BackYard Chickens - Learn How to Raise Chickens

View previous comments…

Solanacae

What kinds do you have? Would you introduce me to your flock?

The-White-Elephant

Of course! Give me a bit, I’ll type them out.

Solanacae

I’ll do the same. No rush.

The-White-Elephant

Ok, so I have 3-4EE’s, and 2-3 OE’s. I say that, because I believe one of our OE’s lays blue eggs. Then again, when I look at the chick pics, I see I had 4 EE’s. Anyways, after that, we have 3 White Jersey Giants, 3 Cochins, and 1 Appenzeller Spitzhauben rooster. I would post the pics here, but if you go on my profile, you’ll see them

. It’s a bit of work adding the all again

Solanacae

1. Cannonball - Olive Egger, pretty sure Marans x Legbar. When my son named her but I don’t think he realized that she was supposed to be a pullet. She was the biggest of all the chicks we got and also the first to lay. She’s not particularly friendly, but she’ll eat treats out of your hand if they’re good enough. Her egg is the larger, darker green one in my profile picture.

Solanacae

2. Desdemona - Dominique. My favorite, very friendly and chatty. She’s at the bottom of the older hens’ pecking order and was pretty mean to the juveniles sometimes but she’s mellowed out now that they’re integrated. Her egg is the long tan one to the right of Cannonball’s.

Solanacae

3. Fuzzy - Marans. She is my flock queen and was given to us by a friend after we had lost half our flock to that dog attack. My son named her Fuzzy, even though she’s not really fuzzy, and not to be confused with Fluffy, the white EE that laid the lighter green egg in my profile pic. (Kids . . .) She’s pretty chill, but isn’t above pecking someone. She lays dark brown eggs that are very long and oval.

Solanacae

4. Caramel - Speckled Sussex. I know, she’s not speckled. She’s a hatchery bird, so somehow didn’t end up with the mottling gene. Her juvenile feathers looked right, but somehow lost the white flecks when her adult ones came in. Personality-wise, she’s pretty stand-offish. She goes broody on me 3-4 times a year, and I let her hatch some eggs this past fall because she was so hard to break that time.

Solanacae

Long story but none of them made it. If she goes broody this spring at the right time, I’m going to try grafting the chicks my friend is hatching for me. She’s a great mom. Her egg is the medium brown one at the top, though it’s generally a bit lighter than that one.

Solanacae

5. Saoirse (Sur-shuh) - EE. She lays a light green egg, and is a prolific layer. She’s got a really fun personality and is giving Desdemona a run for her money as my favorite. She is the oldest of the chicks I got from a local breeder last spring, and the earliest to lay out of that batch. I’ve been really impressed with the quality of birds this lady has and plan to get more from her.

Solanacae

6. Cordelia - Mosaic x Gold Laced Wyandotte. This gal was why I got chicks from the breeder I mentioned. The cross was a chance crossing but resulted in sex-linked chicks, and they’re gorgeous in my eyes! She is one very solid, fat-bottomed lady and has the prettiest dark brown eyes. She’s not a cuddly lap chicken but will come over and hang out around you.

Solanacae

Sometimes she’ll hop on my leg (or my shoulder when she was younger and lighter) but if you tried to touch her she’d leave. If you just chat to her, then she’ll settle down and hang out.Her eggs are a tan color similar to Desdemona’s. We’ll see how good I get at telling the difference between the two - Desdemona stopped laying right at the same time Cordelia started and Desdemona hasn’t started up yet.

Solanacae

7. Sophia - Sultan x Polish. I’m not sure how much Polish is in there, the breeder I got these from is working on a breeding project to create a colored Sultan. My older daughter wanted a friendly white egg layer to replace her Salmon Faverolles that got killed - hard because most white laying breeds aren’t known for being particularly friendly. I asked the breeder if she had anything that fit the bill and she did!

Solanacae

The two I have were going to be culled because they didn’t have the correct number of toes (Sultans are supposed to have 5. Sophia has 4 on each, and Peanut has 4 on one/5 on the other.)Sophia is the more friendly of the two, helped by the fact that my youngest loves to pick her up and carry around ‘her’ chicken. Sophia’s face has been getting more red lately, so I’m looking forward to seeing those white eggs!

Solanacae

8. Peanut - Sultan x Polish. Hatch mate to Sophia. You can see some color showing up on this gal. Her back and tail are white, though. She’s not as friendly, and just a little odd in general. She’s kind of a loner, especially right now because she doesn’t like going outside in the cold. She is also getting some red in her face, but not as much as I see on Sophia.

Solanacae

9. Ginger - ISA Brown. I got Ginger and Goldilocks to be companions to the lone chick that Caramel hatched out from the eggs I let her set on. That chick died, so I was left with these two that I wouldn’t have bought if I hadn’t wanted that chick to have some company. I’m not as attached to these gals for that reason, but they are becoming pretty friendly despite Caramel’s reluctance to be close to people.

Solanacae

10. Goldilocks - ISA Brown. Goldilocks has always had a bit more white on her head and has more pronounced lacing on her hackle feathers. She’s generally been a tad bigger than Ginger, and more bold. Ginger sticks pretty close to Caramel even now, at almost 16 weeks. Goldilocks ranges around more but always seems to know where Caramel is.

Solanacae

Your rooster looks so cool! I love the feather pattern.

The-White-Elephant

Thank you! And thanks for taking the time to type all that out!! You have a GORGEOUS Flock!! Can I tell you which one is my favorite? (From your flock)

Solanacae

Sure! I probably obsess over my chickens way too much.

BackYard Chickens - Learn How to Raise Chickens

Attachments

Join Our Newsletter