Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

62 sunny 95% humidity feels like 59 rain 8%.

Have a great day!

 

[RoyalChick]

What a beautiful pose :

She certainly is a lucky lady with you as caretaker!

And don’t be surprised she will lay her first egg at the end of winter or very early spring.
I had many pullets laying their first eggs in February.

Thank you. We will see!

 

[Perris]

I am not good with breeds, so take everything I say with a big pinch of salt! The chap I got her from breeds Welbars and she is one of those. As far as I can tell they are just like Welsummers. He said she will likely lay a spotted egg.

You can just about see the barring on her feathers, so that makes sense. It seems appropriate to catch up with my taxes with a photo of my silver duckwing welsummer Janeka, who lays a terracotta brown, sometimes speckled, egg.

 

[RoyalChick]

You can just about see the barring on her feathers, so that makes sense. It seems appropriate to catch up with my taxes with a photo of my silver duckwing welsummer Janeka, who lays a terracotta brown, sometimes speckled, egg. View attachment 3361349

Lovely picture - a pretty hen, and I always love English bluebells.
They do look very similar - but Bernie has what I believe is barring on the feathers of her petticoats which I don’t see in Janeka.
Terracotta brown. Interesting. I am curious to see what Bernie lays if she is ever inclined to do so.

 

[Perris]

English bluebells

ahem . Welsh bluebells!

Bernie has what I believe is barring on the feathers of her petticoats which I don’t see in Janeka

yes, that's what I was referring to; but my bad, sloppy expression; I should have said I can just about see the barring on Bernadette's feathers. Do you know how much the Plymouth Rock typically dilutes the welsummer brown egg colour?

 

[RoyalChick]

ahem . Welsh bluebells!

yes, that's what I was referring to; but my bad, sloppy expression; I should have said I can just about see the barring on Bernadette's feathers. Do you know how much the Plymouth Rock typically dilutes the welsummer brown egg colour?

I am laughing for many reasons .... I hesitated in typing the 'English' part of English Bluebells because I just think of them as Bluebells and qualify all the others - Spanish, Virginia etc. The English/Welsh thing didn't crossed my mind.
I should just have been accurate Hyacinthoides non-scripta
My bad.


I have absolutely no idea on the breeding and genetics thing - I was actually just confirming that what I saw - striped feathers - was what was indeed called barring!
All I know is that the Welbar is recognized as a breed by the Poultry Club of Great Britain and is considered rare or forgotten, but is not recognized as a breed distinct from Welsumers in the US. It is what I would call a distinct breed and not a hybrid meaning Welbars beget Welbars.
It just happens that there is a chap driving distance from me who is a Welbar enthusiast and breeder - so I got her from him as a young chick.
I just Googled and found a description of their eggs as Teracotta - the breeder just said 'dark brown and spotted'.
Bernadette just said 'you can wait and see when I am ready'!

 

[Shadrach]

how are the remainder reacting to the sudden departure of some of their number intermittently? They must be wondering what's occurring.

I don't see enough of them to know unfortunately.
Overall the changes in group composition have been so frequent none that I've seen have formed what is easiest described as strong emotional bonds like the tribes in Catalonia.
Henry and Matilda were the only known family breed.
It's possible the Legbars were siblings. They've been together six years or so.
Mostly they seperate by look and breed. The Legbars would group together showing a stronger bond with Henry and Matilda than they did with the Red Sex Links.
When there were three Golden Comets it wasn't unusual to find them together.
There have also been ten deaths in the last 16 months and these were spread out over the months.
Henry has seen a lot of changes in his life. We worked out from old pictures that Henry is probably eight years old. His favourite human died. It seems C's desceased partner was good with chickens. I've been next most acceptable to Henry. Henry is not fond of C.

 

[Shadrach]

Congratulations (I think). Definitely a milestone and a reason to say thank you to the hens who contributed!

Edited to add a picture of Bernadette who is now just over nine months old and has shown no interest in laying an egg. I am clearly not going for high production! Bernie - can you take a hint and learn from Perris’s fine chickens?

View attachment 3361044

Don't need to lay eggs when one looks like that.

 

[Marie2020]

Getting stronger every day!

Hope Ribh, turns up again real soon!

So do I, I'm concerned about her health and how her beautiful chickens are doing

 

[RoyalChick]

Don't need to lay eggs when one looks like that.

Yes, she has shared that point of view with me several times!