For years my flock has consisted largely of Americana chickens, docile birds who are good layers of green or olive eggs. But this year, diversity has been the theme. I just can’t seem to resist new breeds.
In addition to the original Americanas, of which two remain, I have a Black Australorp and Rhode Island Red (brown eggs), a couple of Silkies, little white puffballs with feathered feet who are great mothers and lay small white eggs, and my favorite from the original flock, Houdini, a Hamburg hen who escapes the chicken area every day to lay her white egg in the bushes.
When I ordered chicks, I decided to go for exotics, so I have two Cream Legbars (turquoise eggs), three Coco Marans (mahagony colored eggs), a Black Orpington, an Olive Egger, and a Rhodebar. Some of these look pretty strange. Here’s a Coco Maran and a Black Orpington with her feathered feet:
And here’s a Cream Legbar:
Two new chicks are Buff Brahmas, which I got at the feed store for my persistently setting Silkie, who needed some chicks to raise. Here she is feeding them corn from her own beak:
But the strangest looking chickens in the flock are Egyptian Fayoumis. I drove up to Sonoma for these odd, tiny chickens, more like the size of a dove. When grown, they will look like this:
Here they are now with a couple of 6-week old Rhode Island Red chicks–just about their size:
Of course, I had to enlarge the hen house to make room for this new bunch–the total is now 21. It’s got to stop here!
Thanks for the update. I am always interested.
S
You’re welcome. I was chastised by another reader for letting the urban farm category lapse, so will try to do better.