The Chickens

The chickens are all about full grown now. Two of the breeds are laying eggs consistently and I'm getting 3 - 6 eggs daily.

Here are the eggs from one day. A blue and green Easter egger and two light brown Speckled Sussex.

These are the same eggs how I found them in the nest box.

These are the eggs I got today. Granted, I didn't collect yesterday so this is actually two days' worth. A couple of blues; a couple of greens, including the darker green; only one from the Speckled Sussex (the lighter brown egg) and the first egg from the light Brahmas (the darker brown egg).

Since this is how the computer loaded the photos I'll start with the Light Brahmas. Even though I ordered 5 pullets and 1 cockerel I ended up with 3 pair. So far there has not been a problem with the three roosters being all together.  These seem to be a very quiet and calm breed.

The roosters have small combs and wattles, the hens almost nothing. They have feathers on their legs and feet. They are a medium to large size. They are supposed to do well in colder climates.

Two roosters.

Rooster.

Hen.

Hen.

 Next up are the Easter eggers. They come in various colors. This is the rooster in the front.

Hen.

The rooster is on the right. You can see how the hens are all different colors. So far they've laid dark green, green, and blue eggs. It would be fun if one of them laid a pink egg!

From the side, the rooster in the front.

 The Speckled Sussex.  You can see why they are called "speckled". These are the hens. 

The rooster.

While these are supposed to be a docile breed, the rooster has come at me a couple times. Needless to say I don't leave my back to him.

 Crowing.

And finally the chickens I got as ornamentals. I just got them for fun.  These are called "Sultans". They are supposedly fairly rare and I could only order them as straight run, which means I couldn't pick girls or boys, I just got what they sent.  I ended up with two roosters and 3 hens.

This is a rooster. They have a poofy head, the roosters have a looser top knot than the girls. They also have small wattles and a "v" comb. Not only that but they have feathers on their legs and feet and have five toes instead of the usual four!

Here's a hen. You can see her head dress is rounder and smoother than the roosters.  

Here's a look at their feathery feet.

Rooster.

These chickens are, sad to say, kind of stupid. Maybe too much inbreeding? I don't think it helps that the hens especially, can't see too well because of their fancy pompadour. If you take a close look at the hen on the left front you can see she was born with an undershot beak. (Evidence of a small gene pool?) It doesn't seem to hurt her any though. They reportedly aren't good layers and in fact I haven't gotten any eggs from them yet. But like I said, I got them for the fun factor.

Old fashioned pound cake, quiche, scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, and all kinds of egg dishes are in store for the near future!