Orange Mottled Chicken!

[Parkmule]

very close, and I would like to do that. My I do not think my friend is giving up any of her Spitz for my random breeding kicks.
My Silver Spangled Roo died over the summer, so my Buff Laced Polish moved in on the Hamburg flock.
I have a new roo, but I can not let the Buff Laced Polish out with that flock, he will so steal all the hens back.

 

[mainechicklet]

Hi, I've just rescued seven chickens (four of them from a deplorable situation involving multiple animals including over 60 chickens) and one is obviously a classic speckled Sussex. Another (see photos) has the same pattern but I can't find any photos of speckled Sussex hens of her color. What do you think? These are my first-ever chickens so I'm spending a lot of time reading and educating myself on the best way to keep them healthy and happy. If not a speckled Sussex, perhaps a Swedish flower hen? Thanks.

 

[draye]

Hi, I've just rescued seven chickens (four of them from a deplorable situation involving multiple animals including over 60 chickens) and one is obviously a classic speckled Sussex. Another (see photos) has the same pattern but I can't find any photos of speckled Sussex hens of her color. What do you think? These are my first-ever chickens so I'm spending a lot of time reading and educating myself on the best way to keep them healthy and happy. If not a speckled Sussex, perhaps a Swedish flower hen? Thanks.

Could be a part Speckled Sussex. Very pretty hens, looks like she'd fit into the Aloha Chicken project going on.
Check out this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/600281/the-aloha-chicken-project/1640.

 

[Coopacabana]

Hi, I've just rescued seven chickens (four of them from a deplorable situation involving multiple animals including over 60 chickens) and one is obviously a classic speckled Sussex. Another (see photos) has the same pattern but I can't find any photos of speckled Sussex hens of her color. What do you think? These are my first-ever chickens so I'm spending a lot of time reading and educating myself on the best way to keep them healthy and happy. If not a speckled Sussex, perhaps a Swedish flower hen? Thanks.

Speckled Sussex coloring comes from the mahogany gene which makes their feathers a dark red color on top of the mille fleur pattern. Your hen has the gold-colored feathers like a mille fluer d'Uccle. I think she may have Speckled Sussex in her, I would call her a mille fleur barnyard hen. She is very beautiful & unusual looking! So glad she's in a nice home now!

 

[mainechicklet]

Thank you. Here's a photo of the other speckled hen that came with her.


The other two are an ameraucana and French blue maran, from what I can tell.

 

[knjinnm]

Hi, I've just rescued seven chickens (four of them from a deplorable situation involving multiple animals including over 60 chickens) and one is obviously a classic speckled Sussex. Another (see photos) has the same pattern but I can't find any photos of speckled Sussex hens of her color. What do you think? These are my first-ever chickens so I'm spending a lot of time reading and educating myself on the best way to keep them healthy and happy. If not a speckled Sussex, perhaps a Swedish flower hen? Thanks.

Great save on the hens!
jac

 

[Coopacabana]

Thank you. Here's a photo of the other speckled hen that came with her.


The other two are an ameraucana and French blue maran, from what I can tell.

She has the dark color of a Speckled Sussex, looks just like mine! She's adorable!

 

[mainechicklet]

They're having a rough time at the moment. They joined my original (from July) three last week and the latter are being hateful. They won't let them in the coop until dark or use the dust bath or eat without chasing them away. It's cold up here and my three sit contentedly in the coop while the other four huddle under the coop. I can't turn on the heating bulb at night because they won't settle down with the infrared light on. I'm up at the crack of dawn to let them out. Mind you I have a brand new 6x8 coop which should be big enough for 7 hens but my first three (who don't really have an obvious pecking order) want it all to themselves. Jeepers.

 

[alohachickens]

They're having a rough time at the moment. They joined my original (from July) three last week and the latter are being hateful. They won't let them in the coop until dark or use the dust bath or eat without chasing them away. It's cold up here and my three sit contentedly in the coop while the other four huddle under the coop. I can't turn on the heating bulb at night because they won't settle down with the infrared light on. I'm up at the crack of dawn to let them out. Mind you I have a brand new 6x8 coop which should be big enough for 7 hens but my first three (who don't really have an obvious pecking order) want it all to themselves. Jeepers.

Yes, that golden hen would be absolutely perfect for the Aloha program. The project started when many years ago, I found a oddly marked hen, very similar to yours.

She was small but so colorful, and I had never seen anything like her before. I decided I wanted more like her, but I wanted to get them bigger. Five years have past and I have successfully managed to reproduce the color many times over, but I am still trying to overcome the size issue, LOL!

If you can work things out, I would love for you to join the project with this hen. I have now hatched (literally) hundreds of descendants from my original "oddball" hen. I'd offer to pay to ship her across country to me, but the Post Office will not allow shipments unless it is above 38 degrees or under 85 degrees, for every step of the way. Phoenix does fit those requirements right now, but I'm positive that Maine does not!

Some things that might help the situation in the coop would be to add dividers or obstacles in there. Cardboard boxes, extra plywood. For "bully chickens" the phrase out of sight, out of mind really seems to apply. I now lay plywood boards against the coop wall, making little "hiding tunnels" so when I introduce new chicks, they can duck in there and hide, but if a bossy hen follows them in there, they are not cornered. They just leave the tunnel and move into the next. I also put out multiple food and water dishes in different corners of the coop for a few days when new chickens are added.

I mostly have had issues with bullying of younger roos by dominant roosters. (I do house multiple roosters together in a large coop.) They need places to duck and hide during the day. Then, at night, I would go out and set the new chickens on the perches, beside the existing hens, after the older hens were asleep. Soon as they all wake up, they send the new arrivals into hiding again, but eventually after doing this for a period of time, they figure things out. The act of waking up next to each other each morning seems to help.

Other options would be to cage or block the original three, ban them from the coop for a couple of days, letting the new arrivals establish themselves. Generally, the existing chickens DO get territorial. Anything you can do to take the existing bossy girls down a notch for a few days might help.

I have even gone so far as to cage the new arrival on the coop floor with her own food and water, in plain sight. Everyone can see her there, in the middle of the room, eating and drinking as much as she wants in plain sight, and yet she has her "magical force field" around her. Surprisingly, after a couple of days like this, they tend to leave the newbie alone! It's worked like a charm for me.

 

[alohachickens]

This is my original "oddball" hen. I loved her white with splashes of color, and wanted more like her, but bigger. Like "Mainechicklet" she was a lucky find of unknown heritage. No idea how she came to be. Bred her to a Speckled Sussex / Exchequer Leghorn cross, to begin my line.

I hatched out a few chicks that looked NOTHING like her. But, when I crossed the son and daughters together, it began to basically make "clones" of the original hen.

Obviously, that kind of close breeding is not going to work for the long term. The tricky part has been outcrossing to other breeds, while trying to keep the color. Since then, I have used Sussex, Exchequer Leghorn, Buff Orp, Ameraucana, New Hampshire Red, and most recently, Swedish Flower to try and improve size and type.


This is her granddaughter, who is now about 3 years old.

This is her great-great-granddaughter who is less than one year old:



And these are her great-great-great grand chicks, who are only five months of age and are almost ready to lay:







I am working on adding yellow legs and improving size. The above show the strongest family resemblance to the original hen.

But the hens below have MUCH improved size and show the direction this project is heading for the future:







The next planned cross is to use Buff Sussex with Speckled Sussex:



A breeder in Kansas is using the Exchequer Leghorn x Heritage New Hampshire which will be another new spotted Large Fowl line.

I could be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after five years of hard work . .. . though there will be many years of perfecting after that! LOL.