Livia Ammon
Songster
I have a pair of barred rocks I bought as chicks from a woman who had a small flock of them. They were certainly from the same father, and I think they were from the same mother too.
These sisters look identical, and the only way I can tell them apart is the yellow leg band I put on the one named Zoe. The other one has no leg band, and her name is Zebra. (I didn’t name them)
Their eggs are a light brown shade, small, and very round in comparison to some eggs. They also tend to have white speckles on them, from where bloom clings to darker brown pigment. This color of eggs is one I haven’t seen often, so I was surprised when they looked so similar. I have a picture, although recently my chickens had mites, so not the top of their laying game.
This by itself isn’t very unusual, just a bit interesting, but because I liked the look of their eggs, I incubated them, and that’s when things got weird.
My styrofoam incubator is and has been incorrectly calibrated for a long time. Unfortunately, I only realized this recently, and I have had quite a few bad hatch rates as a result. The majority of the chicks died every time, with the one exception being the barred rock chicks. Every single bad hatch, I had 100% survival on the barred rocks. In a recent hatch with an overall rate of about 20%, every single barred rock lived to hatch. As chicks, I’ve only lost one barred rock from failure to thrive.
I am amazed at these two sisters, as they look identical, lay identical eggs, and have identically amazing hatch rates. I know they aren’t twins, but they are pretty dang close, and I think they are a surprising and fun anomaly on my farm.
One question though, why do their eggs survive when very few others do? Is it a barred rock thing or a gene that is just in these two hens? I’m starting to suspect black magic…
These sisters look identical, and the only way I can tell them apart is the yellow leg band I put on the one named Zoe. The other one has no leg band, and her name is Zebra. (I didn’t name them)
Their eggs are a light brown shade, small, and very round in comparison to some eggs. They also tend to have white speckles on them, from where bloom clings to darker brown pigment. This color of eggs is one I haven’t seen often, so I was surprised when they looked so similar. I have a picture, although recently my chickens had mites, so not the top of their laying game.
This by itself isn’t very unusual, just a bit interesting, but because I liked the look of their eggs, I incubated them, and that’s when things got weird.
My styrofoam incubator is and has been incorrectly calibrated for a long time. Unfortunately, I only realized this recently, and I have had quite a few bad hatch rates as a result. The majority of the chicks died every time, with the one exception being the barred rock chicks. Every single bad hatch, I had 100% survival on the barred rocks. In a recent hatch with an overall rate of about 20%, every single barred rock lived to hatch. As chicks, I’ve only lost one barred rock from failure to thrive.
I am amazed at these two sisters, as they look identical, lay identical eggs, and have identically amazing hatch rates. I know they aren’t twins, but they are pretty dang close, and I think they are a surprising and fun anomaly on my farm.
One question though, why do their eggs survive when very few others do? Is it a barred rock thing or a gene that is just in these two hens? I’m starting to suspect black magic…
