The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

I was reading an old text from the 1800s on raising poultry called, The Business Hen by Collingwood and found the following poem.

I LOVE THE HEN.
There's lots of folks that love a horse
About as well as they know how.
We ain't all built alike of course ;
There's them that do just love a cow
Above their wives. Some folks will sleep
When cows or horses have the talk ;
But start a word edgeways on sheep,
And see the way their tongues will walk.
And some folks sit up half the night
To sing the virtues of the hog ;
And I know folks uncommon bright
Who rub their love thick on a dog.
I have, as now I must rejoice,
No quarrel with my fellow-men
But of all animals my choice
Forever is the laying hen.
She ain't so big or yet so stout
As hog, or horse, or sheep, or cow,
And yet she knows what she's about.
She pays her bill that suits me, now.
So let them brag up all their stock
And satisfy themselves ; but, then.
Mv mind is made up like a rock
You can 't fool me, I love the hen !

That is a sweet poem CC thank you for sharing!

Scg I wish I could have seen a video of your hen changing colors! WOW!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I enjoyed reading that.


I am perplexed. I have a hen that's a couple years old. I hatched her from eggs of unknown origin. She has feathered feet and shanks. She started out her first year all black with nice purple-green reflective black feathers. The first year that she molted she grew in mostly black with a few white feathers. The year after that she molted and grew in mostly white feathers with a few black. Last year she molted and grew in all white feathers, so she was completely white.

I just went out there, and she's molting again, and the feathers she is growing in are black.

'Splain that, Lucy.

I am declaring that I'm in no way an expert on feather color genetics.
That said, since I raise black birds, understand that healthy birds of black breeds will have that green sheen in certain light.
Also, I understand that white is not a color but rather an absence of color.
So, black birds or other colors can have white. When the black returns, the color has returned.

 

[perchie.girl]

I enjoyed reading that.


I am perplexed. I have a hen that's a couple years old. I hatched her from eggs of unknown origin. She has feathered feet and shanks. She started out her first year all black with nice purple-green reflective black feathers. The first year that she molted she grew in mostly black with a few white feathers. The year after that she molted and grew in mostly white feathers with a few black. Last year she molted and grew in all white feathers, so she was completely white.

I just went out there, and she's molting again, and the feathers she is growing in are black.

'Splain that, Lucy.

SOMEwhere I read about chickens that change color like this... very good layers but start out black with a few white spots and eventually turn mostly white by the time they are about five years old... But dang I cant remember what breed that was.
deb

 

[ronott1]

SOMEwhere I read about chickens that change color like this... very good layers but start out black with a few white spots and eventually turn mostly white by the time they are about five years old... But dang I cant remember what breed that was.
deb

Probably one of the mottled breeds. Pita Pinta get more white feathers when they molt.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

SOMEwhere I read about chickens that change color like this... very good layers but start out black with a few white spots and eventually turn mostly white by the time they are about five years old... But dang I cant remember what breed that was.
deb

Sounds like some of my lines but it should be considered a flaw in blacks.
The ones I raise are allowed to have white feathers until about 8 weeks of age. After that it is a flaw. But I've had solid black birds that had white mottling in regrown feathers after they molted. If I hatched those birds eggs, their offspring had white feathers well beyond the 8 weeks. At one point I considered trying to develop a line of white penedesencas but I need to learn more about the genetics of white first.

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote:
Witness protection program?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I asked her but she's stubbornly silent. I also tried to take a picture but she refused and only showed me her butt, not her side.

I also had one chicken grow in half frizzled last year. I guess once you have enough birds and go through enough molts you start to see odd things (same with hatching).

 

[Wisher1000]

I asked her but she's stubbornly silent. I also tried to take a picture but she refused and only showed me her butt, not her side.

See? Evidence suggests that it is the Witness protection program.

 

[dsqard]

Despite a rough start getting to Maine I had a wonderful time visiting with SCG. We got to go to six lighthouses and Acadia. The weather really was wonderful just wish the leaves had been more colorful but it was still gorgeous up there. Loved living there as a kid and realized how much I miss the Maine coast. Just wish the winters weren't so awful. Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip.
Portland Head Light





Bug Light

Spring Point Ledge

Pemaquid Lighthouse





Marshall Point Lighthouse





Owls Head Lighthouse





Acadia National Park

 

[ronott1]

Despite a rough start getting to Maine I had a wonderful time visiting with SCG. We got to go to six lighthouses and Acadia. The weather really was wonderful just wish the leaves had been more colorful but it was still gorgeous up there. Loved living there as a kid and realized how much I miss the Maine coast. Just wish the winters weren't so awful. Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip.
Portland Head Light





Bug Light

Spring Point Ledge

Pemaquid Lighthouse





Marshall Point Lighthouse





Owls Head Lighthouse





Acadia National Park

I am happy to hear that you had a nice vacation!