Description

Male:

The Fayoumi or Egyptian Fayoumi is an Egyptian breed of chicken. Fayoumi chicken is a very active and hardy breed originating in Egypt. It is a truly ancient chicken breed and has been raised along the River Nile in Egypt for centuries. And they are named for the Faiyum Governorate southwest of Cairo and west of the Nile. It is believed to be an ancient breed. It was believed that the Egyptian birds might have a greater resistance to bacterial and viral infection than the American stock. But they are not included in the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection. The Egyptian Fayoumi rooster has silver-white feathers on the saddle, hackles, back, and wings and beetle-green-sheened black feathers in the tail. Standard Weight: 1.35–1.8 kg

Female:

Hens lay a good number of small white or cream eggs. They are not given to broodiness as pullets, but can be when they reach two or three years of age. The breed is fast to mature, with hens laying by four and half months, and cockerels crowing at five or six weeks. The female's body, wings, and tail are penciled. Beak and claws are horn colored. Comb and wattles are red. Standard Weight: 0.9–1.6 kg. Fayoumi chickens are quite small in size with large dark eyes and tails held high. They are sometimes likened to a roadrunner with their forward jutting breast and neck and upright tails. They are a light weight chicken breed that appear only in a single variety.

Behavior/Temperament

Fayoumi chicken is particularly well suited to hot climates and are very active and hardy breed. They are very good foragers and need very little feed to survive. So they are very economical breed. Fayoumi chicken will become very vocal when picked up, because they don’t like being handled at all. They will never be fully tamed. Although they can be tamed to a degree with treats. They are lively birds, very flighty and love to roost in trees. So care needs to be taken with boundary fencing. Fayoumi chicken is bossy but they are not particularly aggressive and roosters are tolerant of each other. Hens are not given to broodiness as pullets, but can be when they reach two or three years of age. So incubation is required for egg hatching. Fayoumi chickens are very hardy foragers and do well free-range. They have reputation as a good free range predator resistant Chicken to raise on your farm or acreage. Two varieties are: silver-pencilled and gold-pencilled.