History

French food is renowned all over the world for flavor, beauty, and ingenuity. France bred chickens with similar zeal and Faverolles (the s is silent and always present) continue that reputation.

In the lush Loire region of France there’s a village for which this chicken breed is named. The birds were first developed from various crosses, including several French breeds, and were established as their own official breed in the 1800s. About a hundred years later, Salmon Faverolles chickens were imported to the US and in under 20 years (1914 to be exact) were recognized by the American Poultry Association, whom as you may know, officially dictate whether a chicken breed is a breed at all.

Faverolles Chicken Personality and Purpose

“Chill” is the word we use to describe our fluffy Faverolles’ personalities in comparison with other breeds. Their lazy joi-de-vivre will take you by surprise. For example, they enjoy a nesting position while sun bathing and are often seen skipping while squawking for no other reason than to hear themselves sing. They are known in the U.S. to make great family pets and some even enjoy being held. They also do quite well in small backyards, as they generally prefer a feed bowl to a bug hunt.

This leads to perhaps the most important purpose for the Faverolles chickens: they are heritage meat birds. The French breeders wanted a market bird that did well in confinement, filled out quickly, and tasted fantastic on the dinner plate. Their early egg production often even during winter, make them similarly sustainable.

Faverolles meat is moist and flavorful, and they tend to be less gamey than some other breeds as they age. The general consensus on butchering is to wait until the birds are about five pounds which can take about 6 months to obtain, though some prefer to process their birds earlier.

Quality over Quantity

As with other French cuisine, sometimes meat quality is more important than the quantity. Superb flavor gives us all a new zest for life. Can you imagine eating 5 pounds of Creme Brulee at once? I certainly can and it’s a tasty and terrible plan! Similarly, when it comes to Faverolles chickens, the meat is a delicacy in comparison with many other backyard birds.

If you process hybrid or commercial meat breed birds, the cost comparison and quick timeframe to raise them will completely obliterate the sustainability factors with Faverolles chickens because they really are in separate classes.

When it comes to ethical meat, however, our family believes in heritage meat birds because we appreciate the ability to raise our birds with proper care and a good life, and appreciate the natural sustainability involved. Without going into too much detail, it helps to explain what a ‘heritage’ bird is to understand the natural sustainability with these dual purpose birds.

Heritage Chickens

Back in the 1870’s a group called the American Poultry Association (APA) formed to define chicken breeds. They created the Standard of Perfection for all responsible poultry breeders to follow. The birds selected are always bred to adapt to certain regions, be used for specific purposes, and be healthy in an outdoor lifestyle. Heritage chickens must have parents/grandparents from stock prior to the 1950s recognized by the APA. They must be naturally mated, able to live and be productive for many years, and they must grow slowly.

This might sound strange, but there are hybridized or cross breeds that don’t check these boxes. For example, many commercial meat birds (for example, Cornish Cross) aren’t able to breed well (or at all) naturally because they’ve been bred to grow so fast for meat production purposes that they are too heavy at maturity to breed successfully. For us at Chisel’d Creek Farm, being able to breed our own birds is vital to self reliance.

You can find a full Heritage chicken definition here.

Faverolles Chicken Breed Facts

Faverolles Chickens have feathered legs, large beards and muffs, single combs and have a fifth toe on each foot. They are heavily feathered, but not considered a tight-feathered breed.

The Maine winters don’t bother hens; roosters may require comb-care in the winter depending on comb size and your coop conditions. You can read more on our winter routine on an upcoming blog post (visit our blog here).

Chisel’d Creek Farm’s Faverolles Chickens

At our farm here in Maine we breed Faverolles to sell and to provide meat for our family. We also specifically raise them to hatch chicks. Many backyard breeders don’t want their chickens going broody and hatching eggs. When a hen goes broody she stops laying eggs and she’ll be quite testy to the point of being downright mean. At Chisel’d Creek Farm, however, we value the natural instincts the birds have and encourage broodiness and motherhood as long as the hens handle it well. Why? Sustainability. If we lost electricity or our incubator went down, our hens could hatch the next generation for us. We therefore specifically seek to breed broody hens who also do well as mothers. In many breeds, it’s been nearly eradicated through selective breeding, and you’ll rarely find a broody.