BackyardChickens.com - NY Thread Shared Posts

Instead of writing a blog post here, I made the "mistake" of clicking on BackyardChickens.com, and

looking at same of my subscribed threads I try to follow. One of them is the "NY chicken lover!!!!" thread, which is quite active, so if you miss a few days or a week or even longer, as I had, there was well over 500 unread posts. Of course, I didn't read all of them, but mainly scrolled through all the pages to see any photos are words that "caught my attention". Here is what I posted by the time I was all done catching up on the other NY chicken lovers:
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Originally Posted by myfivegirls: (That's my BYC username, since I joined in 2009 when I only had 5 hens! Long gone are those days, and if I had to choose just 5 hens to keep, it would be hard to choose my 5 favorites.)
(What is highlighted was replies to my post or things I quoted from other BYC'ers, so I left their usernames to give them credit as well.)


Hello all! Haven't been on BYC due to being busy, going away for 1 week, and trying to make other things top priority. As a result, I had lots that I missed, but did skim through the posts for a general idea of what's been going on.
As such, I'm reviving an "old post", but one that I didn't see.  It's the one below, and it's special to me since she was hatched here,
and is a "only child" since father was later removed from the Swedish Flower Hen breeding group. There won't be any more like her hatching with such a large crest, since her father's bad attitude landed him a spot in the freezer.
I'm glad she has started to mellow out and is that friendly. Mine don't get that much "cuddling", so I doubt they'd ever want to roost on my shoulder.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by LuvMyChicks1491 
  Went out this morning with my camera..My Swedish Flower Hen it just too funny! The minute I come out she is at my feet and acts like she wants to get picked up. She loves to sit on my arm. The kids said I should have named her "Parrot" instead of "Sasha". When I was waiting  for the kids to get off the bus she must of heard me because she came running from around the house. Picked her up and she got on my arm..Then proceeded to climb her way up so that she was siting on my shoulder till the bus came. She sat there for at least 15 minutes or more... Silly Chicken!!

(Note: that's the photo Sasha's owner posted, not mine.)
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Quote:

Originally Posted by cutipatooti 

What a beautiful SFH. I have never seen such a large and beautiful crest on one before. I had a shoulder chicken that was an ameraucana. Unfortunate a hawk got her one morning. I was so sad. SFH is on my list. I was planing to drive to PA to get some hatching eggs just not sure when. I want to get the 3 breeds I have coming under way first. Hoping for another shoulder chicken.

 

 

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Originally Posted by myfivegirls:

 

No, you probably haven't seen other SFH like her, because that big of a crest is too large for what the "unofficial standard is". I'm sure it happened before, but it seems to me that in Sweden these double-crested wouldn't have survived the predators as well, so most likely didn't survive long enough to breed themselves. It's the result of breeding crested to crested, and she actually has a vaulted skull like the Polish breed. I didn't realize it would happen in just one generation, I thought it'd take breeding crested to crested over many generations. That's why I'm now using only non-crested SFH roosters. One person I sold hatching eggs to around the same time that Sasha was hatched, ended up with another "double-crested" chick. Live and learn - it's part of life!

Anyways, I think Sasha looks adorable and I'm glad she found a good home.


On the home front, everything is going well. Some of the pullets have begun to lay, which helps with those who are molting or decided to take a break this winter. Still have lights, but not keeping them on as long, since I'd prefer the breeders to lay a little longer during the hatching season, rather than lay all winter & take a break come spring. Which has happened before, so I'm giving it a try. Hopefully, there's enough young pullets that won't be affected by the shorter daylight hours that will keep up the demand for eating eggs.
The turkeys and ducks are growing, as well as, the remaining roosters that I have to choose who to keep over the winter. The jakes were displaying to the jenny yesterday, and it was so funny to watch them strut around & fan their tail feathers. Of course, she was not impressed and tried to ignore them while eating grass. Hopefully the two jakes will be fine together until they extra one fills out enough & we have room in the freezer.

Here's a bonus couple of photos.
The first is a pullet who's father was a Swedish Flower Hen rooster &
mother was "Confetti", a bantam millie fluer Cochin.
This gal is one of my favorites.


This young pullet must have recently started laying, as her comb was small like two weeks ago,
but is now much bigger & red. I like her neck feather pattern.


This is the lone survivor of the 3 bantam cochin "started chicks" I got at Chickenstock;


His brothers accidently died one night (a few months ago) when they decided to roost underneath the
hinged roof of their coop. Even after I checked, I somehow missed them & closed the roof.
The next morning, my heart sank when I left up the roof & found his 2 brothers dead,
both of whom were closer to the mille fluer pattern & seemed overall a better choice.
But, this little guy is still keeping up, although highly outnumbered by the other larger roosters.
Recently, though when I re-introduced "Confetti" to the big flock (she'd been with the SFH all summer),
this little cochin cockerel said, "Now, that's a girl my size!" and pursued her, much to Confetti's displeasure.

The last batch of chicks that were hatched by broody hens are getting big & are now roosting with the "big chickens",
alongside their two broody moms, Ellie & Elly May. Nice variety in this small batch, even though they all had the same
rooster "dad".

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Quote:

Originally Posted by HISIRISHGEM 

Wow! Beautiful. They're all just beautiful!
 
I had no idea that time of egg laying correlated to their combs. Hm! I've certainly learned something new.  You have me absolutely ROARING at all the names!  Love them all.

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Originally Posted by myfivegirls:
 

I've had quite the collection of names, often with "themes". Two of my first five girls (2008) were named by my mom - Peach Bottom & Fluffy Buns!
Ellie, a black hen with a muff (EExDom?) was named after a hen that was a "special lady" - a black-feathered mutt with a crest, beard & feathered feet - whom we met when staying with a family in Maine several years ago.Then, this year at Chickenstock, I acquired another "black beauty bantam" who was much closer in description to the original namesake. Plus, I'd always wanted to name a hen after Elly May. And this late summer, Elly May went broody & Ellie joined ranks, incubated close to each other & raised their chicks together. Such a precious group of broody hens.

Now, it generally if they are more "special" or something catches my eye about them.
Otherwise, I'd go crazy trying to name them all. Usually, the long-termers or ones that go broody & raise chicks get named.
Also the roosters that are blessed with being a "keeper" for breeding purposes.


Yes, usually when they're ready to lay eggs their comb size & the intensity of comb color increases. Sometimes, they start to pink up a few weeks early, but by taking progressive photos, you'll see the difference.

Ok, here's an example. Here's that same pullet, photo taken Sept 10th,



vs the photo of her October 15th :
 

Here's another one:

9/10


10/18