What is the Makeup of This Hen? Thought I Knew, but...

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
Thank you! I recently almost lost her to a possum, but she's recovering.

I'm glad too, she's a favorite.

 

[chickened]

Thats a good idea.
Quote:
They're used as shelters when I tie out my penned up cocks; teathering allows them a bit of ranging and I don't have to worry about them fighting with each other. Used to just keep them tied out, but I have had to stop due to predator loss when I lost my guard dog.

My free range hens and muscovy ducks like to make nests in them and lay eggs.

 

[QuailHollow]

Quote:
That was me, and no - I don't have anything that looks like her. Nor would I have shipped anyone eggs and with the expectation that the offspring would be aggressive, look like like a game bird, and lay a brown egg? Had I known, I would not have shipped them at all.

That said, at the time I sent the eggs I was running an old blue rooster I had purchased (as a mature bird) from a breeder within the Ameraucana club. That breeder also raises Sumatra. That's the only connection I can make here.

 

[speckledhen]

That's cool, Sam! I wonder if that would explain Tiny. She's been such a puzzle to us, but we love her, even if she is a royal PITA, LOL.

If that breeder had an illicit mating of a Sumatra and a Ameraucana, then maybe Tiny is a throwback to that. I have had a few puzzles, even some with my very own birds, trust me, like when my Blue Orp and my RIR/Buff Orp hen produced a completely barred cockerel. I'm just happy that there is some sort of connection that I can point to and say, "Aha! That's what she could be!".

Recessive genes can pop up generations down the line and I figured that was Tiny's story.


Samantha, I think Tiny just gets frustrated when she can't get her point across. She likes to be held and hand fed and when you refuse to give her time, she starts "insisting". She's so rotten spoiled from when we tried to get her to eat about the time we discovered she didn't see well and had to spend lots of time with her. She is very sweet when she's getting what she wants from us so it's not what I consider true aggression, just a temper tantrum. You are no more responsible for Tiny than I am for dwarfs showing up in my Delaware lines, so no worries!

Here is a picture of Tiny's spurs: