The foxy chick chicken breed combines excellent productivity, unpretentiousness in keeping and bright appearance. The description of the “Hungarian giant” allows you to appreciate all the main characteristics of poultry. But so far, laying hens and broiler chickens from Hungary are still not very common in Russia, although the feedback from farmers about them looks very impressive.
It is worth considering what should be taken into account when planning the formation of livestock, what conditions of detention to prepare for new inhabitants of the poultry house, what to feed, when to let the young foxy chick into breeding.
Description
Foxy chick – a breed belonging to the category of crosses, that is, obtained as a result of crossing, in which the offspring does not inherit the qualities of their parents, surpasses many others. It is among the top ten in Europe both in terms of egg production and meat production. And the docile nature and high adaptability to cold climates make it even more interesting for domestic farmers. The foxy chick breed was bred in Hungary through the use of local birds and high-bred orpingtons from England in breeding work.
It was not by chance that she got her name – the “fox chicken” has a bright red color of plumage and looks very elegant.
Appearance
The external data of foxy chick chickens attract attention due to the size of the bird – they are much larger than the average. The body sits high on strong ankles. The body itself is quite compact, rounded, with a wide massive chest. The wings are of proportional size, tightly pressed to the body. The neck is of medium length, it is crowned with a compact head, on which rounded earrings and a crest are leaf-shaped and bright scarlet.
The shade of the eyes of chickens is red-orange, bright. The dense plumage has a rich orange hue, the roosters are brighter in color, have a pronounced golden tint, the skin of the paws is yellow. The young of the “Hungarian giant” is distinguished by thinness and grace, but the chicks quickly gain the desired body weight and acquire the features characteristic of the breed. Since foxy chik is a cross, there are special requirements for the purity of the resulting phenotype.
Chicks, which are light brown in color with dark patches, after the onset of juvenile molting, acquire a bright red-red color of an adult bird.
Character
Foxy chick chickens are distinguished by a curious character, they show high physical activity. They explore the site and the area for walking, like to dig in the ground. The breed is quite cocky and pugnacious, the joint maintenance of two roosters in one aviary is impossible. Among chickens, there are also owners of a fighting character. In addition, they tend to make a fuss in the house when strangers appear, this behavior is not considered a defect. Another feature of the breed is the throatiness of the bird. Foxy chik cannot be attributed to the quiet inhabitants of the chicken coop, they show their emotions quite clearly and loudly.
Roosters, as they grow older, can express aggression towards humans, in which case they are sent for slaughter.
Productivity
The productivity of the foxy chick breed is rightfully considered its main advantage. Broilers easily and quickly gain weight, have almost 100% survival rate due to strong immunity and good genetics. Adult roosters are capable of weighing 6–7 kg, chickens – up to 4 kg, which can be considered record figures for a meat and egg breed. At the same time, the bird is economically beneficial in keeping, there is little and allows you to reduce the cost of purchasing feed.
In terms of taste, the meat of the “Hungarian giant” belongs to the dietary category. It is tender, juicy, easy to digest, the bird is practically devoid of subcutaneous fat. Foxy chick is an early maturing breed, characterized by the ability to start laying eggs as early as 4 months. But the productivity of the laying hen is fully revealed only by 12–14 months, at which time her fertility peaks.
Up to 300 eggs can be obtained from one chicken annually, 70–90 grams each.
Molting
Annual seasonal molting is a characteristic feature of foxy chick chickens. During this period, their egg production noticeably decreases, and egg laying can completely stop. For this period, farmers and private owners are advised to transfer the inhabitants of the chicken coop to a special regime. Birds provide a reduction in daylight hours, increase the calorie content of the diet. As additives, natural food is used – alfalfa, clover, chopped cabbage, as well as animal meat and bone meal. The amount of grain in the feed is drastically reduced until new feathers grow.
During this period, germinated wheat, oats, sunflower seeds can be introduced again.
Advantages and disadvantages
The “Hungarian Giant” has many advantages due to the fact that the cross took all the best from its parents – representatives of meat and egg breeds. Among the obvious advantages are the following:
- excellent profitability indicators – breeding “Hungarian giants” is really profitable;
- bright colors – the bird is clearly visible, looks attractive;
- low mortality among offspring associated with strong immunity;
- accelerated maturation of females, allowing you to quickly start receiving eggs;
- intensive weight gain during the first year of life;
- the ability to adapt to the most severe climatic conditions, caged or free;
- excellent maternal qualities – the chicken is ready to incubate not only her own, but also other people’s eggs, caring for the chicks; during the period of laying and breeding, the bird prioritizes precisely these tasks, may neglect drinking and eating;
- good health, the ability to tolerate changes in atmospheric temperatures well.
Among the shortcomings of foxy chick hens, there is a significant decrease in egg production in winter. The pugnacious nature makes it difficult to keep the bird together with other inhabitants of the chicken coop. In addition, the peak performance of the “Hungarian giant” is relatively short-lived.
Content
The process of keeping chickens of the “Hungarian giant” breed is not difficult for both farmers and owners of private farms. Birds tolerate frosts well, can live in an unheated winter chicken coop, feel great on a walk, and are unpretentious in their choice of food.
Walking
An open-air cage, covered with a net, is equipped on the south side of the chicken coop. It provides for several manholes, which are blocked in winter in severe frosts with the help of special shields or shutters. In the aviary itself, the net is stretched to a considerable height or the top is completely covered with a canopy – the “Hungarian giant”, despite its size, flies beautifully and is not averse to exploring the surroundings. Since the breed is particularly active, walking for foxy chik is a prerequisite for normal growth and development. From the age of 1,5 months, chicks spend most of the day outdoors and receive a significant proportion of food precisely by searching for it on their own. Free housing gives the bird the opportunity to acquire additional nutrients necessary for proper growth and development. This approach provides opportunities to improve the palatability of meat and eggs.
It is only necessary to close the manholes leading to the street when atmospheric temperatures reach -10 degrees Celsius and below.
Chicken coop requirements
The poultry house for foxy chick chickens should be well ventilated, spacious and clean. To form a comfortable microclimate inside, a mixture of peat and sawdust or straw is used. This bedding gives off heat, makes it possible to avoid frostbite. Chickens need to build a perch from a bar with a cross section of 40–50 mm, the height of its location is 70–80 cm from the floor surface.
The interior of the chicken coop is equipped with closed-type feeders, securely fixed from a possible tipping over. Drinking bowls with clean water are required, allowing the bird to quench its thirst at any time. To combat parasites, a corner of a dry bath is allocated, in which a mixture of ash and sand is poured. For good egg production, it is imperative to pay attention to the cleanliness of the chicken coop – remove litter, change bedding, and maintain a minimum level of humidity.
Be sure to prepare straw for the winter, it will be needed to create nests in the winter.
Feeding
The foxy chick laying hen needs a balanced diet. Chickens eat food in small quantities, but need to include the following products in the menu:
- mixtures of grain crops – barley, oats, wheat;
- legumes – peas, corn;
- compound feeds of industrial production;
- milk mashes based on curdled milk or skimmed milk;
- fresh grass and greens – clover, alfalfa, onions, nettles are suitable;
- boiled or fresh grated vegetables – they make up to 10% of the diet, potatoes, carrots, cabbage are suitable.
In winter, the egg-laying of foxy chick chickens is supported by the inclusion of a warm mash of boiled vegetables and compound feed in the diet. For mineral additives, a separate feeder is used all year round with eggshell fragments contained in it, gravel, shell rock. As additional components of the diet, chalk, meat and bone meal, ready-made mineral mixtures are used. Broiler chickens need a special approach to nutrition. Newborn chicks are fed with warm mash prepared on the basis of oatmeal or millet groats with the addition of a boiled egg.
Five-day-old chickens can be fed cottage cheese, chopped herbs in addition to the main menu. They are given once, gradually increasing the frequency.
Ten-day-old chicks can eat sunflower meal – it is given at the rate of 5 g per baby. Two-week-old broilers receive boiled vegetables. The frequency of feeding in the first month is from 8 to 12 per day, including at night. Whole grains, fresh milk, which they are not able to digest, should be excluded from the diet of chickens.
The bird is transferred to an adult diet upon reaching the age of four months, from the moment puberty occurs in chickens.
Care
The process of caring for foxy chick chickens does not require significant effort and allows you to cope with this task even in a private backyard. The main measure to protect livestock from diseases is the annual whitewashing of all walls and ceilings with lime, which destroys pathogenic microflora. The poultry house is cleaned with a complete replacement of the litter once a season. When organizing walking, a place is necessarily allocated for a sandbox with clean filler; it can be supplemented with a dry ash bath. Pets are not required to be vaccinated. They are vaccinated only in case of an unfavorable epidemiological situation.
In addition, vaccinations will be required for mass (more than 100 heads) poultry keeping.
Breeding
The process of self-breeding foxy chick chicken breed for an inexperienced farmer can be quite difficult. It is recommended to purchase ready-made eggs at poultry farms specializing in obtaining Hungarian giant crosses. When choosing material for incubation, one should focus on average sizes and the absence of shell defects. Using an ovoscope, you can identify the location of the yolk, the presence of an air chamber. During the incubation period, it is very important to maintain the specified humidity and temperature conditions.
With the independent formation of crosses, the inheritance of pedigree traits occurs along the line of a rooster. To obtain high-quality offspring, sires of Orpington red breeds are used. Similar results can be observed when crossing with Rhodeland.
To preserve the breed characteristics, it is enough to keep one male per ten foxy chickens.
It takes 20-21 days after laying the chicks to be hatched by a brood hen or in an incubator. The resulting offspring is sent to a special box or corral, where conditions for artificial heating and lighting are created. During the first five days, chickens need to maintain an average ambient temperature of +30 degrees Celsius.
The decrease in this indicator occurs gradually, with a two-week break, by 2 degrees, until an average range of +20–+22 degrees is obtained.
Despite strong immunity, chickens can be susceptible to infectious diseases during rearing. Regular bedding changes help prevent possible problems. The base of the box or pen must be dry and clean. And you should also provide constant access to clean water for drinking, it is heated to room temperature, the drinker is fixed to prevent it from tipping over.
The survival rate of Foxy Chick chicks is very high. Chickens show intensive growth rates, namely:
- in 20 days they gain a mass of 0,5 kg;
- at 30 days weigh 0,7 kg;
- further, the weight gain is 300 g per week.
Important! Slaughter of roosters is carried out upon reaching one year of age, when the birds reach their maximum body weight.
Reviews
Owners of foxy chick chickens traditionally note its attractiveness for breeding and rearing. Chicks do not look very impressive at first, so a sharp increase in weight by two months of age is often a pleasant surprise. There are no problems with rearing young animals – the chicks usually do not get sick, they eat the food offered to them well, and are active during walking. But it is not without difficulties.
In order to avoid the constant purchase of eggs for breeding, the owners of the “Hungarian giant” have to regularly update the number of breeding roosters, while chickens can be kept from their own breeding. Another important point is moderation in nutrition. The owners have repeatedly noted the loss of laying hens, whose weight exceeded the indicator of 3 kg of live weight, of the ability to lay eggs. If obesity is allowed, the bird has to be put under the knife, it will no longer be necessary to wait for offspring from it. The excellent taste properties of meat are also noted – it is much better than that of ordinary poultry.
Features of foxy chick chickens, see the video below.
