Seashell retains her name.

The debate on the presence of cockerels in my flock has been definitively ended. I finally found an active Faverolle group and posted the above picture with the question. Seashell is a pullet. Dark in color, but definitely female. (Young male Faverolles look much, much different which makes it easier to sex them young.)

I must admit that I am a bit disappointed; I really did want one roo. It also brings into question the direction of the flock. If we do want to breed Faverolles for show, we would need to obtain a breeder quality rooster (our chickens are, as I was informed, typically hatchery quality, which is not surprising). Now after poring over the group page, I think several girls have potential, at least in regards to their toes and foot feathers, and maybe with coloring. But do we want to show? Do we want to raise more chickens for meat or just enjoy these girls’ eggs?

Speaking of eggs, one breeder reports that her pullets start laying on average at around 8 months old. That would put us into December. But when all 12 do start laying, oh boy, are we going to have a lot of eggs.