California - Northern

[chickee]

She is pretty. How old is she?

Thanks

She will be 5 months old Sept. 13th.

 

[chickee]

This is the Rooster that I hatched from Megan's flock. He looks awesome so far!



This one has nice Barring but the comb is a bit off. I will be interesting to see what the chicks look like.





This one was my Broody last Winter.



These two look like twins. They have the correct colored legs and feet and the correct color on the Body. The Barring is needed on the Hens to make the Roosters look correct.



This is one of my Three best Hens.



I do not have a picture of Chema, the Rooster I used. This boy is Megans Rooster and he is very nice! The tail is correct and has the barring. Most Roosters in the US have a white sickle feather which is a Disqualifier under the Spanish Standard.

They are very pretty

Thanks for posting the pictures and giving me a lesson about the breed

 

[OR4-hmom]

Ron, they are beautiful as always.
I do have a question though, should the hens have a dark "necklace"? My boys don't have the white sickle feathers but they have quite a bit of the black down on the breast, and leg color is light or white with various undertones.
I'm not sure if it was the shipping to Oregon or the heat but when I checked on Friday only 2 of the eggs from Megan are developing. They are under a great hen so I hope they make it.

 

[OR4-hmom]

I'm feeling lucky today! When I went out to secure the coops last night I let the greyhound out with me, bumbeling around in the dark I heard rustling near the wood shed. No option other than to walk past it to get to the coops, get pop doors closed and all closed up Rebel helping me all the while. When I got back to the garage I hit the light switch, the noise was a skunk digging around looking for whatever skunks look for not 2 feet from where we had just walked. Glad not to have to treat either one of us for skunk spray at 11:15!

 

[ronott1]

Ron, they are beautiful as always.
I do have a question though, should the hens have a dark "necklace"? My boys don't have the white sickle feathers but they have quite a bit of the black down on the breast, and leg color is light or white with various undertones.
I'm not sure if it was the shipping to Oregon or the heat but when I checked on Friday only 2 of the eggs from Megan are developing. They are under a great hen so I hope they make it.

I would have to look into that. The Spanish Standard is hard to read. From what I understand the two of mine that look like twins are what the hens should look like. The Roosters should look like Megans Big Boy in the last picture--He is the best most of the EO Basque people have seen. The Roosters in The US Universally molt to a white sickle feather after the firs molt. Megan's should molt soon so I am waiting to see if the sickle feathers turn white and lose the Barring.

I am sorry the eggs are not developing for you. I should be able to help you next Spring when we start the next breeding project.

 

[OR4-hmom]

Just as silly side note on the EO's, they got them listed at a Canadian show, the catalog had Marraduna and Gorria.

 

[ronott1]

Just as silly side note on the EO's, they got them listed at a Canadian show, the catalog had Marraduna and Gorria.

Gorria is another color pattern. In Canada they are trying to pull the Gorria out of the Marraduna. There are five other Basque types, including a Naked Neck. We only have Marraduna here.

 

[chickee]

Ron, they are beautiful as always.
I do have a question though, should the hens have a dark "necklace"? My boys don't have the white sickle feathers but they have quite a bit of the black down on the breast, and leg color is light or white with various undertones.
I'm not sure if it was the shipping to Oregon or the heat but when I checked on Friday only 2 of the eggs from Megan are developing. They are under a great hen so I hope they make it.

That brings a question to mind . . Do shipped eggs generally have a better hatch rate if put under a broody? I have wanted to try it but have been afraid that with the usual ruptured air cells from shipping, that the eggs wouldn't do as well laying on their sides under a broody hen.

 

[ronott1]

That brings a question to mind . . Do shipped eggs generally have a better hatch rate if put under a broody? I have wanted to try it but have been afraid that with the usual ruptured air cells from shipping, that the eggs wouldn't do as well laying on their sides under a broody hen.

Studies recently have shown that all eggs hatch better sitting big end up for the first 18 days and tilted back at lockdown. That is the way the hatcheries are incubating and hatching now.

Hatching under a Broody is really cool but on average there will be less chickens hatched. It is a lot less work though and power outages are not a problem.

 

[gryeyes]

I'm feeling lucky today! When I went out to secure the coops last night I let the greyhound out with me, bumbeling around in the dark I heard rustling near the wood shed. No option other than to walk past it to get to the coops, get pop doors closed and all closed up Rebel helping me all the while. When I got back to the garage I hit the light switch, the noise was a skunk digging around looking for whatever skunks look for not 2 feet from where we had just walked. Glad not to have to treat either one of us for skunk spray at 11:15!

Whew! (Or would that be "not-phew!?") The skunk which has been invading my property is a nightly visitor. Last night I got home in full dark, and had not closed up the coop .... So I expected the skunk might be in the coop. I was right. I turned on the light and a smallish, panicked skunk scrambled up from behind the unused metal trough brooder. It scampered down and across the floor, but ran into the chicken wire barrier around the Kindergarten pen. No juveniles housed there, so the door to that pen is open. I stepped back to allow escape and it ran out and around the corner into the main section of the coop. Peripherally, I saw movement in one of the nests in the ten nest front roll-out bank of nest boxes. It was Mama Skunk. Oh crap. She had been sleeping in the nest unit, and clambered out of it to the floor, tail up and stamping. Baby Skunk scrabbled in the litter to crawl under the bench below the nest box unit. Mama followed suit once she realized I wasn't going to harass her. I ain't stupid. (Ticked off at myself, but not stupid enough to corner a skunk in close quarters, much less two of them.) I exited the coop, leaving the pop door open so Skunk Intruders could also exit before morning, which they did. I know this because I saw Mama come back around the corner of the coop after dark this evening, Baby right behind her. But I had the coop locked up tight. I think they are getting into the yard through a drainage culvert in my "gully." Tomorrow I will cover "my" end of the pipe with welded wire. Guess I need a gun, too.