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Thank you! We love Beez! She is so friendly and will just roost on my arm, sweetest lil thing. Realllyyyy hoping she is a pullet!Beez is so pretty! Stella is a girl, my little babies are 5-6 weeks and my little fawn oeb is already showing to be a roo.
Sorry, you may of already stated this, what is your ultiamant goal with your breed? What color, size and amount of toes are you wanting? What type of feathering?
We thought so with Stella, thank you! We picked her specifically because she had the darkest, most beautiful eyeliner, and we read that is usually a pullet-tell.. it was inadvertently successful with Zeeb (we just didn't know about it until after), tested it with Stella, and are pleasantly surprised!
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Totally okay to ask! I love talking chickens, so I am happy to discuss my thoughts on all of this.
I do want to preface with..
I'm not as hardcore as some others that are breeding, this is strictly a project for myself and my family. It is amazing how much work some put into it their breeding programs (I really admire it.) But this is just for us, casual with a lot of learning as I go. Just feeling everything out and wanting to keep track of all that we produce and be able to build off of that.
And as a disclaimer, we have no intentions to sell these chickens or rehome them. We have a select few family friends and such that we would likely let some go to, but overall, if they don't stay in the flock and meet our standards, then they will be eaten and all of the parts used.
My goal likely will change as I see what I produce, as this is a very casual startup with the ultimate goal of having a beautiful, friendly flock with small/medium bearded/muffed fibro chickens that lay a variety of egg colors.
I imagine that over time, I will begin focusing on other/more specific things that I like that I'm seeing, as I am learning what I like in the chickens that I produce.
Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what the goal is, without experiencing living with the specific breeds/mixes/etc. For example: I love our main current flock. But what we produced in this first batch has made me so happy, and I think they're even better, appearance and temperament wise. And I'd love for that to be the result every time.
What I'm saying is that the bolded text up there is the main goal, but that and the smaller goals may adjust as this project goes on.
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Color: I'm cool with most colors, and am not focusing on any color in particular at this time plumage-wise. Skin color, I'd like to be black or dark green. I AM staying away from Cuckoo/Barred and solid colors as well as possible, especially solid black (black with a colored head is great.) I love the color splash, but that also produces a lot of solid colors from my research. I wanted to introduce Mille fleur in, but I'm unsure of doing so now, since Eeby has been soft culled from the program. So far, I'm liking the colors in the silkie/ee mixes a lot.
Size: OEB/D'uccle are slightly too small, while Easter Eggers are slightly too large. I like the Silkie size, but they are lacking in a few traits that I like (boldness, colored eggs, less broodiness, toughness/flying). I do plan to add more pure Silkies to add to the gene pool and continue to add traits that I DO like (dark skin, multiple toes, feathered legs.)
Feet/Legs: I do want feathered legs, but I am happy without it as well. It gets messy really easy and can look a little gross and be difficult with scaly leg mites and other issues. So I don't want heavily feathered, but a little bit would be great. It's lower on my list than some other things, as well as the toes. I like 5 toes, but am fine with 4 as well.
Feathering: I would like both typical plumage, and silkie feathering. I am specifically keeping Surbhi back for that silkie feathering gene, and will likely procure a silkie rooster (of an acceptable color) in the future. So I would be happy with a mix of both.
Crest: I like the crest when they have typical plumage, and no crest with Silkie plumage haha. Not sure I can get that specific, but I am SUPER happy with Roadrunner. I love her crest, body shape, and I think she's going to be very beautiful. She also has 5 toes on each foot.
So, these are some of the traits that I like, and that I hope to bring in with specific breeds:
Silkie: Dark skin, 5 toes, crest, feathers, feathered legs, friendliness
Easter Egger: Friendliness, boldness, colorful eggs, beards/muffs
OEB: Size, friendliness, flying ability
Mystic Marans: Feathered legs, brown/green eggs, friendliness
Sebright: Size, color
Overall, I'm just having fun, creating a beautiful, self-sustaining flock of pretty birds.