Hi, everyone!
I have a Salmon Faverolle Pullet called "Freaky" because she freaks out at the slightest strange or sudden noise. She will fly around the coop as if being chased. The others are nearly full grown Silkie pullets who were brought up with her from last season. They might be momentarily startled when she sounds off and goes beserk (she is getting better though, I've noticed) and usually they just give her a peck as she flies past as if to say, "Oh! Shut up!" Lol!
In this run, I have 7 x Silkie Pullets and 1x Silkie/Polish-X who were all hatched and brought up together with the Araucana. All are getting close to a year old. Maybe approximately 10 months old. All the Silkies have been laying for quite a while now even though it's Winter here in South Australia. Freaky has only started laying a fortnight ago. Her first two were olive coloured eggs and the rest blue/green eggs every 2nd day consistently. Even before she started to lay, Freaky loved to be cuddled though she hated being picked up. Now, that appears to be changing since she started laying as she doesn't seem to mind being picked up as she did before.
Anyway, there are definitely no Roosters amongst this lot. Most have already gone through their broody stages except for the X (probably never will, being part Polish), and even fostered some Polish chicks with no problems. The Ace Pullet, "Crystal", a White Frizzled Silkie, has been broody at least four times already during the past 10 mths or more. She's not a very good example of Frizzled Silkie as her feathers don't stand up as much as they should but Frizzle nevertheless. Anyway, because Freaky was complaining about something, I swung around just in time to catch Crystal, out of the corner of my eye, attacking Freaky rather aggressively from above as she was pecking her on Freaky's neck or head and jumped off her. I presumed she had done it that way because Freaky is a 1/3rd larger than she is. Freaky, though the largest, is at the bottom of the pecking order. So, I turned to tell Crystal off and wondered why she had become suddenly so aggressive as I hadn't seen her do that before and, also, what poor Freaky could have done to cause her to react that way? I put it down to Crystal being in a bad mood i.e. a moody broody! Crystal had been trying to hoard any eggs she could in the nesting area. I hadn't been helping as I had been collecting them, of course! When I collect the eggs from a broody hen or pullet, they fluff up and grumble out loud but never peck me.
It wasn't until this morning, after breaking some eggs open for breakfast, I stared in disbelief that one of Freaky's eggs had a ring around the blastodisc! What the .... Hen's feathers!.... How's that possible?! Then, I remembered seeing Crystal on top of Freaky the day before and realised that she had been holding on to her crest feathers and may not have been attacking her at all!! But she was definitely mounting her! Good grief! A confused Pullet? Or a Hermaphrodite? Or am I seeing things in this yolk?! The other eggs are from my Wyandotte and Australorp Hens. I'm pretty darn sure that it came from a blue egg! Though, just thought, I have been putting my Splash Australorp, "Happy", to a Splash Blue Cockeral, but thus far, she has been thwarting his advances as she is much older than he is. Nup! The two darker ones were from the blue eggs as I was thinking how much darker the yolks were.
See! The one at the top has a circle around it! Doesn't that mean it's fertile or does it have to be stronger than that?
"Freaky" with her OCD about pecking any visible screw heads that are visible in any wooden item! Definitely a screw loose this one! Lol! Yeah! Corny, I know!!
Two broody Silkie Pullet: "Dos" (One of my two Greys) and "Crystal", the Ace Pullet.
Let me know what you think, guys!
Cluckin' and Chucklin' Away!
ChickyChooky
I have a Salmon Faverolle Pullet called "Freaky" because she freaks out at the slightest strange or sudden noise. She will fly around the coop as if being chased. The others are nearly full grown Silkie pullets who were brought up with her from last season. They might be momentarily startled when she sounds off and goes beserk (she is getting better though, I've noticed) and usually they just give her a peck as she flies past as if to say, "Oh! Shut up!" Lol!
In this run, I have 7 x Silkie Pullets and 1x Silkie/Polish-X who were all hatched and brought up together with the Araucana. All are getting close to a year old. Maybe approximately 10 months old. All the Silkies have been laying for quite a while now even though it's Winter here in South Australia. Freaky has only started laying a fortnight ago. Her first two were olive coloured eggs and the rest blue/green eggs every 2nd day consistently. Even before she started to lay, Freaky loved to be cuddled though she hated being picked up. Now, that appears to be changing since she started laying as she doesn't seem to mind being picked up as she did before.
Anyway, there are definitely no Roosters amongst this lot. Most have already gone through their broody stages except for the X (probably never will, being part Polish), and even fostered some Polish chicks with no problems. The Ace Pullet, "Crystal", a White Frizzled Silkie, has been broody at least four times already during the past 10 mths or more. She's not a very good example of Frizzled Silkie as her feathers don't stand up as much as they should but Frizzle nevertheless. Anyway, because Freaky was complaining about something, I swung around just in time to catch Crystal, out of the corner of my eye, attacking Freaky rather aggressively from above as she was pecking her on Freaky's neck or head and jumped off her. I presumed she had done it that way because Freaky is a 1/3rd larger than she is. Freaky, though the largest, is at the bottom of the pecking order. So, I turned to tell Crystal off and wondered why she had become suddenly so aggressive as I hadn't seen her do that before and, also, what poor Freaky could have done to cause her to react that way? I put it down to Crystal being in a bad mood i.e. a moody broody! Crystal had been trying to hoard any eggs she could in the nesting area. I hadn't been helping as I had been collecting them, of course! When I collect the eggs from a broody hen or pullet, they fluff up and grumble out loud but never peck me.
It wasn't until this morning, after breaking some eggs open for breakfast, I stared in disbelief that one of Freaky's eggs had a ring around the blastodisc! What the .... Hen's feathers!.... How's that possible?! Then, I remembered seeing Crystal on top of Freaky the day before and realised that she had been holding on to her crest feathers and may not have been attacking her at all!! But she was definitely mounting her! Good grief! A confused Pullet? Or a Hermaphrodite? Or am I seeing things in this yolk?! The other eggs are from my Wyandotte and Australorp Hens. I'm pretty darn sure that it came from a blue egg! Though, just thought, I have been putting my Splash Australorp, "Happy", to a Splash Blue Cockeral, but thus far, she has been thwarting his advances as she is much older than he is. Nup! The two darker ones were from the blue eggs as I was thinking how much darker the yolks were.
Let me know what you think, guys!
Cluckin' and Chucklin' Away!
ChickyChooky
