Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[Lacy Blues]

Tara, I'm wondering, with the gypsy faces and the lack of dots. Some of them look like they might have lacing in their genes. I wonder if somewhere in their past, someone crossed in golden sebrights? I could be wrong but that's the way they look to me.

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara, I'm wondering, with the gypsy faces and the lack of dots. Some of them look like they might have lacing in their genes. I wonder if somewhere in their past, someone crossed in golden sebrights? I could be wrong but that's the way they look to me.

Yes, Sebrights do have the gypsy faces...as do Silkies with dark mulberry in their faces.

Lacing is a given in MDF pattern as [eb Co (Pg - Ml)] are all components in MDF's.

Even just Pg (pattern gene) as in bad pencilling shows its presence. I have worked alot with Pg in the Wyandottes and the Chanteclers. Even with one dose of Pg, you tend to SEE it.

April 2011 - Wyandotte Bantam females (one gold, one silver based; both have Pg in a single dose)​

This as closed flock of Booteds since 2000 and it being 14 years later...I suspect mottling is not pure as I do occasionally have what should be MDF Booteds as this pair is now expressing without the mottling.

What I tend to see in these Booteds with dark faces and no mottling is more a "Quail" like pattern (Quail is also based on either eb or e"+" in the e-series like these Booteds are then with s"+" gold, Co Columbian, Ml melanotic, Db Darkbrown, and some with rb recessive blacks (there is alot of black in some of these Booteds--even the Whites could be pretty black as we are told the BEST Whites are made on black birds--red pigments tend to leak in white...black is covered over beautifully with White so less leaks of colour!).

The no "MO" pair on left / three mottled MDF's on right...note the BLACK on back of their heads​

The Quail (AKA duckwing partridge or melanised Columbian Gold Bankiva) colourations reminds me of d'Uccle's...there is no doubt that in the past, Booteds and d'Uccles have been thoroughly mixed together...Booteds MADE d'Uccles so it is a simple DUH there.

ABA SOP page 49, Booted Bantams:

To louse this up further and muddy the waters even more <clear as mud, eh?>...Belgian Bearded d'Uccle Bantams...

ABA SOP page 46:

Makes me laugh because in Holland, the Dutch considered the Booted Bantams as separate BREEDS in the different colour VARIETIES. One NEVER crossed a White variety of the Booted with a MDF variety of the Booted...it was not done and I can see why...the shanks/toe colour asked for is different...Whites are white and MDFs are slaty blue whilst the faces are ALL bright red.

I can attest that Sebrights are NOT Marek's Disease resistant at all...our Booteds most certainly are so that is a discount that Sebright could be in their backgrounds...as is the debunk to Silkies being in these Booteds (another breed with dark skin-deep mulberry!) as Silkies have very little tolerance for MD too.

No, the slaty blue skin is "suppose" to be in the shanks and toes of the MDF variety of the Booted Bantams...varieties of Booted in Blue, Black, Golden Neck, Gray, Mottled, Porcelain, and Self Blue all have variations on the slate blue shanks/toes from light slate to bluish black even. Buff and White don't have the dark legs and toes.

I have the white skin in the White feathered variety and the dark skin in the MDF feathered variety but to have the colours *POP* as per Dr. Carefoot's instructions on getting a bright top coat and Robin's reddish breast and my mentor in Booteds (old time stringman Gordon Ridler said you wanted the occasional "White sport" to know you had all the right stuff in the MDFs)...you need one dose of recessive white in the MDF's.

So my objective has been to get dark skinned White feathered Whites for crossing into my dark skinned MDF feathered Booteds so the skin colour does not change from slaty blue for the MDF's. What seems to have come up though is this gypsy face (the dark face, some only just the beak and a bit of the face). So I got too much of a good thing now.

Now one moment and pause...so...how does one know if mottling is in a White Feathered chicken...think on that...you don't by l00king at the white feathered bird...because well uh, white is the lack of pigment...no pigment...so a white tip (mottling) will not show up on white feather. Basically one is screwed but you can SEE that it is likely that any of these White females with the DARK eyes do not have mottling since mottling is suppose to suppress dark iris colour...ah ha...look to the eye colour for assistance.

These girls probably do not have mottling in them! Dark eyes!

Dark skinned hens from 2011

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Even their vents are dark...hee hee...dangerous as I could have -- could have gotten POOPED on doing this!

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But the feets are not black like on one of the roos I had way back...this is a proper blue shank for the MDF variety...

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There are graphic photos of a postmordem I did that shows black throughout the body (organs, heart, skin, flesh, bones, etc.) of the White feathered dark skinned birds...we are talking Silkie black which is way more than skin deep. Posted on The Coop but I won't put photos like that up here on BYC...yuck!

So how do I keep the blue slate shanks, drop the dark face, keep the one dose of recessive white for a popping nice MDF feathered variety .... yeh.

It is like pin the tail on the donkey...or cut the head off one bird and glue on another better coloured one... yeh.

Sumantras and Belgian Ardenner fowl all have gypsy face as does the Sebright...but Sigrid says this is not Fm (Fibermelanosis) as found in Silkies and the Ayam Cermanis...possibly E (extended black) or ER (birchen) in the e-series are to blame but I know by the chick down of the Booteds in the MDF's they are either eb or e"+".

Day old Booted MDFs from yesterday...left is eb and right is e"+"​

Sunlight can darken up chicken faces too.

Punnett did a study crossing Hamburgs and Sebrights (1923) to show that gypsy face was dominant with relations to id"+".

A new e-series was suggested by Dr. Crawford and this may tell one more about gypsy face and its inheritance.

For now, I continue to l00k at the dark and light faces, with or without dark feet or light feet in combination with MDF and White feathering (or Quail if it lacks the mottling!).

Just more encouraging to have more Booteds...LOL

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Edit to add pic of e"+" and eb to compare chick down.

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Kinda a sadness this Labour Day weekend...time to get ready to say good bye to summer and hello for winter. Cannot avoid it if you do not want to move with the seasons and well...if we work hard enough, it is rather nice to say GOOD BYE to the summer obligations and make the change over to winter ones...sorta.

Veg garden Aug 31 & Sept 1, 2014​

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Had to cover my garden again last night--frost warning with temp suppose to go to +1C.

I did laugh because I am using more and more poly feed bags each time--so obvious the plants are on the grow still--exponentially! I had brought a bundle up of more poly feed sacks as Rick and I are discussing how I may make a few nice garden covers over making all that extra work of laying out sacks upon sacks versus one long set of blankets to roll off and roll up when finished. We use to have, oh 30 years ago...a long set of fuzzy white garden covers which could also be used to protect certain crops like carrots from flies and cabbages from moth infestations and such but they have long since disintegrated. So I am thinking of making up some garden covers with poly feed bags and had brought some to see how to go about it. Figure if I roll out the baggies instead of placing them individually...should work better than what I am doing now with old sheets and some bags I have split in half. More efficient time wise and energy...never enough of either it seems!

Rick put up a sheet of tenplast over the back side of his porch tomatoes...

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He is getting quite the crop of cherry tomatoes and I FINALLY got a shot of one ripening up...before he ate it!

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Went for a loser lap in the city on Friday evening.

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Checked the mail before going and thought..."Yeh, I guess the nasturtiums I planted as seeds did manage to flower up a bit."

Here is a View from the Hood...Friday.

Big skies...​

LOVE grain elevators...the older ones...iconic sights on the horizon


And trains...Rick's childhood home was right beside the tracks...
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You quickly learn to stop mid sentence and wait for the train to pass...everything stops & waits on the trains!

Laughed at this one...obviously a "country" wedding...what people don't figure out to do with round bales eh?

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There is even a fence post as a smoke in the groom's mouth...Red Necker Alberta, eh?

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On Saturday, we planned for a day home working at the ranch...always lots of projects on the go to keep us amused and tired.

Rick had let the yard chickens out and one of the White Booted Bantams had gotten turned wrong and ended up going for a jaunt outside the bird yard. Rick mentioned it to me, the Fix & I decided to go for a walk about and help this lil' Roo a Do find his way back to be with his buddies in the bird yard.

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At first Fixins thought we were here to check out where the neighbour's cat had been last night than to pay any attention to the walking yard ornamental chickens.

Then she came on board and realized..."bird in wrong place, must escort bird bird back home..."

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I am glad she listens to me to "down" so we did get him where I could grab him and gently tossed him over the fence back into his territory.

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I keep saying if she ever figures out roast chicken or turkey are those feathered things in the bird yards...there will be this massacre and carnage...so far, so good!

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So as with all things Alberta...the weather has to be extreme. Why have a little rain when you can drown things...why not have storms to wake one up to the power of Nature...she sure can flex her muscles and make work projects where there were none!

Here are the clouds that brought a deluge of rain and pea sized hail. Ominous skies that delivered on their promise...

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We know enough to be finished any outside things, wrap things up and put the tools away; go under cover and wait for it to pass. What is that joke...don't like the weather...wait ten minutes? Well this one lasted longer than ten minutes but at least you can laugh at it since you are not going to avoid it happening.

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So I grabbed up the pine board and began working on the stencilling lay out of the letters and chooks, flowers and such for the sign that will hang up in my Hatching House's porch.

Moo Shard Fowl Gardens
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As if the deluge and hail was not enough...we got hit by lightening on Saturday, too. Later on after the one storm, Rick and Fix were in the Man Porch and I had just walked in when there was this big flash followed by an instant roar of thunder. Funny as it reminds me of the first day we moved in here...over 16 years back and in July, not August. Same conditions, not alot of clouds actually over us but that big BOOM and then the fallouts of getting hit.

Back then when we moved in, we lost the TV, VCR (kid had it plugged in to entertain him while Ma and Pa moved heavy items about) and Sears (nfi) happily replaced them even though, basically it was an act of God. Rick had a good laugh bugging me about how the place could have been paid for if I had taken the strike instead of the TV antenna...what a bugger, eh!

This time since we only got nine years left on the mortgage, not such a win/win gain for him if I got hit now...bwa ha ha. Fixins was spooked but I expect dogs are much more in tune with lightening strikes. I don't fear them and probably good since we get so many here...best to be oblivious wandering around with the tinfoil hat Rick has made me.

My hat sorta looks like this one...​

Lost two transformers and a security camera this round...about a hundred dollars worth given out to the lightening funds.

New one installed to replace the zapped one - like Rick needs more work added to his roster!
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Not much to do about it as we have always always had lots of lightening strikes here. Guess it is a cost we have to cover living where we do.

Rick got the back walls framed for his parking building.

Inspector Fixins on the job!​

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Lots of help from his chore dog Fixins...

"Throw the toy...the toy...don't work on framing...throw the TOY!"​

Not sure how many dog toy tosses it took but here is the pile of walls...

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First thing I did yesterday morn was harvest a little grab bag of veg for my Boy.

Veg of carrot & beet thinnings, potatoes and a head of Romaine - August 31, 2014​

My son had invited us over for crackers and cheese and I thought he would enjoy a little fresh foods from our home to his.

I believe he liked this veg very much because he had set out his Sunday dinner which included two smaller potatoes for baking...he grabbed those potatoes he had and put them away; replaced them with the fresh dug potatoes and scooped up the finger sized carrots for cooking. Don't think the Romaine even settled to room temperature as he had that head in the fridge cooling up for a salad later. LOL

So nice to bring him some stuff from the garden and see it so coveted; that's my boy--raised up right and good!

Turps is going on 16 years...she is spending her retirement as a very happy cat! ​

So we feasted on his hospitality and headed back for our own place. Evening chores await and then there is always that dog time that has to be attended to...can go out but have to make sure to take care of all those dependents...dependent on us critters.

As I mentioned previously, l had to cover up the garden yesterday evening because there was risk of frost last night. Never away for more than a bit of a day trip...gotta hurry back home to Pear-A-Dice and keep them home fires burning for old dogs like Fixins.

Ain't that right old girl? Gotta keep them old bods toasty warmed so they can still "chase the dog toys!"

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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Thought I had better post this one set of a View from the Hood from last last weekend...time flies when you are having a blast, eh?

Trip to Calgary Alberta to pick up a set of cupboards to recycle as storage for one of Rick's c-cans...his parking building.

So the trip ... August 23... on a Saturday!

Red Chev, ready to rock and roll down the highway...


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Rolling terrain, blue skies, poofy clouds...let them views from the windshield roll on!

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Know we are getting close to the city when you come upon these quaint buildings...sorta still countrified but not. Gobbled up as the city spreads out and people buy them up as investments for the future urban sprawl encroaches.

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This "use" to be a BQ ranch type restaurant that served city folks but now fills in as a "farmer's market" to sell produce to the city dwellers.


Rick has known this couple forever...grew up with the husband. They like birds too but they like the "caged" kinds. Do some babysitting of birds for people on holidays too.

Kantenah


Ricki



I forget this bird's name as he is a new addition of theirs​

Corky​

One of the visiting birds they were babysitting ​

This couple has an interesting house...here is just one room. I always said I could be left to wait on them and never be UNamused looking at the decor whilst waiting.

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I do laugh at the one small sign by their front door...

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So we visit...then the cupboards are loaded up, and we happily head back for the hills. There is never any doubt...I am a country mouse...indeed I am!

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These are some of the Hoodoo formations on the outskirts of the city we pass by heading for home.

Rick and I don't mind visiting the city once in a blue moon...but there is always a huge sigh of relief when we can get on back to where we belong! Heading for the hills... I am happy there are people that thrive in the cities but I am just not one of those. Half a day away and I NEED to go home...need it like air to breathe! Gotta get gone...vamoose, get lost, run back...as a wild flower, I would wither and die in a mere week if they tried to keep me in the confines of city life. Trips like this are fabulous reaffirmation that I love my life where we reside--nothing finer!

Next day, Rick off loaded the cupboards and had them installed for storage in the one c-can the next morning...

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"Stop clicking and get toy tossing!"

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Nice bank of cupboards...nice and tidy like!​

The beasts and birds were let out for the day...a day at home sweet home!

Piper and Pearl​

Smoke and Ember


Pair of Ruddy Shel's on their pond



Fixins awaiting me putting the swans away so we can go play...DOGtime!​

Ah...home again, home again...there is no place to enjoy ones self like home and the regular ol' regiment of our routines!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Dragonfly216]

I'm three days behind on my reading and catching up on BYC, but I just had to share this! This is what I came home to toaster after three days of vacation, MY FIRST EVER FIVE EGGS! Of course they wait till I'm home to start laying! I'm such a proud chicken mama!

They're next to a white, store bought egg for color comparison, yay!

 

[vehve]

We're finally getting our cherry tomatoes to ripen too:



So much more taste than in store bought. I'm normally not a fan of (Finnish) uncooked tomatoes, but these are delicious straight from the bush.

 

[LindaB220]

Hi Tara, beautiful post as always. Wonderful pictures. I'm excited that my Swedish Flower Hen eggs are being shipped on Sept 9. This was a replacement for the scrambled Basque and Coronation Sussex from several months ago. The seller discontinued the Basque and the young cockerel Sussex is not fertile yet. I don't mind the switch at all.

I'm on day 18 of my big White Plymouth Rock eggs in the incubator. Then on Sept 22 I've got SG Dorking eggs coming in. Gonna be busy.

 

[CanuckBock]

I'm three days behind on my reading and catching up on BYC, but I just had to share this! This is what I came home to toaster after three days of vacation, MY FIRST EVER FIVE EGGS! Of course they wait till I'm home to start laying! I'm such a proud chicken mama!

They're next to a white, store bought egg for color comparison, yay!

Absolutely awesome...FIVE eggs...hmm...those girls were holding back to swamp you with eggs now were they?

What marvelous news and you will have to STOP buying those store bought eggs, eh? Congratulations and thanks for sharing...we get to RElive your excitement with you and isn't that just joyful fun!

We're finally getting our cherry tomatoes to ripen too:

So much more taste than in store bought. I'm normally not a fan of (Finnish) uncooked tomatoes, but these are delicious straight from the bush.

I agree that there is no way to compare the freshness and the TASTE of home grown produce! Now if I could only convince Rick his tomatoes are terrible...taste bad...he needs to share them...share like I share my veg garden bounty. Wishful thinking on my part...

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Boiled up beans and beets last night after a salad of spinach, green onion, carrots and romaine from the garden.

Hi Tara, beautiful post as always. Wonderful pictures. I'm excited that my Swedish Flower Hen eggs are being shipped on Sept 9. This was a replacement for the scrambled Basque and Coronation Sussex from several months ago. The seller discontinued the Basque and the young cockerel Sussex is not fertile yet. I don't mind the switch at all.

I'm on day 18 of my big White Plymouth Rock eggs in the incubator. Then on Sept 22 I've got SG Dorking eggs coming in. Gonna be busy.

Swedish Flower hens...they have those dotty dots too like my MDF's do! I do so love dotty dot chickens!

Dotty dot dots...this is that half half pigmented boy last evening...he is SO desensitized to handling!​

Plymouth Rocks and Dorkings too...yes indeed you will be busy. Bet you hardly even notice summer slipping away with all those distractions going on. Sounds like an excellent plan!

Fingees & toesies crossed for big productive hatches for you!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Dragonfly216]

Thank you, Tara! I'd hoped you wouldn't mind if i hijacked your thread, but I knew you weren't on the OFH much anymore and I wanted to show especially! Well and Wisher too since the chicks came from her! Yeah it was funny, I bet my eyes popped out of my head when I saw all of them! No more store bought eggs for me, you betcha! ;-) I had one today that weighed 51g! I thought that was pretty big for an EE!

 

[ronott1]

Thank you, Tara! I'd hoped you wouldn't mind if i hijacked your thread, but I knew you weren't on the OFH much anymore and I wanted to show especially! Well and Wisher too since the chicks came from her! Yeah it was funny, I bet my eyes popped out of my head when I saw all of them! No more store bought eggs for me, you betcha! ;-) I had one today that weighed 51g! I thought that was pretty big for an EE!

EEs? they will lay much bigger eggs. I have one that lays in the 70g range.