Buff what?

[travis5292]

I have an "Atwoods" mystery chicken. She's about 13 or 14 weeks. All buff, and very skinny. She is a spitting image of my white leghorn, other than feather color. Has yellow legs, and her comb seems to be single, but is coming in very oddly shaped. She is a foraging maniac, and always wanders away from the other hens. She has hunted down some crazy snacks which include frogs, and even baby mice. I don't think she's an orp, nor a leghorn. (She has brown earlobes) any idea on her breed?

 

[AraucanaAnnie]

Brown earlobes? Or are they red?

Maybe a buff rock?

 

[travis5292]

She has tan lobes. Her body type screams leghorn. Tail feathers scream leghorn. Personality screams leghorn. I just don't know.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Do you know where Atwoods got the chicks from? Could maybe be a hatchery Buff Minorca, they look and act a lot like leghorns.
McMurray carries them.
With the yellow legs would guess Buff Rock except for the way you describe the body type.

 

[travis5292]

I was all ready to agree that it was a buff Minorca, BUT.......my hen has tan lobes. Not white. Everything else looks just like them. I believe Atwoods uses ideal as their hatchery. Do hatcheries cross breed beyond red and black sex links?

 

[Kelsie2290]

Chicken pedigrees being what they are, and hatchery stock is not exactly bred to or selected for the finer points of the standard, we'd expect some variation in type over time, even if they started with birds that met the standard.
I would not expect your girl to keep tan earlobes either, would expect them to turn either red or white when she is mature... then we can vote again Ideal's website is not working right now, and I don't know off hand what they carry in Buff ... rocks, minorcas or leghorns?

 

[AraucanaAnnie]

Chicken pedigrees being what they are, and hatchery stock is not exactly bred to or selected for the finer points of the standard, we'd expect some variation in type over time, even if they started with birds that met the standard.
I would not expect your girl to keep tan earlobes either, would expect them to turn either red or white when she is mature... then we can vote again

Ideal's website is not working right now, and I don't know off hand what they carry in Buff ... rocks, minorcas or leghorns?

x2

Hatchery birds aren't perfect!

 

[travis5292]

Thanks for replying. I am one that hates not knowing what I have, although the mystery of how many eggs and what color she lays, is rather intriguing. Here's her with the leghorn.

 

[travis5292]

I feel pretty stupid right now. I have had chickens for 2 years now, and feel I have a pretty good understanding of these foul birds!! I mentioned above, that the chicken I was inquiring about, had tan colored earlobes. Well, it turns out, I've always looked at the patch of hair on the ear itself. If it was white, they lay white eggs. If they were any other color, they lay brown eggs. Well, the bird in question does have white LOBES. She is built exactly like my white leghorn. So, I'm guessing, I have a buff leghorn, which I'm reading is kind of rare. I'm sure I don't have any kind of show quality bird, but still, I guess it's a white leghorn.

 

[Irishhenman]

You have either a buff leghorn or buff Minorca