FANCY CHICKENS
How to choose and how to take care of them
Fancy chickens require more love and attention than regolar ones.
These are the breeds we are familiar with:
Mugginese or Mugellese
Cochin
Dwarf Cochin
Nagasaki Japanese Bantam
Mixed (half Mugellese half Cochin)
Let me introduce our chickens and their characteristics.
GINGER
Mugginese or Mugellese
The Mugellese, also known as Mugginese, is a rustic dual-purpose breed of small chicken or bantam from Tuscany, in central Italy. It takes its name from the Mugello, an area to the north-east of Florence.
This Fancy Chicken was originally mixed with a pheasant, that is what makes this breed so unique and beautiful ❤️
One of the characteristic of this breed is their amazing tail. Usually with a strong character, very independent and leaders born - incredibly smart and ideal as a pet in your garden.
Around 0.7 kg of weight.
Ginger, is a golden neck variety.
Inclined to brood all the time! That`s why farmers that want eggs aren`t interested in having them in their flock.
Fantastic instead if you want lots of baby chicks!
Every time we forget to collect the eggs for a few days, or we are away and she stays inside the hen-house, she would be sitting on the eggs ready to become a mom 😊
Click on the picture for a full size image
MOLLY
Cochin
Molly is a small Cochin. Originally from China, t is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China. This variety derives from very large feather-legged chickens from China. The most distinctive feature of the Cochin is the excessive plumage that covers leg and foot. The skin beneath the feathers is yellow. The hens aren`t good sitters and they don`t produce a crazy amount of eggs either... But they are an amazing company, sweet friends and very entertaining ❤️. This variety is weight around 600 gr. for a girl and around 1 kg for a boy.
The don't like summer (they have an issue with heat, considering the amount of plumage on their body) therefore they love winter. Last year Molly saw the snow for the first time and she enjoyed a little walk around. 😊
To take care of this breed is important to remember that their feet are the most vulnerable part of their body. You have to keep them away from mud and be sure they have dry feet before they go to bed. Every change of season you`ll have to pass a mixture of sulphur and honey (*check the diseases page to see how to prepare it) on their feet to protect them form the attack of the mite. If necessary do a 4 week treatment with olive oil - once a week immerge their feet in olive oil for a few seconds to kill all parasites. The feathers on their feet are a perfect hiding place for acari which can lead to several issues including sever infections and might cause the lost of a toe.
Click on the picture for a full size image
RODEO
Mugellese / Cochin Rooster
Rodeo was born at our home! In Spring 2018 we decided to have some baby chicks and Rodeo is one of them! Their parents are Ginger (a beautiful pure Mugellese chicken) and Fluffy (a Cochin Rooster)
We had 8 babies and we immediately understood how special Rodeo was! 😊
Super intelligent, incredibly social and sweet. He has his mom face and temper and his dad sweetness!
He always wanted to be picked up since he was little. Always loved to perch on us and sit on our legs.
We immediately understood that we couldn`t give him away and that we had to find a way to have two Roosters together without fighting in the same flock!
Wasn`t as hard as all blogs usually describe. Fluffy and Rodeo at the moment coexist in peace - no crazy fighting... Sometimes they have a little discussion about pecking order but with no major violence.
Rodeo is now an adult and he is the Rooster of 4 girls (Pinky, a Mugellese, Bianca and Snowy, 2 Dwarf Cochin, and Betty, a Bantam Nagasaki).
He is about 1.2 kg - and the only special care is the maintenance of his fluffy feet that he got from his Cochin dad. (every change of season he needs some treatment to keep the parasites away *how to do the treatment )
If you are interested in how to have 2 Roosters in the same flock we have a few tricks to teach you! You can write to us directly at ginnyvee1@gmail.com and we`ll give them all to you!
Click on the picture for a full size image