Favaucanas. Boy, do I love them! … what, you’ve never heard of Favaucana chickens?!! I can’t believe it!
This beautiful favaucana is named Juliet
Just kidding. I’m not really surprised–naturally, you wouldn’t have heard of Favaucanas. There is no such thing as a Favauacana, not really… at least, not officially. They exist only in my flock, and probably a few other LUCKY small flocks across the country similar to mine. In particular, a few of us here at My Pet Chicken have them in our flocks–because I keep sending Favaucana eggs. And I expect there are a few others around that might have made the same cross.
Who wouldn’t? I mean, look at this gorgeous Favaucana rooster!
Favaucanas are half-faverolles and half wheaten ameraucanas. They look much like Faverolles. They have the same plumage, feathered legs and a fifth toe like Faverolles do. However, their legs are lightly feathered by comparison, and the extra toe is not always there. (Polydactyly is incompletely dominant, so some Favaucanas may have four toes on one foot, and five on the other… or they may have more of a vestigal fifth toe.) But in contrast to Faverolles, Favaucanas have pea combs and the hens lay good numbers of gorgeous, sagey-GREEN, medium to large eggs. They’re cold tolerant and heat tolerant, too. And friendly. Plus, unlike Faverolles, they don’t seem to be quite as likely to fall at the lower end of the pecking order. The Ameraucana in them must give them a little extra self-confidence!
Mine were originally a cross between my favorite Faverolles rooster Gautier, and my favorite Wheaten Ameraucana hens, Lily and Galatea. Galatea was a blue wheaten ameraucana, so she introduced the blue to the salmon coloring in many of by favaucanas. The offspring were so fabulous, that I just kept hatching those babies again and again. And I sent eggs to friends, so they could have some of these beauties, too. I adore them.
There’s just something about them. When you cross your FAVORITE rooster with your FAVORITE hens, there’s something really special about the babies. I love hearing from other people who’ve hatched my Favaucana eggs: invariably, I get to hear how they’re beautiful, friendly, rock solid layers of lovely sagey colored eggs. Seems like, when you’re crossing your own chickens, their babies somehow feel even more like YOUR chicks than any others. I feel like I’m the grandma. Grandma Hen.
Crazy? Okay, yeah. I admit it. It’s a little crazy. But that doesn’t change how I feel. I am a grandma to chickens. I AM, right?
You actually may have some cross breeds in your flock: Easter Eggers, for example. You can get Easter Eggers from us at My Pet Chicken or from almost any hatchery (although other hatcheries are almost invariably dishonest about how they’re labelled). Easter Eggers a type of chicken not bred to any particular standard other than that they should ideally lay blue or green eggs. Red Stars/Golden Buffs are also cross breeds–and very popular! Red Stars lay prolific numbers of brown eggs, and are healthy, friendly birds. And naturally there are other favorite personal crosses out there in other small flocks, created by other pet chicken owners.
For instance, here’s the offspring of a Blue Copper Marans and a blue splash Ameraucana rooster:
She’ll lay olive colored eggs here in a month or two when she begins laying.
This is also a beautiful cross–my first blue splash bird! If she turns out well, I’ll have to make plans to get my hands on more of her. <3
____________________________
ENTER TO WIN!
We’d like to offer a set of MPC magnets to three lucky My Pet Chicken blog commenters located in the US!
To enter the contest, comment on this blog post below: tell us, what special cross breed chickens have you created–or do you WISH you could create–in your backyard flock? Three winners will be chosen at random from among the qualifying comments.
Contest ends August 31, 2012. Winners will be contacted via email, and must respond promptly–within 48 hours of notification–to claim their prize.