Faverolles
Overview
The Faverolles (the 's' is part of the name, even for one bird) may be the sweetest-natured chicken you can own. Bred in 1860s France to supply the Paris markets, they've become backyard darlings for a completely different reason: personality. Salmon Faverolles hens — creamy white with honey-salmon backs, fluffy muffs, beards, feathered feet, and five toes instead of four — look like they walked out of a storybook and act like it too.
Faverolles are gentle to a fault, chatty, and genuinely attached to their people. Keepers describe them as the first to run over, the easiest to scoop up, and the most likely to follow you around narrating their day in soft chirps. Roosters are famously mild for roosters. They're excellent with children and are a top pick for a pet flock that also delivers eggs.
They lay around 180 cream-tinted eggs a year and, notably, keep laying well through winter — their dense feathering and cold-hardiness make them December workhorses. The flip side of all that sweetness: they sit at the bottom of the pecking order, and assertive breeds will bully them relentlessly. Keep them with other gentle breeds, give their fluffy feet a dry run, and Faverolles will be the heart of your flock.
Pros
- ✓Arguably the sweetest, most affectionate breed — superb with kids
- ✓Good winter layers when other breeds slow down
- ✓Charming looks: muffs, beard, feathered feet, and five toes
- ✓Roosters are notably gentle compared to other breeds
- ✓Dense feathering makes them very cold hardy
Cons
- ✗Bottom of the pecking order — easily bullied in assertive mixed flocks
- ✗Feathered feet and muffs collect mud in wet runs
- ✗Trusting nature makes them poor at evading predators
- ✗Moderate production (about 180/year) of smallish eggs
- ✗Quality breeder stock can be hard to find locally