Atypical breed behavior - a production red

[Mrs. K]

Seriously, last year I had a broody hen, and gave her a couple of chicks, a production red. She is a lovely, busy and active bird with traditional coloring of the red front fading to white behind... definitely a production red.

She lays green eggs. They are suppose to lay brown.

She went broody. They are never suppose to go broody.

Haha!

Crazy chicken.

 

[SilverBirds]

Where did you get her from? Starlight Eggers can have a strong resemblance to RSL.

 

[Mrs. K]

She came from Hoover, I didn't order her, I just picked her up from the feed store - a couple of extra chicks. She could be a starlight. She is a determined and kind of scary broody.

I have Mrs. feathers that just hatched out three chicks. Mrs Feathers is an old girl. Might be nice to have another broody in the flock. This is such a fun hobby...gave her 5 eggs.

 

[FrostRanger]

It sounds like she's an easter egger, production reds lay brown eggs, not green. In any case, breed generalizations are just what's average, most birds will tend towards certain behaviors but any individual can be different. Breed just skews your odds towards a specific temperment, it guaranteeds nothing. It seems to me you just wound up with an easter egger with an individual tendency towards broodiness

 

[Ridgerunner]

Seriously, last year I had a broody hen, and gave her a couple of chicks, a production red. She is a lovely, busy and active bird with traditional coloring of the red front fading to white behind... definitely a production red.

Feather color is a pretty poor indicator as to breed. Comb type, eye color, skin color, size and body weight, conformation, number of toes, thickness of feathers, color of the soles of their feet, and so many more things go into breed. Productions reds are not a breed, it is a marketing name that different hatcheries can use different breeds and hybrids to put together. They are bred to lay a lot of nice eggs and have mostly red feathers. An expert could likely tell the breed (if it is a recognized breed and a true representative of that breed by looking at a black and white silhouette of the bird.)

She lays green eggs. They are suppose to lay brown.

A very strong indication she is not a production red. If you look at Hoover's written description of their green egg layers they say any of them can have many different colors of feathers. That hen about has to be one of their green egg layers.

She went broody. They are never suppose to go broody.

Where do you see it written that any hen of any breed will never go broody by anyone that should really know what they are talking about? It is usually written that "they are not often known to go broody" or "don't normally go broody". The ones that know what they are talking about should use weasel words like "often" or "normally" to avoid saying "never". If you read enough posts on this forum you will read stories where a hen of any breed went broody and did a great job of raising the chicks. You'll also read stories where many hens of a breed that are supposed to go broody a lot never went broody. I've had Buff Orpingtons like that. Buff Orps are supposed to go broody at the drop of a hat but mine did not.

 

[GlicksChicks]

Feather color is a pretty poor indicator as to breed. Comb type, eye color, skin color, size and body weight, conformation, number of toes, thickness of feathers, color of the soles of their feet, and so many more things go into breed. Productions reds are not a breed, it is a marketing name that different hatcheries can use different breeds and hybrids to put together. They are bred to lay a lot of nice eggs and have mostly red feathers. An expert could likely tell the breed (if it is a recognized breed and a true representative of that breed by looking at a black and white silhouette of the bird.)


A very strong indication she is not a production red. If you look at Hoover's written description of their green egg layers they say any of them can have many different colors of feathers. That hen about has to be one of their green egg layers.


Where do you see it written that any hen of any breed will never go broody by anyone that should really know what they are talking about? It is usually written that "they are not often known to go broody" or "don't normally go broody". The ones that know what they are talking about should use weasel words like "often" or "normally" to avoid saying "never". If you read enough posts on this forum you will read stories where a hen of any breed went broody and did a great job of raising the chicks. You'll also read stories where many hens of a breed that are supposed to go broody a lot never went broody. I've had Buff Orpingtons like that. Buff Orps are supposed to go broody at the drop of a hat but mine did not.

I have a Black Copper Maran hen who has been my only broody. She went broody a couple months ago and when none of her eggs hatched, I bought her some day old chicks to raise. She accepted 2 and I have been hand raising 2. She had stopped caring for them as much when they were around 4 weeks old. She has now completely stopped caring for them at 6-7 weeks old. She has immediately gone back to being broody. I am not letting her have chicks this time because I am still trying to deal with raising up 17 chicks and 4 roosters to get rid of somehow.

I had read that some Marans may occasionally go broody but many never will (She is my only broody and is right back at it after being done with her last chicks). It also said that they are great mothers and are very attentive (She was a good mother, but she let her chicks stray alot). Marans also apparently like to "co-parent" and will help raise other maran's chicks (My 3 other Marans were not big fans of the chicks and would either be mean to them or act like they didn't exist.)

The internet is very misleading and you never know what you are going to get with a chicken.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I had read that some Marans may occasionally go broody but many never will (She is my only broody and is right back at it after being done with her last chicks). It also said that they are great mothers and are very attentive (She was a good mother, but she let her chicks stray alot). Marans also apparently like to "co-parent" and will help raise other maran's chicks (My 3 other Marans were not big fans of the chicks and would either be mean to them or act like they didn't exist.)

The internet is very misleading and you never know what you are going to get with a chicken.

I totally agree. You can substitute any breed or type where you mentioned "Marans" in your post and get a similar story, whether it is about Easter Egger, Rhode Island Red, Silkie, Malay, Rock, Sussex, or anything else. And you can get an opposite story.

 

[GlicksChicks]

I totally agree. You can substitute any breed or type where you mentioned "Marans" in your post and get a similar story, whether it is about Easter Egger, Rhode Island Red, Silkie, Malay, Rock, Sussex, or anything else. And you can get an opposite story.

Exactly. It is just like saying "Humans are never bad parents." which is definitely not a true statement, but Google said never, so it must be true.

Google can help with some things, but many times it is full of opinions and hearsay, not facts.

 

[Mrs. K]

Oh goodness - I was not complaining or disgruntled. I was making what I thought was a funny post.

I got her out of the production red bin, she looks like a production red, she lays like a production red, other than they are green.

I was surprised when she went broody, just laughing at myself.

I like a mixed flock, not too big on breeds, just sharing the fun.

Mrs K

 

[21hens-incharge]

I bet she is going to be a fun bird for a loooong time.

I hope she hatches all 5 eggs!

I have a starlight green layer that thinks she wants to hatch eggs. Mine gives up after 15-20 days every time. Silly birds.

If yours makes it all the way through hatching maybe there's hope for my Cindy to do the same.