Vorwerk

Tarka · Post by **Tarka** » 02 Jan 2008, 15:49

Are the hens easy to handle ?

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

Magpie · Post by **Magpie** » 02 Jan 2008, 16:51

Get in line Tarka

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

Tim

nigel · Post by **nigel** » 02 Jan 2008, 18:35

they have the LF at Wernlas

Post by CP » 02 Jan 2008, 21:53

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.

Ally_J · Post by **Ally_J** » 03 Jan 2008, 09:18

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.

Post by CP » 03 Jan 2008, 10:48

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?

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.

Tarka · Post by **Tarka** » 03 Jan 2008, 10:55

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

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 · Post by **Ally_J** » 03 Jan 2008, 12:43

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 · Post by **Tarka** » 06 Jan 2008, 11:20

Many thanks Ally

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

Ally_J · Post by **Ally_J** » 06 Jan 2008, 21:52

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

naturesparadise · Post by **naturesparadise** » 09 Mar 2008, 03:54

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

Ally_J · Post by **Ally_J** » 09 Mar 2008, 11:07

Nope the boys love life together with the ladies :D 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

)

naturesparadise · Post by **naturesparadise** » 09 Mar 2008, 19:59

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 · Post by **Magpie** » 09 May 2008, 21:35

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

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

7/8 hatched as well

Tim

Ally_J · Post by **Ally_J** » 10 May 2008, 21:15

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.