Reviews by ChickensAreSweet

This is a preliminary review as I haven't had these chickens all that long. They have not begun laying, although I did have a Buff Minorca pullet a few years ago who laid very well.

The cockerels are a bit skittish of us, and the pullets very skittish. The pullets tend to be near the bottom of the pecking order in my flock. The cockerels are getting along with each other as they were raised together.

The pullets are starting to become friendlier to me now that they are approaching the POL (point of lay). They are a bit chatty now and do come up to me sometimes.

I love this breed and have decided to make it my primary breed, with the others in the flock as extras.

Some people say that you can mix them with the Black Minorca and then breed back to Buff over several years in order to build the size up on the Buff Minorcas. The Buff Minorcas do tend to weigh less than the Blacks right now here in America I have read.

I have never had a Black Minorca so cannot say if they are similar in temperament.

My Buff Minorcas stay inside their large fenced area as they prefer the security. They can fly quite well though, and my original pullet from years ago did fly out of the pen as she had no buddies in the flock- she was a loner. Now that I have a group of Minorcas they do like to stay inside the pen and have actually never flown out. Mine came from McMurray. Sandhill has these also and I have not ordered from them but may someday. I think Ideal has them as well.

We have had two Blue Andalusian pullets now for several months. They haven't started laying yet as they came to us as chicks from McMurray Hatchery not too long ago. I have placed an order for some more of them. They are very talkative and active.

They come up to me and look at me quite a bit, and seem to like to be around humans. They don't like to be held or caught, but then none of our current chickens were hand-tamed. I wouldn't want to confine them as they move about the very large pen with great vigor.

I have only had to go rescue one hen once in the several months that we have had them, after she flew outside the very large fenced area and couldn't find her way back in. These chickens would fly out if they aren't wanting to be in though.

I will try to remember to update this when we start getting eggs.

I had a beautiful flock of Fayoumis at one time. I loved watching them and wanted to keep them forever! However, the roosters became too noisy as they grew up. They would crow almost constantly when I was outside. They crowed so much that I became embarrassed and felt sorry for our neighbors.

The egg size is small. The pullet eggs we were getting were bantam sized. I am sure they would have become larger as time went on.

The hens started to wander far away, into the woods. They flew over my 8 foot high fence and loved to explore. I didn't mind this at first when it was just a couple of them, but when more and more of them started to wander, I didn't like it.

I kept one hen who has an injured leg (I think from squeezing through the fencing) and plan to keep her since she doesn't fly out of the pen. I do love their personalities! Her name is Annette.

This breed would be excellent for those who free range their chickens and would like a predator-resistant chicken. I didn't lose a single one from predation, despite their wanderings and our frequent hawk and owl visits, which is a miracle!

I have Nankin hens and roosters. They stay close to the coop and don't seem to want to range far away. Even though they can fly over the fence, they tend to stay inside the fence since it is a large fenced area.

I get about 3 tiny white eggs a week from our one hen that has started to lay (she is older than the others). I am going to let them breed and brood their own young.

The reason I love them SO much is that the roosters are very nice to me. No aggression noted at all, and they get along with each other fairly well, too, even though there is the usual rivalry over mating. I want to keep all the boys and not send them away because of their gender. This seems to be a breed that I will be able to do this with (although I may need a rooster pen someday).

They are very flighty and do panic when I catch them to dust them at first. But I have noticed that the older Nankins are much calmer, and the hen who is laying will simply hold still when I grab her with the fishnet in the coop. She is perfectly calm as I dust her with Poultry Dust. The roosters and pullets are very flighty when I hold them for procedures.

They are brave and at the top of the pecking order over my d'Uccles. When confronted with a large fowl, they do try to be brave but after a Nankin pullet almost got squashed by a Buff Orpington hen (I heard horrible cries although she wasn't apparently injured) I decided to keep them in the bantam pen.

This is the second time that I have had Nankins. I missed them so much after selling them the first time around that I went to the breeder and bought more.

Having the Nankins and d'Uccles together in the same pen works well, as they are both good fliers, good personalities, and about the same size!

Edited to add: I ended up giving away the roosters as their crowing at 4 am wasn't to my liking. I did keep the hens and may buy more roosters in the future if I downsize on the other roosters that I have. I think the crowing was due to 5 other roosters being in the coop with them (crowing contests). I still love this breed and am seriously considering trying again with more roos. They were the most docile roos that I have ever had. Even more docile than the d'Uccles.

I really LOVE d'Uccles!!!!!!! My favorite color is Golden Neck. We have had Golden Neck, Mille Fleur, Black Mottled, Self Blue, and Porcelain. All have the same sweet personality in my experience.

I first had some d'Uccles last year I think...or the year before. I sold them thinking that I would go back to large fowl, and ended up missing them so much that now we have ordered more from Welp Hatchery (where we bought them the first time). We are only ordering Mille Fleur, Golden Neck, and Porcelain this time.

They are so very docile. Even the roosters were not aggressive. They never seemed to want to free range with the other birds- they wanted to get to the feeders instead! That''s when I learned they were happier in a bantam-only pen. This might not be an issue with others, but at the time I had some very aggressive hens and they had a hard time getting to the feeders whenever they wanted.

So, they enjoy staying close to home (even after they filled their crops at the feeders), and can fly like a helicopter- straight up and hover!!! What is so interesting is that even though they could fly right over our fences, they didn't go far. They didn't want to come up to the house and mess up my bark nugget flowerbeds like the large fowl did when they got out.

I love to see them hopping along, raising their feet so high as they walk or run! They are just adorable and love interacting with humans. My children held them on their laps and they grew to enjoy that cuddle time, unlike some other breeds.

My favorite thing about them is that I wanted a breed where I didn't have to send away the roosters. I don't like to send away an animal that I have promised a home to by buying chicks. I know that I might need a rooster pen eventually, but these guys really don't eat much.

D'Uccles (I pronounce it "duh-ooh-cull" with the emphasis on oooh.) are so wonderful and are very pet-like. They are more like having a cat or dog. I tell my DH that it doesn't matter how many eggs we get or what size the eggs are (we have Orpingtons for eggs), because they have won my heart.

UPDATE: I have 5 d'Uccle roos now and one of them has done the wing dance for me. I am watching to see if I will have to get rid of him...I am giving him some time to see if he will show more aggression- then he is out of here. The other 4 roos are just so sweet.

Update again: I am getting rid of my roosters. 3 out of 5 have turned aggressive on me. Granted, they are only 10 inches high and they do try to make friends with me after they kick me. But I am not looking forward to dealing with spurs when they come in.

I had 7 of these at one time. Two of them wore out and I took off the front panel, metal tray, and floor to use them as range shelters. They look like little bus stop shelters when you do this, and the chickens huddle out of the rain under them.

The Chick-N-Hutch works well as a brooder if you take the metal tray and place it inside on top of the mesh. The newer models require that you loosen the metal wing nuts somewhat so it will fit inside. Then you can put shavings in there for baby chicks.

I take metal wire and carefully hang my lamps at least two ways with wire and through the lamp shade as well so they won't come down. I only use 100 watt bulbs in there...so I hang two or three lamps up (3 for winter).

If using the high wattage bulbs it will be too hot in my opinion...too close to the bedding for fire safety.

The front of the hutch needs wind protection, so I take plexiglass or pieces of plywood and rest them inside the hutch or attach them to the outside via large washers and wing nuts (drill hole through them).

The sides tend to be too breezy as well, so I sometimes also take additional plywood and attach to the sides with large washers and wing nuts as well. The problem with this is that when the chicks are old enough to come out the door, the plywood and plexiglass is in the way. So that is why this is not my favorite coop (I rated it 5 stars because of the versatility/usefulness of this coop). But you can just put the whole front down as shown to alleviate this problem.

I have some clear plastic over the door and front also that I wired on. So that helps as a windbreak too.

If you live in a very windy area, the wind also whips in under the chickens a little through the hole between the metal tray and the wire floor. In severe weather I take a canvas tarp and lay it across the hutch, leaving an airgap for ventilation. I tie it down with bungee cords and it works well.

With all the changes I make to the coop, you might ask me why I bother buying these at all. The answer is that they are FAST to setup, I can move them around by myself (I even have one inside a dog kennel that I use as a growout pen/broody hen retreat/hospital.)

Also they are easy to keep clean, good for brooding chicks, and if the weather is too severe I can move chickens in to the garage in an emergency. They are really great to have around. I will always have at least two at a time.

These hutches will fit 5 Buff Orpingtons (4 if they are the very large ones) for sleeping only. For a nest box I have used a dish tub with bricks inside them under the shavings to prevent tipping. IF you have a nest box in there, there is a problem with poo getting into the nest box.

So the best solution I have found is to buy the nest boxes with the roof on top, to keep poo from getting in the box. Then one chicken perches up there all night and hopefully not inside the box. This was a struggle for me. I had to train my chickens by moving them every night when one went inside the box to sleep.

If you have bantams, you could probably fit 7 in there for sleeping only. You can also put up another roost bar for bantams in there with the covered nest box underneath. I have done that and fit 10 growing out bantams (still chicks, really).

If you live in a very cold climate, this hutch will really be too small except for temporary housing, as chickens spend a lot of time inside the coop when it is snowy.

One other thing I will mention is that these coops do weather poorly...so they don't have that new appearance long. They are very good for the short term or if you keep them in a barn out of the weather.

Edited: I downgraded from 5 stars to 3 since they really don't last well out in the weather. If you can keep these in a garage or barn that would be excellent.

This has saved many chicks of mine as after the "pasty butt" is washed off, the newly washed area is sometimes targeted for pecking by other chicks. A little of this on the bottom and it tastes bad to them!

Wipe beak, wipe beak. And all is well!

Very good treat for chickens.