST CHICKEN ENTRY!!! I love chickens, if you couldn't tell. The Faverolles breed originates from the north-central region of France, near the village of Faverolles, hence their name. They were first developed in the 1860s for both their meat and eggs, but nowadays are mainly kept as show birds. This breed can be identified by its fluffy "beards" and "ear muffs", in addition to its feathered feet and five toes (most chicken breeds only have four). They also have longer tail feathers and tend to raise them up higher than other similar breeds.
Photo credit: The Livestock Conservancy
Like other chicken breeds, Faverolles can come in a wide variety of different colors, such as:
White (photo credit: littlepatchofweeds.com)
Snowy (photo credit: littlepatchofweeds.com)
Black (photo credit: thevalleytilba.com)
Ermine (photo credit: British Faverolles Society)
Buff (photo credit: British Faverolles Society)
Cuckoo (photo credit: British Faverolles Society)
Mahogany (photo credit: littlepatchofweeds.com)
Splash (photo credit: eggsellent.com)
Blue (photo credit: British Faverolles Society)
and Salmon (which is the most popular color). (photo credit: The Chicken Coop Company)
These chickens are quite docile, which sadly means that they tend to get bullied when put in mixed flocks with more aggressive breeds. So, it's usually recommended that they're kept with other Faverolles or similarly mild-mannered breeds. Because they're so friendly, they're becoming very popular as pet chickens, especially since they're decent layers and will lay around four light pinkish-brown eggs per week when properly cared for.
The nature center I used to work at in college actually had a couple Faverolles: Henrietta II, Sasqatch, Squonk, and Wilma No Toes. Henrietta, Sasquatch, and Squonk were actually pretty skittish and didn't enjoy being held or pet as much as some of the other hens did, but they would still come up to me whenever I brought treats for them. I actually ended up accidentally training the chickens to come running whenever they heard my voice because I spent so much time with them and gave them lots of treats, even on my days off. Wilma No Toes was less skittish than the other two, since she had lost her toes the winter before I started working there and needed a lot of extra attention, so she was handled a lot more. Because of her disability, she ended up getting bullied by the other hens a lot, so she had to spend most of her time in our anti-bullying pen with a half-blind easter egger named Susan and her twin sister Buck.
(Wilma would also always sunbathe in a way that made it look like she was dead. I promise she's alive in this pic!)
I will say, for anyone thinking about getting this breed, that they constantly had health issues with their weird toes. At one point, our flock ended up getting scaly foot mites (which Faverolles are especially susceptible to), and every time we gave them their foot bath treatment, their toes would start to bleed, and we had to really quickly put cornstarch on their feet to stop the bleeding so the other hens wouldn't see the blood and attack them. Yeah, that was not fun. Sadly, all four Faverolles have since passed away (mostly due to old age), but I really enjoyed my time working with them. I actually really miss the chickens I used to work with, and still go up and visit them every now and then.
