Manx Rumpies?

[SilverPhoenix]

My manx rumpie mix girls came from a man who got some pure manx rumpie stock from a breeder who had imported them from the Middle East. I wish I had known just how rare they were, the man I got my two girls from had to find homes for his chickens because he was ill and could no longer care for all of his birds. He had several pure manx rumpies and they were quite cool birds but at the time I didn't know they were RARE rare and not just normal rare.

I find it interesting that both of my hens were mixed with barred rock, but they do consistently lay green eggs! It's odd but awesome.

I'm not a big egg person (as in, I don't really care how much my birds lay as they are kept for pet and ornamental purposes) but I'll tell you, those two manx rumpie mix girls have two green eggs in the coop for me, one light green and one olive-colored, very close to every single day.

Here is Aspen, who is rumpless:

And Alpine, who is not rumpless:

 

[cashdl]

Interesting, all things I have read state that the manx rumpie is a straight combed tan egg layer. The araucana however is a pea combed blue or green egg layer.

Your manx rumpies look Identical to my barred araucana hens. My barred araucana hens are from a breeding pen with a splash araucana hen and a dominant white splash araucana roo.

Lanae

 

[SilverPhoenix]

The manx rumpie, from what I heard, is a fairly variable bird.

They have a much more game-like appearance, especially in the head, than araucanas, though those pictures may not show it because the pictures are when the girls were younger. (Except the first one of Aspen, I think that's more recent.) Manx rumpies are also allegedly extremely hardy and can live off of little food and water, and handle hot temperatures. I think they also might be slightly heavier-boned than araucanas, but that also might be because of the introduction of barred rock in the case of my girls. Unfortunately, I can't remember a whole lot about the pure manx rumpies I saw--they were rumpless and different colors, and I think the man had only roos. I wish I could say I remembered more, this was a few years ago. They almost looked like if you took araucanas and bred them to some sort of game fowl.

 

[klf73]

look like my araucana

 

[cashdl]

I wasn't doubting that your birds were manx rumpies. I was having a HMMM moment while typing. Feathersite has an interesting article by the late Dr. Albert Mcgraw about manx rumpies. He mentions similarities in todays modern araucana and manx rumpies. I was commenting on how similar your birds are to araucanas today.

Here is a few pics of mine.

Notice the girls in the back. Those are last years babies of mine and I know exactly who the parents are.

This is one of my favorite pullets

A lovely silver hen I bought from a breeder

A couple of this years babies

Lanae

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Oh, hey, some of those pullets do look similar! I don't doubt they might have genetic ties to one another. They're both very cool breeds.

I think it's rather fascinating that rumpless breeds even exist in the first place! It seems like such an odd thing to breed for, but it's interesting.