Part of the joys of country life. Being in the middle of nowhere with nothing going on. I wouldn't give it up for anything, but it doesn't make driving to a poultry show fun.
Side note: Cackleberry, I also have an EE named "Babs", after the really dumb chicken in Chicken Run. After her near-death experience (thanks to my dog), I pictured her saying "My entire life flashed before my eyes...It was really boring!" and thus she was named.
I was away for part of the week, and I just came home. My father did a fantastic job watching the fowl. Anyway, I just noticed over that time Abe, the black cockerel in my avatar, has developed some gold leakage on his shoulders. Doh! Oh well, he is still stunning. I was just hoping for him to be jet black!
Boy - isn't that something; that leakage really does show up over night. I don't understand the biology of it but it seems like it would take a few days at least for a feather to grow in with new color, but so often I will spend a day in admiration of a bird only to wake up the next day ready to take pictures to post and WHAM - there's spots of color that were not there the day before!!!! I empathize!! Though, once you have accepted that there is leakage, sometimes it sure makes for gorgeous feather patterns.
Rumball, typically if you hold the bird and look closely you can see little quills where the picked out tufts were. Although many times, they'll tear the whole skin piece off and completely remove the quills, so you may have a tough time telling. Legbands help to mark birds and keep track of this kind of stuff, so if they do look alike, you'll know who has which traits. I don't consider 2 yrs to be old for a chicken, in terms of laying, unless they are forced to lay over winter via lights and never allowed a break. I have araucana that are 6 years old and still lay regularly and have hatched their eggs. It's all a matter of how the flock is managed and overall health of them, imo.
I am waiting for ameracana hen to lay her first egg. She is 4.5 months old, her comb is still little and is getting more red every day. Will it get bigger or stay smaller when she gets ready to lay her first egg. I am new at raising EE's