Dixie Chicks

[1kluckychik]

heya @idiotswife

hi my dear!!!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Yep, not missing the snow. Those little buggers are so cute, @hennible! Hope you get thawed out soon!

 

[hennible]

Lol that's in April....

 

[1kluckychik]

My legs are freezing I need some of that soup... Shoveled out the greenhouse...


big job...
Then walking back to the house I see this

3 of 4 of my crazy neighbors horses, whiskey, soda, and crackers... I tried to walk them home... They Followed me... I tried to run faster than them and get to the gate.... Horses are faster than me they followed me back down... Neighbor came to get them, stayed to visit, I got here some good stories...
Now it taken me like two hours to compose this and I have to go back and read what I missed.

you poor thing...I praise you for all of your hard work!!!!!! If you lived waaayyyy closer I would make you some soup!

..

 

[hennible]

you poor thing...I praise you for all of your hard work!!!!!!

..

Awe thank you... And I praise my mom for watching my crazy kids while I do this " snow removal " crap...

 

[Ravynscroft]

Lol that's in April....

REALLY not missing that! lol Sending warm thoughts!

 

[hennible]

  I soo read that wrong the first time or maybe I didnt lol
oh wow lol who knew! maybe one day I'll get around to actually navigating this thing like it was made to be done lol

Yes I can use a bowl of that too...
And a beer....

 

[NotAFarm]

Home from work and dinner eaten. I have to go feed the barn cats, see if all the chickens are good and collect frozen eggs

Yep, high on the bank thermometer across the street from work was 9F. It isn't that warm now and the high tomorrow is suppose to be -6F! windchills tonight -30 to -35F and up slightly during the day tomorrow at -25 to -30F. Low tomorrow night of -15F. Good news is that starting Sunday the daytime highs will be in the 20s with nighttime lows hitting some single digits but no negatives!!

Okay, comparison pictures of what Silver Laced Wyandottes breed to the Standard of Perfection look like compared to hatchery.
Some history. In 2007, when I no longer had horses, I decided to get some chickens. The co-op near me, that I got my horse feed from, takes orders for chicks. I wanted 3 or 4 pullets and asked if I could get that few and was told they combined small orders to make the minimum. I told them I was up for whatever and was called and asked if Americanas were okay. The four pullets I got (from Mt Healthy Hatchery in Ohio) were my start with chickens. The picture below shows what a variety they were:

Three were muffed and bearded and clearly had some Ameraucana in them (I didn't know it at the time since I hadn't found BYC and would not for two more years). The fourth looked completely different. I liked her black and white coloring and she laid an olive green egg while the others laid blue ones. I started checking out the different kinds of chickens and found Silver Laced Wyandottes looked the most like Audrey. I ordered some from a different hatchery and then joined the Wyandotte Breeders of America breed club as mentioned before.

Here is a picture of the SLW flock I had in the fall of 2009. It consisted of four hatchery SLW and a trio of SLW that I got from the breeder. The overall size is larger. Their heads were much broader. The lacing, there was no comparison.


Here are some closer shots.
The two breeder hens tails and hatchery hen side:

Trio with a hatchery hen on the far right:

This one shows the lacing difference:



I don't want anyone to think that I am saying you should buy only birds from show breeders, I am not. We all have different reasons for having what we have. I thought these SLW were the way to go for me. I was wrong.

The APA bred birds didn't lay many eggs and trimming fluff was necessary to get the hens bred. I would have to hatch a large quantity of chicks and raise them to a decent age to evaluate who was a keeper. These were things I didn't want to have to be part of my hobby. I learned the "party colored" birds were difficult to master and not something a novice such as myself needed to start with.
I turned my focus to what did I really want out of my flock. Some eggs but no mandate on tons of eggs, longevity, some diversity, something that did not need heat and coddling to survive, hens that would sit on eggs and raise chicks (which meant I had to have a male), male with strong protective instincts and good nature and good looks. Around this time I found BYC. I lurked for almost six months before joining. Early in 2010, I found The Sheriff's (whose BYC name at that time was The Warden) thread on Icelandics. I thought that Icelandics could be the right match for me and I was right. I love my Icelandics and have done what I can to promote them. They are not for everyone. They can be confined but love their freedom.....they are after all Vikings....and we know Vikings love to roam! They are only truly an Icelandic if they are kept pure. They have no standard, no trait has been bred for or eliminated to meet a set standard. The only thing that truly makes them Icelandic is that they are the carriers of the diverse genes that were brought to Iceland by the Vikings following the raids on other lands or trading with other groups. Once they are crossed, they cease to be Icelandic. There is no half Icelandic, only crossbreeds that carry Icelandic blood. You cannot breed them back to purebred. You can take an Orpington and breed it to a Marans to get a new color and eventually breed those back to meet the Marans standard and down the line call the resulting offspring Marans. Not so with Icelandics. The only thing that makes them a true Icelandic is if the gene pool has been kept pure.
Stepping off the soapbox now.....

Okay, so you can see I'm passionate about them and I see I've written a book....sorry so long winded.

 

[perchie.girl]

I need to figure something quick for supper. I'm hungry now tnt.

Looks good! And vehve.

I'm also cold. We have 13 with a -12 wind chill. The wind is coming from just the right direction to put a slight chill in the house. the house is at 68F.
I had to chuckle at the girls today. I opened the coop and the run. Not one would venture out on the whole 2 inches of snow we got yesterday/last night. I left the doors open for a couple of hours the sun was shining right in. When I went out to close them up, there was not a single chicken track outside the coop. what a bunch of chickens! lol.
I like the idea of greenhouse up top and an elevator. Maybe a glass elevator? I dream big. Go big or go home they say. I'm already home so I'll dream big.

Funny thing here.... My very first job as a draftsman was at US Elevator and doing Glass elevators..... I did high rise as well as three and four story buildings.... If I were to do my own I would buy a scissor lift hoist and put the elevator cab on that.... exterior to the building of course.... or even in an exterior are that is enclosed from the elements... Not as expensive as a Pneumatic lift but not cheap either.

Quote: I dont know about the full bred.... But an Ameraucana that doesn't have the approved colors has to be called an EE even though its purebred.... There is a list of colors that are approved too.

Araucana is the breed of Gallina Mapuche originating in Chile. Those may or may not have tails. The Standard of Perfection in the US dictates that they be tail less and have tufts that stick out behind their ears.... The Standard in Europe only requires they have the tufts... tails are optional... All lay blue or bluegreen eggs.

Ameraucana Is the breed of chicken that Araucana was a foundation for. They are more prolific layers they have the muffs under their chin and have only been around as a breed in the US since the 70s

Americana or Easter Egger. These are chickens that can have just about any coloring and physical characteristics.... They have the capacity to lay blue eggs but they have equal opportunity to lay tinted, brown, pin, blue, even greenish eggs. My first chickens were Americana they were chip monk colored as chicks and each one was a different fledge color....

My legs are freezing I need some of that soup... Shoveled out the greenhouse...


big job...
Then walking back to the house I see this

3 of 4 of my crazy neighbors horses, whiskey, soda, and crackers... I tried to walk them home... They Followed me... I tried to run faster than them and get to the gate.... Horses are faster than me they followed me back down... Neighbor came to get them, stayed to visit, I got here some good stories...
Now it taken me like two hours to compose this and I have to go back and read what I missed.

Here is a thought about the green house de Snowing.... How about tying a rope on the off side throwing the rope over the top and swinging it back an forth across the arch of the green house.... If it froze in place a good hard flip up should free it.... No lifting of a rake necessary. If that works then you can think of a way to make that a perminent feature. It certainly would protect the green house material from accidental scrapes from the rake....

cute Horsies, so fuzzy!

And that's a lot of snow hennible!

Looks like three Ponies.... My friend who used to live in Michigan was always having to track down her horses in winter because the snow would pile up over the fence and they would Walk out of their pasture.... LOL She said she had to dig a path along the fence to keep em in. Its amazing how much of the cold a healthy horse can handle as long as they have a wind break.... Like sixty below or something like that.

deb

 

[Amberjem]

lol, the only way to learn is to ask questions! Ameraucanas are classified by 'type' not dna tests (although you can have testing done, very expensive). And actually most chicken breeds we have available today were created using different breeds, and a lot of other breeds have been mixed back in their lines. Anyways, Ameraucanas are distinguished from EE's by feather color and leg color, and they breed true. If you breed 2 different Am colors together that are not in the same 'color group' then its color comes out mixed and is therefore an EE, even if both parents are pure.
Lavender is not an accepted color (yet) in Am's, but if people keep breeding them and they keep breeding true, then hopefully they'll get accepted.
Sorry for long post, but hope that helps! lol

ok so only the accepted standard of amercana colors or project colors that breed true would be classified as amercana's..where the easter eggers are some color that doesnt bred true?? is that what I am understanding? are some types of chickens only identified by dna rather then type? and also I think I read somewhere how the single comb can show up in an amercana line but it isnt a desired trait to be placed back into a breeding program but it doesnt make them less of an amercana?? might have been wyandotte I forget sometimes these chicken facts get all jumbled up in my head lol