Easter Egger club!

[lizardandchicks]

My 2 10 week old Easter eggers (Myrtle and Tinkerbell) moved to the coop 2 weeks ago. They seem to be adjusting find but they both have bald spots on their backs! I am very confused by this because none of my other chickens have it and they are all the same age (my others are BOs silkies and a cuckoo maran). I don't think they are being picked on because they seem like the head chickens. Any thoughts?

They might be molting. I can't see clearly enough on the picture, but it is a very big possibility

 

[FatChicksDigMe]

Just saw this! Got on to post that my girl Biscuit laid out first ever egg! Beautiful green! I'm going to go out and get a picture of her too to celebrate her first egg!

She and her eggs are beautiful! What cross is she(if you know)? I'm guessing buff Brahma and some Americana but I don't see any feathered feet.


Edit: lol, my bad meant to ask chickenlicken but biscuit is one pretty hen herself

 

[Sylvester017]

My 2 10 week old Easter eggers (Myrtle and Tinkerbell) moved to the coop 2 weeks ago. They seem to be adjusting find but they both have bald spots on their backs! I am very confused by this because none of my other chickens have it and they are all the same age (my others are BOs silkies and a cuckoo maran). I don't think they are being picked on because they seem like the head chickens. Any thoughts?

We acquired a Cuckoo Marans pullet and added her to our flock. I read how calm and easy-going Marans were and outwardly she appeared nice although rather aloof toward us humans. About 2 months after she joined the flock I noticed our Partridge Silkie was losing fluff and attributed it to molting. After 3 months of the Cuckoo joining the flock our Silkie went completely bald with missing body fluff and missing tail fluff. Dumb-bell me added a second Silkie pullet to the flock and we noticed right away that the new Silkie's feather were not very fluffy all of a sudden. When the sneaky Cuckoo viciously outright attacked the new Silkie pullet until the little bird screamed was when we realized our ignorance!



This is the ultimate damage the Cuckoo Marans did to this Silkie. It's a wonder this poor little girl survived the Cuckoo's chewing off her comb (never grew back) and chewing off her crest, beard, tail, and body feathers. The Cuckoo was calm while foraging with the flock but at night she would roost next to a Silkie and yank out its fluff and chew off its comb!


This photo shows the gradual damage the Cuckoo Marans was doing to the Silkie where we ignorantly thought it was molting. Notice the crest and beard disappearing, the thinned out body fluff and the unevenness of the chewed off tail fluff. Even her leg and toe feathers were disappearing. The poor little thing was slowly being eaten alive!



This is what our sweet little Silkie looked like at 6 months before adding the Cuckoo Marans. I will never have another Marans as long as I live. My friend had to re-home her Black Copper Marans hens because they were too large and aggressive with other breed flockmates. As a side note, we also had to re-home our White Leghorn and Buff Leghorn because they were yanking out the Silkies' and the Ameraucana's beards/muffs. We no longer meld aggressive dual-purpose or egg layer breeds with our gentle breeds. We learned the hard. Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers are so timid they get easily picked on by the heavier dual-purpose or egg-layer breeds and I won't ever trust Marans again - Marans need to be in a flock of their own after they reach maturity - as pullets they're fine in a mixed flock but they start getting too bold as they mature.

 

[sophiesflock]

[COLOR=0000CD]We acquired a Cuckoo Marans pullet and added her to our flock. I read how calm and easy-going Marans were and outwardly she appeared nice although rather aloof toward us humans. About 2 months after she joined the flock I noticed our Partridge Silkie was losing fluff and attributed it to molting. After 3 months of the Cuckoo joining the flock our Silkie went completely bald with missing body fluff and missing tail fluff. Dumb-bell me added a second Silkie pullet to the flock and we noticed right away that the new Silkie's feather were not very fluffy all of a sudden. When the sneaky Cuckoo viciously outright attacked the new Silkie pullet until the little bird screamed was when we realized our ignorance![/COLOR] T [COLOR=0000CD]This is the ultimate damage the Cuckoo Marans did to this Silkie. It's a wonder this poor little girl survived the Cuckoo's chewing off her comb (never grew back) and chewing off her crest, beard, tail, and body feathers. The Cuckoo was calm while foraging with the flock but at night she would roost next to a Silkie and yank out its fluff and chew off its comb![/COLOR] [COLOR=0000CD]This photo shows the gradual damage the Cuckoo Marans was doing to the Silkie where we ignorantly thought it was molting. Notice the crest and beard disappearing, the thinned out body fluff and the unevenness of the chewed off tail fluff. Even her leg and toe feathers were disappearing. The poor little thing was slowly being eaten alive![/COLOR] [COLOR=0000CD]This is what our sweet little Silkie looked like at 6 months before adding the Cuckoo Marans. I will never have another Marans as long as I live. My friend had to re-home her Black Copper Marans hens because they were too large and aggressive with other breed flockmates. As a side note, we also had to re-home our White Leghorn and Buff Leghorn because they were yanking out the Silkies' and the Ameraucana's beards/muffs. We no longer meld aggressive dual-purpose or egg layer breeds with our gentle breeds. We learned the hard. Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers are so timid they get easily picked on by the heavier dual-purpose or egg-layer breeds and I won't ever trust Marans again - Marans need to be in a flock of their own after they reach maturity - as pullets they're fine in a mixed flock but they start getting too bold as they mature.[/COLOR]

That's terrible! My cuckoo maran is the sweetest in the flock after the buffs and seems pretty meek towards the others. I'll defintley keep an eye out though, thanks for letting me know.

 

[Sylvester017]

That's terrible! My cuckoo maran is the sweetest in the flock after the buffs and seems pretty meek towards the others. I'll defintley keep an eye out though, thanks for letting me know.

That's what fooled us about our 7-lb Cuckoo Marans. She was so shy and meek when we went outdoors so I never suspected anything amiss. It wasn't until I started watching through the sliding door that I saw her challenging the alpha 4.5-lb White Leghorn to a vicious fight (the Leghorn stood her ground and quickly put the large Marans in her place!). When the Marans wasn't getting anywhere bullying the alpha White Leghorn she then turned on the gentle 2-lb Silkies. Marans are sneaky. They appear all calm and sweet and docile and then wham! they do something overly aggressive because with their heavier weight they discover they can get away with it around smaller or gentler birds - it's a chicken thing. We do not mix non-combative sweet Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers with heavier heritage dual purpose or egg laying breeds including hybrids or sexlinks. Since stress can affect a hen's production (and Easter Eggers/Amer's are not that prolific layers to start with) we don't mix non-combative/gentle/docile/timid breeds with combative assertive/aggressive breeds. Everyone to their own choices - I'm just sharing what happened to us.

!! GL!

 

[RunningRabbit]

Bah. Everyone is getting gorgeous eggs, and my Abigail is just molting, looking at me like "What human? The ol egg chute is closed for maintenance." I got her a rooster friend. A cute little Millie Roo, in the hopes of getting feather footed EEs. She's only a little bit bigger than him, which leads me to believe she's got some banty in her. They're currently working out the finer points of their relationship, especially since Abigail is pretty convinced that she's boss, and the annoying little turd who crows every morning, can kiss her well feathered butt.

Hopefully, Pacha (the Roo) grows a spine and stops being cowed by her.

 

[cabinchicky]

RunningRabbit give it time she will come around to hopefully bond with him. There is a possibility that she won't still. I have 15 hens with two EE roos, one is a bantam. My only Cochin in this flock only let's the bantam near her. The standard EE roo tries to court her and get her attention to treats but no she likes his more attentive coop mate. My little guy gets the nests ready for all the hens and their needs where my big one acts like a watchdog and the dominate buttheaded male at times. I hope your girl will come around but ya never know with us females.

 

[RunningRabbit]

They get along relatively well. The first time they were actually physically allowed near each other, he tried to dominate/mount her. First and last time she let the happen. Other than that, they roost together and talk to each other. Every so often she gets a bug up her butt and gives him a scolding with a peck or two. I like to imagine, maybe he did the chicken equivalent of a fart, and she grouches about it.

 

[cabinchicky]

Lol, he probably did more than fart! My poor guy tries and tries to impress my big blue Cochin and she turns away and runs to the bantam.

 

[RunningRabbit]

Well, Abigail looks to be accepting Pacha as her Roo. Her comb is reddening up, after turning pink during her molt/egg strike. That's good, right? I swear my seramas were no where near as complicated. They were so chill, compared to my Abigail. Hopefully, feather footed Millie x EE chicks are in my future.