Ever since stumbling upon this site, I've become increasingly fascinated with the idea of show chickens, especially after remembering talks with a friend in school whom won ribbons for some of her beauties in the local county fair. So, I've been doing some browsing to see what sort of chicken would make a good show bird. Admittedly, I've only been picking out chickens for looks so far, but I digress.
I was checking a site that the forum ran an add for, called 'My Pet Chicken', and happened upon a picture of a beautiful bird with long, flowing tail feathers and an excellent color that appealed to the artist in me.
It's called a Golden Phoenix chicken, and actually comes from Japan, a place where I've studied the mythology of heavily, so it seems like a perfect choice for me in the future.
The thing is, however, I'm concerned about special needs for its lovely tail feathers, and weather it would be much of a hassle for a new comer to chicken showing. I've also planned to only keep one show bird, and simply have a for fun flock in the future, because, well, fun is the key word there. 8D So, my plans are to keep the Phoenix indoors, whilst he free ranges in they day in a hopefully secure back yard or something.
Are there any draw backs to letting him range with a flock during the day, and having him come inside during the evening? I know I'd need a chicken diaper, but do you think that would interfere with tail growth?
Also, I was thinking of naming my future-bird-to-be Yuki, in order to keep with his Japanese heritage. If I'm going to become obsessive once again, then dangit, I'm going to be obsessive in eccentric style!
P.S. Is there anyway to teach him how to sit on my shoulder? I once had a Rhode Island Red on my cousin's property that would do that with out me teaching him for some reason. It was kinda cool. 83
I was checking a site that the forum ran an add for, called 'My Pet Chicken', and happened upon a picture of a beautiful bird with long, flowing tail feathers and an excellent color that appealed to the artist in me.
It's called a Golden Phoenix chicken, and actually comes from Japan, a place where I've studied the mythology of heavily, so it seems like a perfect choice for me in the future.
The thing is, however, I'm concerned about special needs for its lovely tail feathers, and weather it would be much of a hassle for a new comer to chicken showing. I've also planned to only keep one show bird, and simply have a for fun flock in the future, because, well, fun is the key word there. 8D So, my plans are to keep the Phoenix indoors, whilst he free ranges in they day in a hopefully secure back yard or something.
Are there any draw backs to letting him range with a flock during the day, and having him come inside during the evening? I know I'd need a chicken diaper, but do you think that would interfere with tail growth?
Also, I was thinking of naming my future-bird-to-be Yuki, in order to keep with his Japanese heritage. If I'm going to become obsessive once again, then dangit, I'm going to be obsessive in eccentric style!
P.S. Is there anyway to teach him how to sit on my shoulder? I once had a Rhode Island Red on my cousin's property that would do that with out me teaching him for some reason. It was kinda cool. 83
; Maybe I should just build a run for my chickens, then? This would actualy help with the need of high roosts then too, I guess. 
