Frizzles & Sizzles

 My paint Sizzle rooster and a bantam white cochin hen. My rooster is the offspring of a Paint Silkie rooster and bantam white cochin hen. I like the way he looks and he is the head honcho of my bantam flock of sizzles.

 He knows he's handsome and struts his stuff proudly.

 This is one of my Paint Silkie hens. She's only a few months old here. Her sire was a Paint Silkie and her mama was a white Silkie I bought from Murray MacMurray hatchery, so I don't know more about her ( mama ) than that she is a white Silkie. I am still reading up and learning about 'paint' genetics but the breeding of the rooster and several white Silkie hens has produced quite a few paints for me and I am happy with them thus far. ( Going to keep the black hen from this crossing to see what she hatched out after being bred to her paint half-brother.)

 Here is one of my white bantam frizzled cochins. She is a good mama and hatched a passel of little paint sizzles. I am having so much fun with these cute chickens !  (MY Sizzles are chickens I get from hatching eggs produced by the breeding of my Silkies with Bantam Frizzled Cochins.)

 Mama frizzle with her chicks.

 Look at this crazy Sizzle. She has a few spots and wacky feathers. Love her !

I am learning a lot raising these chickens . I am set on producing Sizzles with spots ( paint) and Silkie skin coloring, blue / black. I have a few that already fit this description. My next project in the poultry pens will be to evaluate all my Silkies and Sizzles and narrow my flock down to what I want to keep and breed. Always something to do in the poultry pens !

Washington Feather Fanciers Winter Brisk 2014

 This last week we went to the Winter Brisk (put on by the Washington Feather Fanciers ) to enter, sell, and look at poultry.The weather outside was cold but nice and warm inside the barn with lots of sounds of different poultry. This was an impressive Bourbon Red turkey displaying for us.

 This little Modern game bantam looked like he was walking on stilts.

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 There were lots of different kinds of poultry there this year and some that I have never seen, including these frizzled Belgian D'anvers  .

 I entered some birds as well, although I  didn't manage to get photos of them at the show. ( I took some pictures afterwards.) Overall my birds did good. They got Reserve of Breed , Reserve of Variety and some firsts, pretty good considering there was a lot of good competition this year.

 One of the Mille Fleur pullets I entered.

 Her dad Copper.

 My Black Mottled hen . I managed to sell almost all my chicks at the show, and also picked up a new bird from the breeder with the winning Porcelains to add a new bloodline to my birds.  Overall my birds did good. I sold 12 birds ,got a new one and met some other good breeders, and I look forward to going next year !

Mr. Fancy Pants Is No More

Mr. Fancy Pants is no more , and I miss him. He was a rooster who's mom was a Silkie and dad was a bantam White Cochin ( frizzled). Mr. Fancy Pants was a rooster with a lot of class who was very protective without being too aggressive when it came to his harem of bantam hens and their little chicks. He was a darn fine dancer too.

I discovered Mr. Fancy Pants was missing when he did not come running out of the shed he and his hens slept in over night. Where could he be ? I make sure they are inside before dark every night and I close and secure the door. Not only was there no Mr. FP in sight, but every day I was missing another hen. How could this be ? I had not heard or seen any predators, yet chickens I am attached to have been disappearing ,seemingly without a trace. No feathers about the area, no hawks lingering, nor any coyotes . ( My dogs would have alerted us to this )

The mystery was solved because the season changed and the fall took away the leaf cover of the trees. I can now see my chicken pens from our upstairs back windows. As I was enjoying the sight of one of my roosters courting a hen I happened to notice a lot of feathers on top of one of the dove pens. A LOT of feathers. A ladder and an investigation by my husband showed the remains of Mr. Fancy Pants and 6 hens were strewn all over the roof. Now we had to discover the stinking, slinking murderer. And we did.

Our German Shepherd Whimsy's barking alerted us one early morning ( around 2:00 a.m. ) and my husband discovered an opossum at a window in the shed near the roof of Mr. FP's home. Possums were killing the chickens and dragging them onto the roof to consume at their leisure. That particular opossum is no longer a problem, but we know there are at least a few more near-by who know there are chickens to be had.We have set traps for any future marauders and murderers and moved the few remaining chickens to safer housing.

FYI ,I think you might be interested to know we had detected a strong odor around my chicken pens for many days prior to our discovery of the culprits. The odor smells like skunk but is not as strong. That is opossum!

I am hoping one of my hens related to Mr. Fancy Pants will hatch out and raise another like him. Yes, I really do miss my Fancy Pants who is no more.

Black Mottleds a challeging color

 This color variety, seen at its best on Anconas, has progressive more, and larger, white spots with each successive moult. Most Anconas have the correct amount of white in their first adult year and are too white in future years.  Some birds have too few white spots first time round. Expert exhibitors know that if a few carefully selected body feathers are removed as soon as they have grown their first adult  feathers, the replacement feathers should come out with proper white spots.  So a fresh show team must be bred annually . Above is my mottled rooster Oreo who was born with too much white.

 This is my Mottled hen in 2012 who in this photo has good pattern for her first year.

 This is the same hen from above who this year has an over all too white appearance which is considered a disqualification in the breed.

Above is Oreo. Only Anconas can be relied upon to produce a whole batch of uniformly spotted youngsters . Other breeds with this pattern like Belgian d'uccles ,are usually very variable.  Breeders of Black Mottled d'uccles , Japanese or Wyandottes will be lucky if they breed a uniform showable trio. This is why I have decided not breed black Mottleds for exhibition , but black Mottleds are still as good as any color when it comes to other quality's besides exibition. Info is from Exhibition Poultry Keeping by David Scrivener.

The Three Amigos~ Bantam Black Cochins

 The 3 amigos, bantam Cochin roosters who live together in our vegetable garden. When released from their pen in the morning...

 ...they spend the day scratching around the garden for bugs , worms, anything tasty.

 They sometimes jump the garden fence to follow

 the ducks. The ducks know even better places to find food. Under the bird feeders, in the sheep pens.

It is fun to watch the chickens watching the ducks who watch me to see if I am handing out food. In the evening the roosters watch the ducks pen themselves up and receive their nightly grain or bread, then the roosters run to their pen to receive the same. Routine rewarded by treats keeps them safe for the next days' happy wandering around Cedar Pond.( And for my viewing pleasure)

The Odd Couple Operate the Chicken Tractor

1. This is Oscar, he and his partner Felix occupy our chicken tractor in the vegetable garden. Thus far, they have proven to be the best residents we have had over many years.

The humble garden residence was built almost 10 years ago to fit into my husband's raised garden beds, and be easily moved up and down the rows, and still be comfortable enough for 1 or 2 chickens.It is still in operation with simple modifications.( Not beautiful, just practical)

The chicken tractor started out further toward the back of the garden. You can see our duck pen ( back right ) still in need of repair from the damage the ice storm caused by many large tree limbs falling on the roof.

A close-up of Felix Mlle Fleur. He was shading himself from the weak rays of the sun.

Felix and Oscar's home has to be re-enforced with boards and metal roofing because we found the raccoons are very adept at reaching through the wire and literally pulling off and eating the the flesh of any living birds within their grasp. We have found the skeletal remains of birds in their pens plucked of all flesh over-night and the only remedy is to give them a place to sleep that is not within the reach of predators.The roof of the chicken tractor is held down by old farm containers planted with sedums. Chicken tractors are very practical and also help you easily weed garden beds. This odd couple can have a vegetable patch weed-free within days and then we move the chicken tractor over a few feet for Oscar & Felix to begin again the process of eating and scratching up weeds and grass.

Martha Stewart & Jan Brett Keep Chickens

Martha Stewart and Jan Brett ( children's book author & illustrator) keep and show chickens. They also show a cute Easter craft and of course, there is egg cookery! Keeping chickens offers all the best things ~ pretty and entertaining birds, plenty of eggs for cooking & baking, and just plain fun.

Faverolle bantams

BREED PROFILE:Faverolle VARIETY:salmon. Faverolles are packed with personality,beautiful to look at and wonderful layers in all seasons. The roosters are consistently gentle and well mannered not only to the hen but to people as well, the hens are laid back as well and accept newcomers with ease. If one is looking for showy gentle chickens this is the breed to have. They are excellent layers in cold weather and will go broody occasionally  although they are not obsessive about it like the silke or Cochin breeds. The Faverolles are a french breed, and considered in the Continental classification. The breed was first developed in the 1850's of composite blood from the Houdon Brahma Crevecour and dorking which were common fowl of the area. The Faverolles were used as utility fowl known for there excelent tabel qualitys and superior egg laying during winter months. Today they are reguarded as show fowl and are rare in the United states with a estamated 500 bantam salmon faverolles and 50 white faverolles in the U.S. Some of the variety's are Salmon, White ,Buff , Black and Blue salmon.

This is Smore my salmon Faverolle rooster that I got at the state fair last year and as the breed information describes they where some of the most friendly bantams Ive had and thats espesialy true with the faverolle roosters,  sadly Smore was killed by a dog on December 24 2011 and the hen a month before.

Bugs Draws Bantam Chickens

Bugs loves to study about and draw his chickens. Here is a Bantam Bearded Booted Mlle Fleur.

Bearded Porcelain Booted Bantam

One of the best ways to study any bird is to really observe everything about it, and drawing the bird helps you see and remember the details. Anyone desiring to raise poultry for practical reasons, for pleasure, or for showing ,should study their birds. Of course, enjoying and appreciating their beauty and personalities only makes this pursuit all the more fun! I know my grandson ,Bugs, loves his chickens and his drawings tell me his interest in poultry will most likely be life-long. I hope so !

Bantam Chicks Growing Quickly

Bug's chicks are growing quickly. He has been observing and studying them to see just how well they are growing and also how well they are measuring up to their breed standard. This is one of his favorites.

We are not quite sure what variety this bantam chick is . Soon, very soon, we believe our suspicions will be confirmed, but we're not yet ready to proclaim him ( chick on the left) because his mottled spots are not "mottled" enough to make Oreo as wonderful in type as we hope he is.

Oreo

The hen we believe to be the same variety as Oreo.

Mlle Fleur chicks.

Granny Baa's bantam black Cochins. I ( Granny) am growing very fond of these chicks, they alone are mine. Their personalities are very different from the rest of the chicks. These little black chicks are very friendly and docile. Not the least bit flighty, they amble over to me as I feed and water the chicks. They are also shaped like little black roly-poly balls. Watching them just makes me happy. I am very glad I added these chicks to the order of Mlle Fleurs, Porcelains, and de'Uccles.

Raising chicks is so much fun, and so interesting. The benefits of having chickens, both bantam and standard size are many, but pure entertainment ranks high on the list.These chicks chase each other, play with each other, and are also an on-going learning experience.If you are a bit stressed out, just grab a cup of coffee or tea and go on out to the chicken pen to sit a spell and watch the chickens.You cannot help but leave them with a smile and a chuckle...and maybe a little better perspective on your day. At least enough to help you wake up and begin anew another day, after all, your chickens count on you to come back and spend a little time with them. ( O.K. They need you to feed and water them, but that works for you , doesn't it ? )