Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

[thistlewick]

Sorry @thistlewick didn't mean to hijack your thread!

NO PLEASE I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

So interesting!!
I didn't know you were writing a paper @Mother of Chaos That is so cool!! I wish I knew I'd have been trying to collect data for you hahaha

I have one chicken, Chocolate, a Starlight Green Egger from Tractor Supply who is about 2 now, who lays every day, without fail, since the day she started laying. Even through molt. this poor lady. She is so friendly and is always looking for treats lol

I fear she won't last very long but something was bred for production insanity in her and she is 'one of those'. She's never missed a day, except once, when one day she laid 2 weird shell-less eggs and then the next day skipped, then, the day after that, boom egg.


When that happened I scoured the internet and learned that chickens tend to have a yearly reset with their egg maker and apparently that was hers.

I can't wait to read the paper if you're willing to share

re; using the light - my chickens love to range out far and wide over the pasture right outside their hen house in the hour or two before bed. Seems like habit for them, they could have spent the entire day inside because of rain, but, in that last 2 hours, will come out even in rain, to range. They are always up to roost by full dark, no matter the time of year.

 

[thistlewick]

View attachment 4282251View attachment 4282252View attachment 4282253View attachment 4282254Here are some of my Welsummer boys across the years. I really miss having them, just have my old hens now. Still get lovely speckled eggs in the spring.

Those look like silver Dorkings! Except the leg color -- even the girls have the same coloring.

So there are two different types of Welsummer varieties??

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

Those look like silver Dorkings! Except the leg color -- even the girls have the same coloring.

So there are two different types of Welsummer varieties??

In the UK (and I think Australia and in theory the US) there is the (gold) partridge and silver duckwing. Both wildtype, but the silvers are S/S rather than s+/s+. Silver Dorkings are the same pattern.

I don’t think silvers are recognised in Europe, at least not Holland. They are much, much rarer and even some of the top breeders suspect impure blood (silver Wyandotte mostly). Mine were very good as far as they go, it’s a shame I had to give all the males away.

Some differences between these and Dorkings are the mottling on Welsummer males, white shafts on hens’ feathers which is a fault in most other breeds, and the hens’ more Robin red breast compared to salmon coloured.

 

[thistlewick]

@BlueTheBrahma So mine would be the Partridge variety then - I've never even SEEN the silver variety anywhere, I LOVE that you had some, that's just exceptional.


Welsummers and Silver Dorkings (also, Marans) are on the short list for breeds I've love to just focus on. I haven't been able to narrow it down yet. Dorkings are the most at-risk, so I'm inclined to focus on them.

We will see how the hawk attacks play out over the year.

If it does decimate my flock, I would keep the single-focus flock locked up.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

@BlueTheBrahma So mine would be the Partridge variety then - I've never even SEEN the silver variety anywhere, I LOVE that you had some, that's just exceptional.


Welsummers and Silver Dorkings (also, Marans) are on the short list for breeds I've love to just focus on. I haven't been able to narrow it down yet. Dorkings are the most at-risk, so I'm inclined to focus on them.

We will see how the hawk attacks play out over the year.

If it does decimate my flock, I would keep the single-focus flock locked up.

What country are you in? I always assume people are American here but I didn’t know Dorkings ever had much of a presence outside of the British Isles.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

@BlueTheBrahma So mine would be the Partridge variety then - I've never even SEEN the silver variety anywhere, I LOVE that you had some, that's just exceptional.


Welsummers and Silver Dorkings (also, Marans) are on the short list for breeds I've love to just focus on. I haven't been able to narrow it down yet. Dorkings are the most at-risk, so I'm inclined to focus on them.

We will see how the hawk attacks play out over the year.

If it does decimate my flock, I would keep the single-focus flock locked up.

Yep yours are partridge. It’s a confusing term because I think in America partridge usually means pencilled partridge like in Brahmas or Wyandottes. And then there is the genetic partridge allele (e^b) which is a variant separate but similar to duckwing. They are actually gold duckwings.

 

[BlueTheBrahma]

I love the SD welsummers more than silver marans or similar because you get the high contrast black and white cocks but that lovely colour on the hens. Almost feels like two varieties in one.

I’m prioritising marans for a while though, busy trying to revive the golden cuckoo English standard marans.