The old biddy did it!

[SamLockwood]

Some of you may know the story of my rambunctious elderly speckled sussex hen that went missing for 4 days and miraculously turned up alive. She's at least 8 years old and still manages to lay eggs and gets around really well even though she's pretty arthritic and creaky. She's the last of two from my mom's old flock and I decided on a fall hatch because 1) I wanted to see how fertile the new roosters were and 2) I wanted to see if I could get some descendants of this tough, wily old girl.

Three weeks ago I put two eggs of hers in the incubator, one of them didn't make it but as luck would have it her eggs was the first out of the batch to hatch (about a day early, to boot!). Dad looks to be one of the marans (blue cuckoo or blue copper) from the overall coloring and feathered legs.

 

[TwoCrows]

Congrats, the old gal still has it! Cute baby! ❤

 

[N F C]

Some of you may know the story of my rambunctious elderly speckled sussex hen that went missing for 4 days and miraculously turned up alive. She's at least 8 years old and still manages to lay eggs and gets around really well even though she's pretty arthritic and creaky. She's the last of two from my mom's old flock and I decided on a fall hatch because 1) I wanted to see how fertile the new roosters were and 2) I wanted to see if I could get some descendants of this tough, wily old girl.
View attachment 3645050

Three weeks ago I put two eggs of hers in the incubator, one of them didn't make it but as luck would have it her eggs was the first out of the batch to hatch (about a day early, to boot!). Dad looks to be one of the marans (blue cuckoo or blue copper) from the overall coloring and feathered legs.View attachment 3645052

That's great you got one of her chicks! How did the rest of your hatch turn out?

 

[Callender Girl]

Sounds like your girl continues to be a miracle! Best wishes with her babies!

BTW, I adore my Speckled Sussex. Hope my Bronwyn makes it as many years as your girl already has.

 

[SueT]

I love your story! I look forward to seeing more pics of the chick as it grows up!
I have a Speckled Sussex who is 7 years old, and our oldest chicken. Her name is Speck. She successfully evades the rooster and her eggs are not fertile! I don’t want to hatch any more eggs anyway, so that’s fine by me. She knows her name, and will come when called. We love old Speck.

 

[fuzzi]

Some of you may know the story of my rambunctious elderly speckled sussex hen that went missing for 4 days and miraculously turned up alive. She's at least 8 years old and still manages to lay eggs and gets around really well even though she's pretty arthritic and creaky. She's the last of two from my mom's old flock and I decided on a fall hatch because 1) I wanted to see how fertile the new roosters were and 2) I wanted to see if I could get some descendants of this tough, wily old girl.
View attachment 3645050

Three weeks ago I put two eggs of hers in the incubator, one of them didn't make it but as luck would have it her eggs was the first out of the batch to hatch (about a day early, to boot!). Dad looks to be one of the marans (blue cuckoo or blue copper) from the overall coloring and feathered legs.View attachment 3645052

How's the chick doing?

 

[SamLockwood]

She's doing well and starting integrate into the main flock. I think Dad is one of the blue copper marab roos between the dark feet and the copper feathers on her neck.

 

[TwoCrows]

She's doing well and starting integrate into the main flock. I think Dad is one of the blue copper marab roos between the dark feet and the copper feathers on her neck.View attachment 3680275

 

[fuzzi]

She's doing well and starting integrate into the main flock. I think Dad is one of the blue copper marab roos between the dark feet and the copper feathers on her neck.View attachment 3680275

Oh, she's PRETTY!

 

[SamLockwood]

Here she is this weekend. It's hard to get a good enough photo of her to show the coloring: so far she's getting more copper in her neck feathers. She's got hints of iridescent green in her tail feathers and she looks like she's going to retain the "kabuki mask" feathering around her eyes.