Author: Anna & Mark

I was interested to
see that two contest
entries were in
praise of a chicken variety I hadn’t heard of — the Salmon
Faverolles.  (Like Cuckoo
Marans, the
name is French and both the singular and the plural have an “s” at
the end.)  Here’s what our readers have to say:



“Here is a pic if my salmon flavorelle
rooster “King”!!  I love this guy!!  He is such the
protector of my 4 girls!!” — Lisa



“My beautiful Salmon
Faverolles hen,`Cheeps’!  In this photo, she patiently
obliges the grandchildren, Gage and Shyanne.  We love her
calm demeanor, beautiful feathers and sweet personality. 
Can’t complain about the wonderful, creamy eggs, either!” —
Julie


A bit of research turned up the information that Faverolles were
initially bred to be dual purpose chickens, but have since been
largely selected for exhibition quality.  So, you shouldn’t
expect them to be the most productive birds in your flock, but
they are pretty and they tend to be quiet and docile — good for
city pets.  Unlike some chickens, Faverolles thrive in
confinement, and were actually the primary breed used to produce
eggs for the Parisian market in the early 1900s.  On the
other hand, docility is a negative if you try to mix Faverolles
into flocks of more dominant chickens since they tend to get
picked on.



I’d be curious to
hear from other Faverolle owners.  What do you like or
dislike about the breed?

Whenever other parts
of the homestead give me breathing room, I’ve been plugging along
for about a month trying to bring order to our pastures. 
I’ve written before about my goal of cutting
the tall weeds out of our pastures before they go to seed, a technique that has brought
our older pastures into line.  The younger pastures, though, need TLC, as
do all the fencelines.

There’s not much new
to say, except that my current technique is to wear only one
glove, on my left hand.  That lets me grab multiflora rose or
blackberries with the gloved hand, then cut them with the ungloved
hand.  You might wear a glove on your cutting hand too, but I
hate the loss of dexterity.

The long-term goal is
to ensure that all plants in the pasture help chickens.  That
means they either need to be within chicken reach and tender
enough to eat, or they need to be perennials that produce
bountiful fruit.  While I do see laying hens in unimproved
pastures leaping for jewelweed
seeds at this time of  year, I figure most biomass
produced by tall, nonwoody perennials goes to waste from a chicken
perspective.  At least after I cut those weeds down, our
flock can pick through the leavings, and there will be fewer weeds
next year.