The Poultry Keeper

Tarka · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 291

Are the hens easy to handle ?

Would anyone have any fertile eggs avalible Febuary - March time ?

Magpie · Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 541 Location: Norfolk

Get in line Tarka Laughing

I'm waiting for some during the spring/summer - bantams that is.

I think that the large fowl might be a bit quieter than the miniatures but they don't seem too scatty when I've seen them. If you want bantams I think that Ally J might have some eggs for sale, you need that Octagon20:twisted: Never seen LF for sale in the UK though someone must have some Confused

Tim

nigel · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject:

they have the LF at Wernlas

CP · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject:

Get a good breeding strain with recommendations if you can. We had 1 hen & a friend had 2 hens & they all laid soft shelled eggs. Mad

Ally_J · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Shrops/Powys

Thank you Magpie for recommending me. It took me over 6 months to source my vorwerk hatching eggs which my birds come from. The bantam vorwerk is rarer than the large fowl version and has a much smaller gene pool in the UK.

They are a good breed laying well through the winter and they are good sized eggs. The hens like space, but I have found them easy to handle and they adapted well to pen training for shows. The cockerels have a fantastic temperament I currently have four running together with hens and no fighting.

CP · Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:48 am Post subject:

They are a striking looking breed. A Vorwerk was the first cockerel we ever had & he was lovely.

Have you ever had soft egg problems with the breed Ally_J? Confused

I'm sure it's because the person we got him from had a problem himself because shortly after he gave up breeding them.
It put us off the breed a bit but could probably be persuaded to have some again. Smile

Tarka · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 291

O.K so just to clear it up Magpie has let me take his place at the front of the que Laughing

They are a cracking looking bird , remember seeing a friend of mine who had one but didn't realise what it was as he'd brought a selection of eggs from ebay .

Ally_J · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Shrops/Powys

CP - I can say hand on heart I have never had a soft egg from my Vorwerk ladies. In fact these are my best layers in the bantams, I have one hen who lays an egg which is the same size as the Large Fowl Araucana eggs I have. They are good feed converters as they eat very little and produce many eggs which is what they were bred for as I believe they were bred to feed the Germans during the world war. In fact they were designed to be brown and black to not show the dirt (ok I have bored you guys enough with these little facts!)

Below are a few pictures showing my current flock which includes some chicks hatched on New Years, so you can see they are a very hardy breed.

I'm currently setting the incubator with more Vorwerk eggs today so both machines will be full - if you would like some eggs Tarka I can probably sort you out with some.

Tarka · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 291

Many thanks Ally

I will pm you in March and see if you have any avalible notworthy

Ally_J · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Shrops/Powys

Look forward to hearing from you and I'll tell the girls to keep up the good work Laughing

naturesparadise · Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

you have 4 cocks in that pic dont they fight ????

Ally_J · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Shrops/Powys

Nope the boys love life together with the ladies Very Happy

the Vorwerk breed is noted for their good temperaments and as long as the cockerels have sufficient room they will live in harmony. Most people who have seen my Vorwerks are often surprised to see the four boys living together but as long as the birds are happy and it works I will leave them together. (There are actually more hens in that breeding pen than you can see in the picture - they were hiding in the hen house, so there is a higher girl/boy ratio than shown Laughing

)

naturesparadise · Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

thank you i was hoping it would work with them as i want to hatch some light sussex and now i have seen this breed i want some of them too lol

Magpie · Joined: 28 Aug 2007 Posts: 541 Location: Norfolk

Thanks to AllyJ I have some 3 week old chicks in the brooder from her bantams Very Happy

I'll try and take some photos over the weekend but they do scoot around at a fair rate of knots so it's proving a bit difficult to get anything other than a blur Embarassed

Based on tail and comb development I think that I have 3 cockerels and 4 pullets so that isn't too bad Cool

7/8 hatched as well thumbright

Tim

Ally_J · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 23 Location: Shrops/Powys

Thanks Magpie

they are busy little chicks and always seem active from the moment they hatch. If you have a couple of boys at least you will have a spare - it can be impossible to locate a new cockerel when needed.