California-Southern

[Miss Dottie]

Hi Amy,
your FBCM hen has nice hackle color. Do you also have pictures of her eggshell colors?
Do you have BLRW breeding pairs (not BLRWxgold laced) ? The mahogany in the BLRW is pretty specific and the gold will wash that out.

Hi sol2go, thank you! She is a lovely hen, but I am still working to get more consistent hackle color and combs on my hens, and of course, darker eggs. My hens generally lay in the range of 5-6 on the scale, with the occasional 7-8 (Yay!). In this heat, they tend to lighten up a bit, but I'm satisfied that they lay well despite the heat and are still in the acceptable range. Here are a couple pictures from today...the second picture has a couple of my Orpington's eggs for comparison:

Regarding the BLRW...I do have one beautiful BLRW hen, but she unfortunately suffered a dog attack when the neighbor's dog got into our yard. I lost all of her sisters, and she does not lay since the attack. It's very sad because she is a beautiful hen, and I spent a lot of time searching and hoping for some hens like her. I realize I may not get the right base color from the gold laced hen, but at the very least I will end up with some great layers. We also send my culls to the freezer, so I'm never afraid to experiment. I have been casually looking for a BLRW hen for my rooster, but I have had trouble finding a correct one. I hung onto my rooster because I really like him. Here is my sweet BLRW hen that does not lay. She is my yard art!

 

[calichicken]

Regarding the BLRW...I do have one beautiful BLRW hen, but she unfortunately suffered a dog attack when the neighbor's dog got into our yard. I lost all of her sisters, and she does not lay since the attack. It's very sad because she is a beautiful hen, and I spent a lot of time searching and hoping for some hens like her. Here is my sweet BLRW hen that does not lay. She is my yard art!

Poor girl! So glad she survived it,,,so pretty and glad to see you keep her as your yard art...LOL! I have bantam cochins as pets...tiny eggs are a bonus and just love watching them

Sweet little birds!!!

 

[Mutt Farm]

Hi sol2go, thank you! She is a lovely hen, but I am still working to get more consistent hackle color and combs on my hens, and of course, darker eggs. My hens generally lay in the range of 5-6 on the scale, with the occasional 7-8 (Yay!). In this heat, they tend to lighten up a bit, but I'm satisfied that they lay well despite the heat and are still in the acceptable range. Here are a couple pictures from today...the second picture has a couple of my Orpington's eggs for comparison:

Regarding the BLRW...I do have one beautiful BLRW hen, but she unfortunately suffered a dog attack when the neighbor's dog got into our yard. I lost all of her sisters, and she does not lay since the attack. It's very sad because she is a beautiful hen, and I spent a lot of time searching and hoping for some hens like her. I realize I may not get the right base color from the gold laced hen, but at the very least I will end up with some great layers. We also send my culls to the freezer, so I'm never afraid to experiment. I have been casually looking for a BLRW hen for my rooster, but I have had trouble finding a correct one. I hung onto my rooster because I really like him. Here is my sweet BLRW hen that does not lay. She is my yard art!

Hi Miss Dottie, your eggs and hen are beautiful! I'm a new chicken keeper in Woodcrest. Can you tell me what FCBM and BLRW mean? I'm closely following your posts with sol2go to learn. Fascinating.

 

[Mutt Farm]

solo2go? Are you Amy? I'm trying hard to keep up with you and Miss Dottie! Beautiful birds and eggs, learning so much! Loosing track of who has what, who posts what but thank you both! Who has the stunning girl that is a lawn ornament? What breed is that? I'd sure love to add one to my flock! Miss Dottie, which birds lay the beautiful dark red eggs? I appreciate your helping this newby learn.

 

[staar82]

@Miss Dottie that is hands down the most beautiful blrw I've ever seen!

 

[sol2go]

solo2go? Are you Amy? I'm trying hard to keep up with you and Miss Dottie! Beautiful birds and eggs, learning so much! Loosing track of who has what, who posts what but thank you both! Who has the stunning girl that is a lawn ornament? What breed is that? I'd sure love to add one to my flock! Miss Dottie, which birds lay the beautiful dark red eggs? I appreciate your helping this newby learn.

Hi @Mutt Farm ,
Amy is @MissDottiee , she posted the photos. The dark eggs are from the FBCM. The yard art is a BLRW.

FBCM is Feathered Black Copper Marans, or French Black Copper Marans. They are known to lay dark brown eggs; a consistent 5-6 on the color scale is respectable, 7's & 8's are great, it would be amazing to see a 9 or 10 in person. Blue is a feather color variation.

BLRW is Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, and they are by far my favorite…and I have a lot of favorites =) Amy posted what looks like a very light blue version, or possibly a splash; the center of the feathers should be a nice dark mahogany, while the outer edges are ideally blue, but may range from black to blue to splash due to the interesting nature of the blue feather gene.

--- Amy --- sorry for your loss, glad you have such a beautiful hen to enjoy!

 

[Miss Dottie]

@Mutt Farm welcome to chicken keeping! I am Amy, sol2go answered your questions. The Marans (FBCM) are of course known primarily for their dark eggs. I acquired my first Marans hen out of impulse. Initially, I didn't care for their look, but I have found them to be smart, industrious and friendly. I'm in the beginning stages of my breeding project and working to improve my flock. In time, I will.

Regarding the blue laced red Wyandottes, this color is not yet recognized by the American Poultry Association. However, some breeders have been granted a certificate of development and are working to create a strong and consistent line of birds. It is only a matter of time before they are a recognized color within the breed, and time is a necessity with these guys. It takes a lot of effort and expense to breed the BLRW.

@calichicken Thank you! I have had bantam cochins in the past and they are really fun...love them!

@staar82 Thanks! Now if I could just get her to lay.

@sol2go Thanks!

 

[Mutt Farm]

@Miss Dottie and @sol2go Thank you for the great info! Amy, I'm in Woodcrest, would love to see your birds! So beautiful! The lawn art is stunning to me! I want one! I have 3 Buff O's, and 3 EE's I got from the feed store. Then I went NUTS in the catalogs! I added 1 Lavender Orph, 1 Bl Astralorp, 1 Deleware, 1 Silver Lace Wyandotte, 2 Gold Laced Wyandotte, 1 Blue Splash Marans, 1 White Marans and a Cuckoo Marans. All hens. I looked for cute friendly chickens that lay good eggs! None are laying yet...

The Cukoo Marans is a comedy! Think she's ADHD. All sweet except the EE's! I had to trim their wing and they're not friendly

.
Thanks again for the education.

 

[sol2go]

@Miss Dottie and @sol2go Thank you for the great info! Amy, I'm in Woodcrest, would love to see your birds! So beautiful! The lawn art is stunning to me! I want one! I have 3 Buff O's, and 3 EE's I got from the feed store. Then I went NUTS in the catalogs! I added 1 Lavender Orph, 1 Bl Astralorp, 1 Deleware, 1 Silver Lace Wyandotte, 2 Gold Laced Wyandotte, 1 Blue Splash Marans, 1 White Marans and a Cuckoo Marans. All hens. I looked for cute friendly chickens that lay good eggs! None are laying yet...

The Cukoo Marans is a comedy! Think she's ADHD. All sweet except the EE's! I had to trim their wing and they're not friendly

.
Thanks again for the education.

Sounds like a chicken sampler! Yum =)
If you decide you need more blue egg layers, I have hatching eggs/chicks for Cream Legbars.

Or you could jump in now, @Phage has brand new Cream Legbar chicks!

 

[Mutt Farm]

Sounds like a chicken sampler! Yum =)
If you decide you need more blue egg layers, I have hatching eggs/chicks for Cream Legbars.

Or you could jump in now, @Phage has brand new Cream Legbar chicks!

LOL on chicken sampler. Just looked them up. Pretty chicken. Need one, but don't want to set up again for 1 baby. My oldest are right at 5 mos, youngest are 9 weeks. It says they are great foragers...do they need to range? Not much to range on here...other than dirt. Doggone drought. I only let them out in the eve when I'm down at the barn. They have a big area, 16X48 out, 12X16 barn stall for a coop. So hot, they won't come out of the barn stall except to poop all over the walkway and dig in my $18. per bale orchard hay (my other horse had colic surgery in Feb $$ feed for him)! I know these are rare breeds, but does anyone ever sell a nice adolescent? I'm now yearing for a BLRW and a BCM or FBCM (got the lingo!)