Unexpected Pullets

[Zinjifrah]

Well... it's probably a good thing I'd set up a temporary quarantine shed and run. The walls are chicken wire, but it'll do for right now. I stopped to ask a local seller if they had any fertile eggs, to give hatching something that wasn't shipped a try, and they did not. They sold off all their breeding stock.

However, in the process of conversation I somehow ended up buying three E.E. pullets... About 5-6 months old. Without further ado;

This one came outside first, so there are a few photos of it, then it went in and the other two came out.



The other two.



The smallest one appears to have an issue with her tail. Not sure what's up with that - she carries it like that all the time.

 

[drumstick diva]

maybe she's part Serama?

 

[Zinjifrah]

maybe she's part Serama?

Possible! Her tail doesn't really look the way my Seramas do, though... they lower their tail when they're relaxed, while hers is up like that all the time, even when she's napping. I have to wonder - they do all have the muffs and fluffs, so I thought it might be a throwback to Araucana rumplessness, causing a tweak in her spine. Or if she might not have broken her tailbone at some point! It doesn't seem to bother her at all, and she's just as plump as the other two, but she is a bit smaller than they are.

I really wasn't planning on these three. But I'm tempted to go back and get a couple more - they were very crowded in their pen, and they're absolutely loving all the room, even in the quarantine pen. I think I may have to build nesting boxes sooner than I'd expected to!

 

[N F C]

Very pretty birds, that gray is especially pretty. Sounds like they've found a good home!

 

[Cyprus]

I must say, that white Pullet is astoundingly gorgeous!

 

[Mimi13]

Can you feel her little tail and see if it seems stiffer or tilted up more than your other chickens?

 

[Zinjifrah]

Can you feel her little tail and see if it seems stiffer or tilted up more than your other chickens?

That's on the plan for today! I didn't want to stress them out any more than I already had yesterday - they were not happy about being stuffed into a box and transported up a bouncy dirt road. Amusingly enough, my little Sebright cockerel was absolutely beside himself when he saw them across the yard, dancing all over up and down the main run's fence line, dragging his wings and squeaking at them. His voice is changing, so it's more of a squeak than a crow. They weren't impressed.

 

[N F C]

That's on the plan for today! I didn't want to stress them out any more than I already had yesterday - they were not happy about being stuffed into a box and transported up a bouncy dirt road. Amusingly enough, my little Sebright cockerel was absolutely beside himself when he saw them across the yard, dancing all over up and down the main run's fence line, dragging his wings and squeaking at them. His voice is changing, so it's more of a squeak than a crow. They weren't impressed.

 

[Zinjifrah]

I figured I should just go take a look, rather than wait until it's hot out. And the verdict is....
(Obligatory drumroll)

There is nothing wrong with her tail that time won't fix. Part of the reason I came away with three birds I wasn't planning on is that they were crammed into a coop that was much too small, with too many other birds - and that's what happened to her tail. It should heal up just fine now. When I ran my hand down her back and probed around her tail, she protested at first, then relaxed and finally let it lower, whereupon I found this;



No blood, no raw skin, and the plucking appears to be old. She probably learned to protect it by keeping her tail up so it wasn't visible. I think she's a victim of an over-crowded coop and being smaller, rather than any deformity or serious injury. And because I took this photo, and her eye is incredible with the sun shining off it -

She appears to be a very light splash. She mostly looks white, but there are spots of very pale dove grey scattered over her. She is a lovely girl!

 

[Mimi13]

Bless her baby heart. You went over there for a reason. It was meant to be.