New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[1muttsfan]

Bash is so impossibly handsome

 

[speckledhen]

Bash is so impossibly handsome

Thanks, I sure think so. And he's about to be immortalized in oils. DH has been commissioned to paint a rooster for over a mantel of a FB friend of his. I found old photos of Suede, but he loves Bash's gorgeous colors and thinks it would be more interesting to point Bashers.

The young photos of Suede I found were these. I miss my boy, but Bash is the next best thing-such a calm, easygoing, friendly guy.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Still love Suede. My chocolate boy has frostbitten comb points already. Suede was perfection.

 

[speckledhen]

Still love Suede. My chocolate boy has frostbitten comb points already. Suede was perfection.

So many have Blue Orps because I posted so many photos of Suede, sent out hundreds of hatching eggs back then. When I hatched out Suede and Velvet, Blue Orps were fairly rare on BYC. Later, when more came along, a certain group of folks were highly critical of his faults, and he did have them, certainly. His eyes were too light, should have been dark brown, but his hens had dark brown eyes and most of the progeny did. He also carried a hidden yellow leg gene from the influx of Rock by Sandhill Preservation many generations back, plus, he also, if you look closely at his sickle feathers, has some barring. On rare occasion, a chick would have yellow legs. Suede's were slate, his hens had proper slate legs, but the gene was in his lineage.

Once, he and Meg, my RIR x Buff Orp hen produced a completely barred chick. No fence jumping by a BR rooster, no way it could have happened without bloodshed here, and it was the only Meg egg in a bunch of blue eggs. So, we were perplexed by the barred chick until we began to look at Suede more closely and saw the light blue/dark blue in his sickle feathers.

Anyway, then, on top of that, came the newest rage at that time, the "English" Orpingtons, the imports. Of course, all Orpingtons are English, but the new and, to me, Cochin-like, too fluffy Orps were not very appealing. Plus, they were too large for the standard, even larger than Suede. There was a small group on BYC who literally told me that I could not not like them, that they were perfect. Yes, they really did tell me that. I said I surely can have my preferences! I prefer the "normal" Orpingtons, all Orps are an English breed, of course, and that fluff to the ground looked Cochin-y to me. And I was pooh-poohed about that remark and more Suede-bashing. I never said he did not have flaws, not for one moment, but the attitude that I could not even have my own preference was ridiculous. I was not one of the "cool kids" then, LOL. Good grief, it was so dumb! Everyone can have their own preferences in chickens, for cripes sake! I rather like the ones that are not 100% import type still, the crosses like Ladyhawk's hen, Mary Todd, who is still a hunka-chunka hen. She probably weighs over 11 lbs even being only 1/2 import Orp.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Geez, people sure get nutty over little things. I believe BYC used to be a bit rougher a few years back. I used to do some reading back in 2008-2010, and I remember lots of disagreements, enough that I never joined back than. I remember you were a moderator, I'm still in awe that you speak to me. I thought you were the "cool kid".

 

[speckledhen]

Geez, people sure get nutty over little things. I believe BYC used to be a bit rougher a few years back. I used to do some reading back in 2008-2010, and I remember lots of disagreements, enough that I never joined back than. I remember you were a moderator, I'm still in awe that you speak to me. I thought you were the "cool kid".

I can tell you that being a moderator got me blackballed from a lot of conversations. And me just doing my duty got me attacked on YouTube when I commented on someone else's video a few years ago. Some person realized who I was and lit into me about some off-topic thing from BYC and I had to delete my comment because the troll was really messing with the poor woman's channel. How rude, right? He took exception to something that I didn't even do as a moderator, but he figured since I was a mod, I must have that opinion and must have done it.

By the way, the woman said, and I'm serious, to keep your chickens laying through winter, feed them laying mash (I think that's what she said, could have been corn, don't recall that first part) and loaf bread three times a day. Really. I had to tactfully tell her that loaf bread had nothing to do with it, and that, in fact, it in effect lowered the protein content of their overall ration. Then, BAM! Attack from left field. Good grief. Troll City.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

One thing I have learned on this site is chickens aren't a one size fits all hobby. Just because something works for me doesn't necessarily make it good or even right for others. It's one aspect of the hobby I enjoy. There's too much right fighting in the world.

There is actual fact, and than there's the rest. This site can be exhausting some days with stuff that makes me shake my head, and gives me a headache.

 

[speckledhen]

One thing I have learned on this site is chickens aren't a one size fits all hobby. Just because something works for me doesn't necessarily make it good or even right for others. It's one aspect of the hobby I enjoy. There's too much right fighting in the world.

There is actual fact, and than there's the rest. This site can be exhausting some days with stuff that makes me shake my head, and gives me a headache.

You grow a thick skin, but after 8 years as a realtor (which will turn you off the human race altogether), then 5 years as a moderator, you get tired of letting things go. Yet, you keep doing it and being tactful out of habit, even if you really don't want to, LOL.

Yeah, there is a chicken for every person. I don't like Silkies (Asian Ground Parrots, haha) or Polish, but others adore them. Others don't like Brahmas. Doesn't matter, it's not my child, it's a darn chicken! And a preference is just a preference, I don't care what someone else loves, whatever floats your boat is what you should keep. I like breeds that I didn't think I would and didn't care for ones I thought I'd love. And though I've tried a few, I generally love my BRs and now, my Brahmas, but I could go back to a mixed bag again and be fine with it, as long as one after another doesn't just drop dead from internal laying like they did when I had the hatchery girls.

 

[speckledhen]

Best little hens I ever owned and hated to lose were my Poufy Head Sisters-Kate, Tux and Olivia. Sire was a very old Cochin/Silkie cross. Mothers were McMurray BRs. Adorable, sweet, awesome little hens. Kate had some crop issue, Tux had a massive stroke and Olivia was one I tried to save from internal laying, one I drained over and over again. Olivia was a great broody, too. I always said I'd take an entire flock of these three sisters.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That was a cool looking hen. Maybe you would have better luck with a different hatchery. Most of mine die from different things, never any internal laying, or maybe you just had a run of bad luck.

Chickens are a never ending interest due to how you can get hung up on a breed, than the next few years another catches your eye. I never say never with chickens. I used to dislike EE, now I'm becoming obsessed with them. Variety is the spice of life.

I don't have a thick skin, I have a crusty exterior that cracks easily. If some of these people on the internet truly knew how their off handed comments make some feel I would hope most wouldn't do it.

I'm old school, I was taught to always be respectful no matter what I thought or felt, oddly enough from parents that would degrade me without knowing the damage. I still try to be respectful, but at times I get so mad with some interactions. I tend to virtually walk away.

I am always grateful for folks like you that always kind to me and others.