Chat room for non religious poultry keepers! :D

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hope you all are having a lovely Valentine's day

Here is a little heart-shaped chocolate for you all--Chocolate Cochin, that is.

 

[miss heny]

It weird seeing you post a smooth cochin.

Showed mom your silkie ones and she said they look almost *too* fluffy like cotton balls in a cute way

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, I have a few smooths as well! Most of my Cochins are silkied, though.

Some of those silkieds really are sooo fluffy! I'm super happy with how fluffy some of my growouts are turning out, especially the girls! Gives me a lot of hope that I can make some good improvements in the next generation or two, even using some birds that I like but that are not as nicely rounded. Needless to say, I can't wait for them to start laying so that I can get hatching--I think I've posted as much practically every day

 

[fluffycrow]

Okay, @miss heny , as promised, here is the list of the indigenous landrace breeds of Greece. I will start off by saying that after researching what I mostly found out is that there are MULTIPLE "breeds" but after even more searching, there are only two more generally recognized, and all the others are just traits more commonly found in chickens of a certain area, and have not yet taken a more solid form. These traits include beards, feathered legs, bantams, and solid black color. Now, moving on to the two most recognized landrace breeds. Here we have the Tsouloufati, or Elliniki (translates to either crested chicken or Greek chicken!) the breed I have, and the Karagouniki (no I'm not sure there's a translation here). The Tsouloufati is mostly known for its darker color, good egg production, but most importantly, it's great ability for flight, and survival, as well as being an excellent broody (ain't that ironic). The Karagouniki is a later outcome of more selectively breeding the Tsouloufati for even greater egg production, so basically a Karagouniki is the leghorn of the Greek breeds, but with the ability to brood and survive in a free range setting. Both breeds have spotted patterns, the Tsouloufati with usually more dark patter, but as some of my girls have proven, not always, and the Karagouniki has a lighter pattern. The Tsouloufati, as the name suggests also comes with a crest, although not always. Both breeds are single combed, and may have very light leg feathering. Also, keep in mind these are landrace breeds, so there is GREAT variation in color and type. Now, the photos as promised! Some of them aren't mine, so whoever they belong to, I hope you're OK with me using them as examples of the breed! So first five are from the Tsouloufati, and the first three are of my birds, also showcasing my most good looking hen as far as the unofficial standard is concerned, and then the next two some good examples of other people's hens. The last two photos are of other people's Karagounikes. Enjoy!

 

[miss heny]

Aaah they look purty and can definitely see why certain feather patterns were picked.

 

[fluffycrow]

Yup, the patterns are one of my favorite things about them, so are their crests, they are a little different for every chicken, so

Aaah they look purty and can definitely see why certain feather patterns were picked.

funny looking! And their flying really is excellent, even roosters seem to do ok with it. If only my girls would decide to become more like their breed and sit on some darn eggs... oh well, I guess you have to pick your battles

 

[fluffycrow]

Aaah they look purty and can definitely see why certain feather patterns were picked.

This year, if everything goes to plan I'd like to hatch some eggs from these guys, mostly to document what they're like from chick to adult, and also to solidify some of the desirable traits this breed has, hole I can start a thread about this soon

 

[miss heny]

XD thats a mood, I have this hen I wanna get chicks from this year assuming the necropsy of some birds come back AI free

 

[fluffycrow]

Gorgeous hen honestly. She looks like she has silkie blood in her

 

[miss heny]

Gorgeous hen honestly. She looks like she has silkie blood in her

Svart Hona actually, almost all my f4-f6 has svart hona in them. I got a few f1 hona crosses on the property but overall my newest birds all got some in them. Lemme find the poort photo of the rooster I wanna stick her eith