houdans

Houdan Variety Mottled (black with white spotting).
Originally the Houdan (pronounced 'oodan') was a breed in the vicinity of the market town Houdan, near Paris. First imported to England in 1850 the Houdan was known as the ‘Normandy Fowl’.
Why did I select Houdans? Firstly I wanted pet chickens and I read they have extremely docile natures. The hens seem to make the best pets, the roosters are too busy being roosters. Secondly in NZ they are a rare breed, and they deserve to be far better recognised. Thirdly for eggs, and they certainly haven't disappointed and have kept us supplied with eggs this winter.

CLASSIFICATION: Light Breed - Softfeather CARRIAGE: Bold and active. TYPE: Body broad, deep & lengthy as in the Dorking. Tail full with the sickles long and well arched. NECK: Of medium length with abundant hackle coming well down on the back. Two of my roosters Little Boy Blue and Bravo.
	They enjoy free range during the day and love to forage out on the pasture. My four Precious girls, Daisy, Snowdrops, Goldilocks and Pink with Tess the old border collie in the background.
Pink COLOUR: Male and Female: Glossy green-black ground colour with pure white mottles, the mottling to be evenly distributed, except on the flights and secondaries and in the male the sickles and tail coverts, which are irregularly edged with white. NOTE: In young Houdans black generally predominates, but what mottling there is should be even and clear. Mottling becomes gayer (whiter) with age.
	Pink Crests in Houdans should be full and compact, round on top for roosters and globular for hens, they should not be divided or split and the feathers inclining slightly backwards to fully expose the butterfly comb and they are able to see in all directions except from behind. Colouring of the crests should be glossy green-black ground colour with pure white mottles, the mottling is evenly distributed. Serious defect in the crest is a loose crest obstructing the sight.
Daisy Beaks should be rather short and stout well curved and with wide nostrils. Eyes bold.
	Goldilocks Face: muffling large, full, compact, fitting around to the back of the eyes and almost hiding the face. Ear-lobes small, entirely concealed by the muffling. Wattles small and well rounded almost concealed by the beard.
Goldilocks Comb leaf type somewhat resembling a butterfly placed at the base of the beak, fairly small well defined and each side level. Comb face and wattles should be bright red.
	Our first eggs. Daisy hatched on 26th August 2008 and gave us our first egg on the 19th January 2009. So she was 146 days or 4 months, 24 days old when she started to lay. Houdans are referred to as non broody & a good layer of medium sized (55g), white eggs.
Breed Standards Weights: Male 3.20 - 3.60 kg Female 2.70 - 3.20 kg
LEGS AND FEET: Legs short and stout well apart free of feathers. Houdans have five toes on each foot. The fifth toe should be well seperated from the fourth toe and curve gracefully out and skywards. Serious defect in the toes is other than five toes on each foot. Colouring of the legs and feet is white mottled with leaden blue or black.
	I cannot thank Mark and Fiona of Precious Poultry enough for giving me the opportunity to acquire my first houdans. Mark and Fiona Goldby 367 Bush Road Turua R.D.4 Thames Ph: 078675443 chookstuff@preciouspoultry.co.nz Photo of parent birds from Precious Poultry.
Six chicks hatched Tuesday 26th August 2008. Photo taken at four days old.
	Sunday 7th September 12 days old, they arrived last night exhausted from their long drive home.
At 17 days little feathers are bursting from their chests. Still they seem to just sleep, eat and poop.
	27 days and I swear if you could get them to stand still for a couple of hours you could watch the feathers grow.
31 days The chicks are sprightly, active, and feather rapidly.
	Sunday 28th September Mini Mum hatched five Precious chicks thanks to Mark and Fiona.
Wednesday 1st October Dulcie hatched three very special chicks thanks to Barbara and Sue-Ellen.
	Mini Mum hatched two eggs from Scott Henry of Huntly. One rooster called Scott and one hen named Sally.
Heather hatched 6 out of 6 eggs that came from Amber Logan-Riley of Haumoana, including a surprise silver campine. The campine turned out to be a hen and although a lovely little girl her colour scheme just didn't match with the rest of my chickens, so she was sold off. We have retained Dinky and Di.