Some help with ID

[MissAllison]

Hi Everyone,

I work at a small nature/ag education center and we have a small flock of 12 chickens. We're talking a lot with some of our students (field trips! ) about selective breeding and so I thought it might be helpful to know what breeds our chickens are. Unfortunately, all of the people who originally purchased the chickens have left-- so I have no clue. I've been doing some research and I have a few ideas, but I'd love any other thoughts on my chickies. I imagine many of them are also mutts; but as I said I was not here when they were hatched/purchased, so I have -no- idea.

Thanks in advance for any help! I included their names to help in IDing.


This is Karen-- there are two similar chickens, one of which has some feathers on top of her head and a smaller comb. She lays smallish brown eggs



This is Teapot.


This is Belle. We have three chickens other chickens like her. She has some pheasant-like feathers nestled in her neck and back, but just a few.


This is Barbara-- in this pic you can see those pheasant feathers. My co-worker thinks these brown ladies have been laying blue eggs but I have not actually seen it happen so it's not confirmed. We have had "Easter Eggers" so I don't know if maybe she's got the blue egg gene. She looks like Belle from the front.


This is Big Mama. She's got a little David Bowie feather-head going on too. We've had Polish hens in the past so I don't know whether she might have a little Polish in her.

Again, any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Pele]

Hi Everyone,

I work at a small nature/ag education center and we have a small flock of 12 chickens. We're talking a lot with some of our students (field trips! ) about selective breeding and so I thought it might be helpful to know what breeds our chickens are. Unfortunately, all of the people who originally purchased the chickens have left-- so I have no clue. I've been doing some research and I have a few ideas, but I'd love any other thoughts on my chickies. I imagine many of them are also mutts; but as I said I was not here when they were hatched/purchased, so I have -no- idea.

Thanks in advance for any help! I included their names to help in IDing.


Columbian Rock

This is Karen-- there are two similar chickens, one of which has some feathers on top of her head and a smaller comb. She lays smallish brown eggs



Easter Egger
This is Teapot.


New Hampshire Mix
This is Belle. We have three chickens other chickens like her. She has some pheasant-like feathers nestled in her neck and back, but just a few.


New Hampshire Mix (probably with an EE)

This is Barbara-- in this pic you can see those pheasant feathers. My co-worker thinks these brown ladies have been laying blue eggs but I have not actually seen it happen so it's not confirmed. We have had "Easter Eggers" so I don't know if maybe she's got the blue egg gene. She looks like Belle from the front.


Polish Mix

This is Big Mama. She's got a little David Bowie feather-head going on too. We've had Polish hens in the past so I don't know whether she might have a little Polish in her.

Again, any thoughts are appreciated!

I've put my thoughts in bold. Honestly, unless you are going to be adding pure-bred chickens to the flock, you might want to steer away from genetics talks. The majority of your birds are very mixed. Mixed birds are a difficult starting point to present to guests in a coherant manner, unless you have their parent purebreds to point out.

 

[MissAllison]

Thanks for your input! I was thinking maybe Karen was a Columbian Rock too. We're not having any serious genetics talks about the chickens (the kids are only in 4th-5th grade and we have more documented parent-child relationships in some of our other animals) but people often ask what kind of chickens we have. I figured they were pretty mutty, but it's nice to have a vague idea about their lineage.

I did just buy three Cuckoo Marans chicks to add to our flock and plan to document the flock better as we move forward. Many of our chickens are pretty old and may not be around for -too- much longer, so hopefully in the future we'll be able to pull the chickens further into our genetics discussions.

Thanks again!

 

[Pele]

Thanks for your input! I was thinking maybe Karen was a Columbian Rock too. We're not having any serious genetics talks about the chickens (the kids are only in 4th-5th grade and we have more documented parent-child relationships in some of our other animals) but people often ask what kind of chickens we have. I figured they were pretty mutty, but it's nice to have a vague idea about their lineage.

I did just buy three Cuckoo Marans chicks to add to our flock and plan to document the flock better as we move forward. Many of our chickens are pretty old and may not be around for -too- much longer, so hopefully in the future we'll be able to pull the chickens further into our genetics discussions.

Thanks again!

You're very welcome. Don't plan on your hens leaving too too soon though, chickens can live 10 + years. Many don't get to hang around that long because egg production drops and they get stewed by year 4.

If you would like a gender ID for your Cuckoo Marans, you can post pics here at any time. They are sexable at birth.

 

[MissAllison]

Oh boy! I hope my Cuckoo Marans are ladies-- the woman I bought them from told me they were. She had a couple of males there and they definitely looked lighter than the ones I purchased.