Ask Lacy Duckwing Anything!

[Lacy Duckwing]

I didn't know there were variations of beak deformities like that

Yes, there is. Even though most people bring forward the severe cases, I think the hairline crossbeak is the worst because those are the ones accidentally getting into the breeding pens and producing the severe cases.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Did you attend photography school or learn the equipment and obtain the skills needed on your own?

I learned everything on my own. In recent years, I've picked up a few tricks from the other photographers here on BYC and YouTube, but the majority of what I know was self taught. (If you ever talk to me about how to use the equipment, you'll probably notice that I don't know a lot of the terminology and that's because I learned everything from personal experience.)

 

[Debbie292d]

Four, I think? Marvalo I (EE and her beak was fixed to a certain point), Lauren (Isa Brown and came debeaked in a very bad way), Amber (EE and my worst crossbeak case), and Beatrix (WTB and hairline crossbeak). My Silver Duckwing Old English Game bantam, Lucy II was one I suspected had crossbeak, but in the end I think it was a different beak deformity. My EE cross rooster, Nightfall, might of had hairline and I have a chick that I'm watching her beak currently, but I'm thinking she has the same beak deformity that Lucy II had.

I have only had one, Nosie. She developed it at around 3 weeks old. We could only assume she got injured as never had one before her or since. She's about a year old now. She is rare in that she started growing it back to normal about 6 months ago. But, she still gets mash daily. I keep her penned up in a huge pen with another handicapped chicken and the two adopted ducks. They all sleep in their hutch together. The misfits!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I have only had one, Nosie. She developed it at around 3 weeks old. We could only assume she got injured as never had one before her or since. She's about a year old now. She is rare in that she started growing it back to normal about 6 months ago. But, she still gets mash daily. I keep her penned up in a huge pen with another handicapped chicken and the two adopted ducks. They all sleep in their hutch together. The misfits!

Some birds do develop their crossbeaks later. The severe ones are usually the ones discovered early on. She kinda sounds like my Marvalo I, but on her, I worked on her daily to get her beak lined up as good as it did in the end. I don't remember when hers started developing, but once I discovered her beak, I started working on her until she was around laying age and she ended up having more of a hairline despite it originally looking like it was going to be severe, or in the in between like my Lauren had it. Hopefully yours will straighten out and stay that way so you don't have to worry about trimming it.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

How many blue eggs do you usually get in a day?

No more than two, unless my EE, Twyla, will count. I have three hens who lay blue and Twyla lays a greenish-blue egg. Two of those three hens, Jasmine and Rose who are full-blooded sisters, often like to lay their eggs at the same time.

@Shabby Chic-Hens, here is one of my blue eggs:

The lighting isn’t perfect here, but the one on the right is my blue egg and the one on the left is Twyla's. I don't know if you can tell by the angle, but Twyla's egg is bigger than the blue and is normal sized. Rose and Jasmine (one of them would have laid this egg) was part of my project of where I had the idea of "little hens who lay lots of little eggs." Unfortunately with that idea, I didn't count on the "tiny hens" laying tiny eggs, but that's what I got. And they're not really the greatest of layers, though Jasmine is fairly faithful to laying every day even if Rose skips a day.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

If you were a shoe, would you be the left or right foot?

 

[casportpony]

Are you going camping this year?

 

[GracePoultry]

Messi or Ronaldo

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

If you were a shoe, would you be the left or right foot?

Probably a right foot. I'm right handed, so I'm assuming that's where I'd be the strongest in my feet. Plus, I often use my right foot when I need to kick something like a stump out of the ground, so it does the most work.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Are you going camping this year?

Yes! I have one trip planned at the end of June/beginning of July, and the rest of my camping will probably be a little less planned. I barely did any camping last year, so I'm hoping to do a lot this year if I can get my flocks straightened out in time.