Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Manningjw]

There are a few breeds that tend to be smaller, I would say Ameraucana and EEs and especially Swedish Flower Hen which lays a big egg but isn't a big bird. Barnevelders would be very nice for an urban setting, very calm and generally quiet with huge eggs. They are certainly smaller than an Orpingtons or Wyandottes of the same quality. Yep, you just have to go to the show in June, no doubt about it!

@Manningjw I'm thinking yours are on the smaller side, too. Is that true, compared to Wyandottes?

My birds are typically Leghorn sized but the University of Arkansas birds seem a bit smaller or at least the cockerel I have from that line is smaller. My rooster is a U of A bird and he is the same size as most of my hens, and a bit smaller in weight than my largest hens.

My birds tend to lay large sized eggs right now, a bit bigger than the U of A line. My larger hens lay jumbo sized eggs that are comparable to older commercial leghorns or Red Stars.

 

[Manningjw]

Your birds are gorgeous! I'm a newbie and haven't heard of that breed before. Is it University of...? I love different colored eggs.

University of Arkansas it is essentially a hybrid between Araucana and White Leghorn - predominantly White Leghorn genetics but maintaining the Blue/Black/Splash color patter, pea comb, and blue egg shell genes from the Araucana line. The idea behind the bird was a production egg layer that lays blue eggs. I am adding this bird to my project so that I can have the Blue feather coloring in my birds.

My own project was Ameraucana crossed to White Leghorn but with the same ultimate goal of a prolific blue egg layer but BBS color pattern and pea comb.

 

[Leigti]

My coupe is just about finished, couple little things to go. Please ignore the crappy paint job here's a couple pictures to give you the general idea, my little ones have already learned how to use the roost

 

[Hinotori]

My mutant 6 toed silkie. Yes I know it happens with the multi-toed breeds. Normally I only get double toenails on one of the rear toes. This toe is surprisingly well developed with joints.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I decided to bleach my table down with a mild mix roosting poles
anything with poo, I decided to up it to every other week just
so I can feel safer about cocci

 

[Babybockbock]

My son read the chicks a book today while we were outside.

 

[Hinotori]

My son read the chicks a book today while we were outside.

That's adorable!

 

[Duck Drover]

My mutant 6 toed silkie. Yes I know it happens with the multi-toed breeds. Normally I only get double toenails on one of the rear toes. This toe is surprisingly well developed with joints.

I had my first Silkie chick with six toes on one foot in my Easter hatch. Another chick had only four toes on one foot. The rest all had five nicely spaced toes on both feet. The one with six toes had the sixth toe joined to the fifth toe (lobster toe) so it did not look like yours. The one with four toes had an extra toenail on the fourth toe but it was not enough to be a toe and it was in the wrong place anyway.

I rarely get toe defects so it makes me wonder if it was the hen's genetics or incubating that caused it. I usually incubate but we have been leaving eggs in the coop. I also have alot of young hens because I had been keeping splash pullets last year and selling our blue hens with young roosters (so they had a chance to live) so maybe they came from pullet eggs. I sold them at a discount as pet quality.

Do you find it happens with just one hen or just one clutch? I get rid of any chicks with toe DQs so I am not sure what causes it.

 

[Hinotori]

My mutant 6 toed silkie. Yes I know it happens with the multi-toed breeds. Normally I only get double toenails on one of the rear toes. This toe is surprisingly well developed with joints.

I had my first Silkie chick with six toes on one foot in my Easter hatch. Another chick had only four toes on one foot. The rest all had five nicely spaced toes on both feet. The one with six toes had the sixth toe joined to the fifth toe (lobster toe) so it did not look like yours. The one with four toes had an extra toenail on the fourth toe but it was not enough to be a toe and it was in the wrong place anyway.

I rarely get toe defects so it makes me wonder if it was the hen's genetics or incubating that caused it. I usually incubate but we have been leaving eggs in the coop. I also have alot of young hens because I had been keeping splash pullets last year and selling our blue hens with young roosters (so they had a chance to live) so maybe they came from pullet eggs. I sold them at a discount as pet quality.

Do you find it happens with just one hen or just one clutch? I get rid of any chicks with toe DQs so I am not sure what causes it.

I've had it happen randomly in the partridge and the bbs I had before, except the double toenails. Those seem to be genetic.

If I remember correctly, on having only 4 toes on one foot is the gene not expressing fully. I don't breed those.

Honestly I've had more issues with split wing than toes. The girls still make good pets and mamas with those defects.

 

[BGMatt]

Ooooh too late I went to his website.

I'm glad you said that because I thought it was a problem on my end! No problem on my phone viewing it, oddly. A Bantam Australorp sounds pretty amazing.

June would be the perfect time as that's when our current babies will be well into the coop (if we ever finish it...) and we'll be vacationed enough from messy 'brooder in living room' shenanigans to think having more chicks is a good idea.

I think bantams are adorable and sized a bit better for suburban living. Maybe also a little bit scared of the larger standard breeds (oh man, we saw a this enormous Wyandotte on a farm that seemed like a feathered T-rex), or at least the size of their poops. But I would like at least semi-regular egg-laying because I love eggs and as bribes to keep our neighbors happy. So I was thinking of useful but still cute bantams/smaller breeds! Probably not for eating unless there's a particularly mean one.


Your birds are gorgeous! I'm a newbie and haven't heard of that breed before. Is it University of...? I love different colored eggs.

Your instincts are good, Bantams can be excellent utility birds especially in suburban back yards (Plus you might even make truths out of mislabeled coops everywhere, 6-8 hens in a 4'x4' coop? LOL not with anything real sized.) No idea why people dismiss them out of hand, it's rather silly.

Anyway, back on topic, if utility was the ONLY factor, and I lived on a smaller chunk of property, the breed I would choose would be Bantam Langshans. They are superb layers of a medium sized egg, keeping up with my Leghorns even (although the Leghorns do lay Large to XL eggs), excellent feed efficiency, fast maturing (pullets often are starting to lay at 4-5 months, which is amazingly fast for a standard bred bird, cockerels would make a very nice meal for two at around the same age. They hatch extremely well (or will go broody if you let them, and sometimes when you don't, but it never seems to really affect egg production too much) and if left to go broody are excellent parents. Really can't say enough good about them from a utility point of view.