Odds and Ends

I have several hens that aren't in my breeding program. They are just a little special in their own way so I have kept them.

Red Frizz

Red Frizz is only about a year old. I got her from a sweet young lady that is my daughters age. She gave me two frizzles and they both turned out to be hens. Red Frizz is broody in this pic. She is a silkie mix. She is not real tame but I love her look so I decided to keep her. I may use her from breeding but I am not sure yet.

Gray Frizz

Gray Frizz is Red Frizz's sister. She is a little crazy and doesn't care to be cornered but her frizzled looks make up for her craziness. I don't have any plans on using her for breeding. She also is a silkie mix. I just love the crests on these girls. Reminds me of the appenzellers I use to have.

Ms. D

Ms. D is an f2 showgirl with straight feathers. We named her Ms. D for deformed. If you look closely at her you will see that her beak is crooked. It is not as bad as it once was but it is still a little crooked. Also she has a crooked tail. It points sideways instead of straight back. I think Ms. D was born in 2005. Seems like she has been here for ever. She is a great momma. She has only had 3 babies genetically, one died immediately, and two were so deformed they had to put them down. One of them did not have any eyes at all. The beaks were so crossed that there was no way they could eat. Poor babies. I hadn't intended for her to have any babies but she had snuck them in a nest when a duck was sitting. I thought I had gotten all of the chicken eggs out of there but I was mistaken. I knew they were Ms. D's because I caught her laying in the nest. She has raised a lot of babies from other hens. A friend of mine even borrowed her because he needed a good momma to raise some babies. He did return her after the babies were bigger, he said that the other chickens were laughing at her all of the time and the babies were beginning to look like her. So it was best for her to come back home. I love Ms. D. Even if she is a bit ugly.

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 Sadly, we lost Big Momma and our guinea to a predator. We believe it was a neighborhood dog that was visiting and killing one chicken a day or every other day. We never found a trace of Big Momma. She lived to be 61/2 years old before she disappeared. I was so sad to loose her. It is just not the same at feeding time.

Big Momma

Big Momma is a turken that I got in 2002. I had gotten her in a bunch of chicks from Ideal Poultry. She is the only one I have left of all of my turkens. She is the hen I used to start my showgirl line and my Peetie line. So she has many, many children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, etc. She knows the drill around here, when I walk out side and say 'Chick, chick, chick, chick', that I am calling them in for scraps. She is a great hen. She was laying every other day till about two months ago. I don't know if she will start back up again or not. She is very tame and I can usually pick her up any time out in the yard. It will be a sad day when she goes.