RIR with white ears and white eggs???

[MaryAlisa]

Her comb also looks modified. I would say mixed.

Yeah, it's like she has no comb. I guess she will be well-suited to our cold winters then.

 

[MaryAlisa]

Sure looks like it.
Where did you get her?

I bought two pullets from a local feed store (called Wardles). The hens had just arrived from the breeder and I was lucky I snapped them up, since they sell out so quick. They had them labeled as "laying hens" but it took two months before they started laying.

 

[MaryAlisa]

Yours looks like a mix, probably with game and Rhode Island Red in the background. Rhode Island Reds are very heavy set birds, in fact, should be more heavy set than the one pictured. They should be brick-like. Here's one of my heritage ones showing the shape of the breed. (Odd background is due to her being trained for a research paper!)

That's so interesting! I have so many questions What do you mean by "game?" How do you train a chicken to pose? And what kind of research?

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

That's so interesting! I have so many questions What do you mean by "game?" How do you train a chicken to pose? And what kind of research?

I meant game breeds of chickens! They're more primitive varieties and can be a bit assertive. She wasn't even meaning to pose Just timing! At that point we were trying to show color association in chickens by teaching them to peck different colors. The research then was changed to show the color association with different dyed cottage cheeses (strange, but one of their favorite foods and easy to dye!) One color was tainted with methyl anthranilate-harmless flavoring that birds hate the taste of. It's incredibly bitter which chickens can tell even with their few taste receptors. This chemical is also in no-pick lotions due to chickens' aversion to it. We measured the frequency they pecked at each color of cheese (after learning which color of cheese was untainted) in a set amount of time. Then, they were confined overnight (factory farm-like space limitations) to see how the results would change. Basically the study showed that factory farming likely distresses chickens due to the large change in frequency of pecks as determined in a signed-rank test. The reasoning of the whole thing was to provide evidence of chickens dislike of those conditions, rather than most articles using emotions which is more effective in making change. (Logos versus pathos logic). The paper ended up getting published by a journal associated with Harvard! I will link it in. It's not a very fun read, the summary is probably as good as it'll get https://www.emerginginvestigators.o...earning-of-em-gallus-gallus-domesticus-em/pdf

 

[NatJ]

Yeah, it's like she has no comb. I guess she will be well-suited to our cold winters then.

I think she's got a walnut comb, like Chantecler chickens do. (Sometimes called a "cushion" comb.)

She's not a Chantecler--they lay brown eggs, and are supposed to have red earlobes, and don't usually come in that color. But that's what her comb reminds me of.

If someone's been crossing Chanteclers (cold-hardy) with Leghorns (lay better), they could have ended up with a chicken like that after a few generations. But there are lots of other crosses that could eventually cause a chicken like this, too.

I'm pretty sure your hen does not belong to any pure breed that I know of. So either she's a cross, or she's a breed I don't know of

I bought two pullets from a local feed store (called Wardles). The hens had just arrived from the breeder....

If you're really curious, you could ask the feed store to put you in touch with the breeder, and ask for more details. (Although the details might just be "that's how I breed my Rhode Island Reds" or "I don't know, maybe some rooster jumped a fence" or even "I ordered the chicks from a hatchery and raised them for sale, so I have no idea why that one's weird.")

 

[aart]

If you're really curious, you could ask the feed store to put you in touch with the breeder, and ask for more details.

Ditto Dat!!
I know I'm really curious