Favaucanas. Boy, do I love them! … what, you’ve never heard of Favaucana chickens?!! I can’t believe it!

This beautiful favaucana is named Juliet

Just kidding. I’m not really surprised–naturally, you wouldn’t have heard of Favaucanas. There is no such thing as a Favauacana, not really… at least, not officially. They exist only in my flock, and probably a few other LUCKY small flocks across the country similar to mine. In particular, a few of us here at My Pet Chicken have them in our flocks–because I keep sending Favaucana eggs. And I expect there are a few others around that might have made the same cross.

Who wouldn’t? I mean, look at this gorgeous Favaucana rooster!

Favaucanas are half-faverolles and half wheaten ameraucanas. They look much like Faverolles. They have the same plumage, feathered legs and a fifth toe like Faverolles do. However, their legs are lightly feathered by comparison, and the extra toe is not always there. (Polydactyly is incompletely dominant, so some Favaucanas may have four toes on one foot, and five on the other… or they may have more of a vestigal fifth toe.) But in contrast to Faverolles, Favaucanas have pea combs and the hens lay good numbers of gorgeous, sagey-GREEN, medium to large eggs. They’re cold tolerant and heat tolerant, too. And friendly. Plus, unlike Faverolles, they don’t seem to be quite as likely to fall at the lower end of the pecking order. The Ameraucana in them must give them a little extra self-confidence!

Mine were originally a cross between my favorite Faverolles rooster Gautier, and my favorite Wheaten Ameraucana hens, Lily and Galatea. Galatea was a blue wheaten ameraucana, so she introduced the blue to the salmon coloring in many of by favaucanas. The offspring were so fabulous, that I just kept hatching those babies again and again. And I sent eggs to friends, so they could have some of these beauties, too. I adore them.

There’s just something about them. When you cross your FAVORITE rooster with your FAVORITE hens, there’s something really special about the babies. I love hearing from other people who’ve hatched my Favaucana eggs: invariably, I get to hear how they’re beautiful, friendly, rock solid layers of lovely sagey colored eggs. Seems like, when you’re crossing your own chickens, their babies somehow feel even more like YOUR chicks than any others. I feel like I’m the grandma. Grandma Hen.

Crazy? Okay, yeah. I admit it. It’s a little crazy. But that doesn’t change how I feel. I am a grandma to chickens. I AM, right?

You actually may have some cross breeds in your flock: Easter Eggers, for example. You can get Easter Eggers from us at My Pet Chicken or from almost any hatchery (although other hatcheries are almost invariably dishonest about how they’re labelled). Easter Eggers a type of chicken not bred to any particular standard other than that they should ideally lay blue or green eggs. Red Stars/Golden Buffs are also cross breeds–and very popular! Red Stars lay prolific numbers of brown eggs, and are healthy, friendly birds. And naturally there are other favorite personal crosses out there in other small flocks, created by other pet chicken owners.

For instance, here’s the offspring of a Blue Copper Marans and a blue splash Ameraucana rooster:

She’ll lay olive colored eggs here in a month or two when she begins laying.

This is also a beautiful cross–my first blue splash bird! If she turns out well, I’ll have to make plans to get my hands on more of her. <3

____________________________

ENTER TO WIN!

We’d like to offer a set of MPC magnets to three lucky My Pet Chicken blog commenters located in the US!

To enter the contest, comment on this blog post below: tell us, what special cross breed chickens have you created–or do you WISH you could create–in your backyard flock? Three winners will be chosen at random from among the qualifying comments.

Contest ends August 31, 2012. Winners will be contacted via email, and must respond promptly–within 48 hours of notification–to claim their prize. 

Last week I told you about my Favaucanas. Favaucanas are half Salmon Faverolles and half Wheaten Ameraucana. We were a little surprised, to say the least, by the overwhelming positive reaction. There were lots of comments on that blog post and on Facebook requesting Favaucana eggs to hatch… and many emails requesting them, as well. Who knew?

But, really, why wouldn’t you want Favaucanas? Our Favaucana rooster, D’artagnan is as gorgeous as the hens.

Don’t get me wrong–I understand why our readers would want Favauacanas. Actually, my feeling is that if you like backyard chickens… why wouldn’t you want Favaucanas? They’ve been my favorite cross for years: they’re beautiful, friendly, good layers of gorgeous sage green eggs.

Sage colored Favaucana eggs (with dark brown speckled Welsummer eggs for contrast)

Plus, Favaucanas seem to be hardier than Faverolles, and easier to keep in a mixed flock, since they’re not as submissive and prone to getting picked on.

Favaucanas get along much more easily than do Salmon Faverolles in a mixed flock.

What I didn’t mention last week, though, is anything indicating that I could share Favaucana eggs. My flock is relatively small, and I don’t have the ability to sell fertile eggs on the type of  scale My Pet Chicken does. I AM tickled by all the requests, though! Unfortunately, I won’t be offering favaucana eggs from my flock. Don’t be too disappointed, yet–hear me out!

I have good news; news I didn’t mention last week. The truth is that I’ve been trying to twist the arm of our Chief Eggsecutive Officer, Traci, to see if MPC could offer some cross breeds like the Favaucanas. What can I say? I just love mixed breeds, and I love Favaucanas in particular. To help convince her, I gave her some of my Favaucana eggs. My feeling was: who better to charm a chicken lover than an awesome chicken or two? I was sure that if she had some Favaucanas of her own, she’d be convinced in a hurry. She’s also doubtless seen photo after photo of them (because they’re so photogenic)!

Juvenile Favaucanas are so pretty together! These are mostly blue salmon Favaucanas.

One of our Favaucanas, Gwyneth, forages in the autumn leaves with Bunny the Brahma and an Easter Egger, Gilda.

Unsurprisingly, Traci LOVED them. So much so that My Pet Chicken will be offering FAVAUCANA CHICKS, starting late spring of 2013.

Bearded chicks like this adorable Favaucana are SO cute!

The first year, they’ll be limited in number, so if you want Favaucanas for your flock, you’ll want to reserve them early. For those of you who want Favaucanas and follow our blog, it’s your lucky day! Everyone who comments on this blog post will be added to a list to be notified about Favaucana availability FIRST, just as soon as we have Favaucana chicks available.

Do you want to be notified when Favaucana chicks are available? If so, please let us know in the comments, and we’ll send you an email late next spring, just as soon as they’re orderable. There is no obligation to buy, but you will get a chance to place your reservations for Favaucana chicks before we announce it to everyone else.

And remember, if you haven’t entered our most recent giveaway, you can enter at last Friday’s blog post!

If you keep a flock of pet chickens, you probably already know that Black Copper Marans are one of THE trendiest breeds right now. Everyone seems to want them. Aside from Penedesencas (which can be too flighty and nervous for the home flock), they lay the darkest brown eggs out there. The eggs are 80% cacao, I tell my husband. But the truth is I never really wanted any for my own flock.

The Black Copper Marans egg–this is why people love BCM! Contrast the color with the middle (Welsummer) egg and a regular brown egg on the right.

I admit it; I was wrong.

The thing is, I never want the New Big Thing just because it’s the New Big Thing. I LOVE my chickens! But, somehow, for a very long time I missed getting the BCM Fever that so many other backyard chicken people have had. I thought people just wanted them for the egg color–and maybe a lot do! But there’s a lot more to Black Copper Marans than that.

I’ve got the BCM Fever, now.

Don’t get me wrong–I love pretty eggs! I keep wheaten Ameraucanas for blue eggs, and also various Easter Eggers, and even my favorite of favorites, Favaucanas, for green eggs. I have Speckled Sussex and Brahmas and Rhode Island Reds (and many more!) for regular brown eggs. For chocolate eggs, I have Welsummers and Silver Cuckoo Marans. Those are rare-ish, but easy enough to get with a little planning. They’re not nearly as unavailable as Black Copper Marans. Black Copper Marans can be almost impossible to get.

Seriously, Black Copper Marans are like Cabbage Patch Dolls in the holiday season of 1983. (Does that date me too much?) What I’m getting at is that it’s a good thing we don’t stock Black Copper Marans chicks on actual shelves, because I have a feeling people would get stomped and elbowed in the rush. A couple years ago, we opened ordering for the new year in January, and all the Black Copper Marans we expected to have for the entire years were reserved within three days–THREE DAYS!

So, I was happy with my Welsummers and their pretty, dark speckled eggs.

Welsummers can also help you fight zombies.

Maybe I was a little less happy with my Silver Cuckoo Marans, which didn’t seem to be especially friendly, and they weren’t especially calm, either. They were bossy, too. So, the idea of elbow-fighting for another plumage of Marans… meh. Black Copper Marans: I just wasn’t interested. I get the New Big Thing only when it’s been a few years and it is no longer the New Big Thing, but is instead the tested, reliable thing. In fact, I often like to get the Old Classic Thing. I like classic heirloom chicken breeds just like I like classic heirloom vegetables–brandywines, yum! Scarlet Runner beans–yum! I even do classic, heirloom appliances: I have a 1940s Sunbeam Mixmaster and a 1950s Detroit Jewel. Those beauties will be around long after I am. I want my appliances to be reliable, my vehicles to be reliable… and I want my chicken breeds to be reliable, too.

If you’ve been following our blog, though, you know that despite not seeking them out, I ended up with some Black Copper Marans eggs from our Eggs for Education assortment when we ran the Mr. or Ms. Mother Hen contest with Brinsea in the spring. If you order an assortment of eggs (or chicks!) you get what you get. As it turns out, of all the lavender orps that hatched, only one was a hen. Of all the Ameraucanas that hatched, only one was a hen, too. Bummer. But of the Black Copper Marans–the breed I was really least interested in–ALL the eggs hatched and ALL but one were female.

It was evidently just meant to be. I was meant to have Black Copper Marans hens, no matter what I thought I wanted.

So, now I have some Black Copper hens… and to my surprise, I find I really love them. I was wrong. They have a lot more to ffer than just pretty eggs. First, the “boring” black hens are actually very lovely in a way my camera doesn’t seem to capture very well. The black feathers are iridescent, and they have such pretty copper hackles, and a plump, pleasing shape. They are also polite and calm. Plus, they get along well in my mixed flock, falling neither at the top or the bottom of the pecking order. They’re just sweet natured. I love them. Why didn’t I want them, again?

It’s not exactly that I didn’t WANT you, Miss Bella…

I still have a few doubts, mind you. As they get older, will they be broody… but not TOO broody? How much will their egg color fade by the end of the season? (One reason I love my Wellies is that the dark egg color doesn’t fade as much as the color fades in my Silver Cuckoo Marans…). Will they be good mothers? They are good foragers, but will they wary enough to be a good breed choice in my free range situation?

Tell me, for those of you who have been lucky enough to adopt Black Copper Marans: now that you have them, how do YOU like them in your flock? Are they everything you hoped? Or if you don’t have any Black Copper Marans, yet… do you have the BCM Fever?

In May, I posted a teaser about some new breeds we were starting, and asked you all which breeds YOU wanted most to see us carry. I’m so happy to announce that some of those breeds are now available! As hatching eggs, we have Cream Legbars, and as baby chicks we now offer Blue Ameraucanas (even some available to ship today!), Wheaten Ameraucanas, and Blue Orpingtons. The Legbars and Ameraucanas lay true-blue eggs and the Orpingtons are an extremely docile, beautiful bird with slate blue feathers. All make wonderful family birds!

Quantities are extremely limited, so if you’d like some of these breeds, you’ll want to order quickly! We hope you enjoy these beautiful new breeds we’ve worked hard to bring you.

Left to right: Wheaten Ameraucana, Blue Ameraucana, Splash Ameraucana and Cream Legbar

Chocolate egg layers are chocolate egg layers, right?  Wrong. Check out this photo:

A deep chocolate brown egg from a Black Copper Marans pullet (left), contrasted with a dark brown speckled Welsummer egg.

Clearly we have two different colors of chocolate, here! If you want to be more confident of the egg color you’ll have in the end, there are a five things you’ll want to keep in mind as you’re planning your flock:

1.) Egg color varies as the season progresses. Eggs start out dark in the spring or when a chicken first begins laying, and slowly lighten up as the season progresses. After your girls have had a break in laying (as from a molt, for instance), their egg “dye” recharges and their eggs will darken down, again. This actually happens with any breed over the course of the laying season–not just chocolate eggers! However, you may tend to notice it more with breeds that are acquired specifically for egg color.

2.) Some breeds see a greater change in egg color over the season than others do. Marans in particular seem to lighten up a lot by the end of the season. Other chocolate eggers (Welsummers, for instance) don’t start off laying eggs as dark as Marans eggs can be, but don’t tend to lighten up as much, either. The photo above is not exactly a fair comparison! This was our Black Copper Marans pullet’s first egg, ever, and is especially dark as a consequence. By contrast, our Welsummer hen, had been laying every day all spring and summer, and her eggs had lightened up somewhat. So this is a small Marans egg, as dark as this hen will lay, compared to a large Wellie egg, about as light as I’ve ever seen it.

3.) The dark brown egg color can be wiped, scrubbed or accidentally scratched off the egg—eeek!  Brown color on an egg is laid on top of the outside of the shell, and it can be scratched off, unfortunately. (Can you see the faint scratches in the photo above?) When it comes to chocolate egg layers, I find that accidental scratches happen more often with Marans eggs, because Marans tend to lay their eggs very wet. If I gather a freshly laid Marans egg, I have to be careful or I will scrape off the color before it has properly dried; it can look as if I have chocolate on my fingers!  The hens can also scratch their own eggs as they leave the nest after laying. Sometimes feathers or nesting material will stick and dry to the shell, as well. Plus, because the Marans egg color is usually consistent (not speckled), scratches or other imperfections are often more obvious… and because Marans egg color is very dark, the contrast between the color on top and the white shell beneath is hard to miss. Welsummer eggs with imperfections in the color are a lot more difficult to spot, and the eggs in general aren’t as easily scratched as Marans eggs are.

4.) Don’t get stuck thinking that you have to get only one type of chocolate layer!  It can be hard to reserve some breeds, so if you’re wanting one of the rarer types like Black Copper Marans, you’ll want to reserve your birds early in the season before they sell out! Remember too, though, that it’s nice to have a range of colors, and it’s easy and rewarding to keep a mixed flock. For instance, in the photo above, even though the Welsummer egg is significantly lighter in color than the Marans egg, look how pretty the speckled shell makes it! Welsummers often lay speckled eggs. If you share eggs with friends or family, you may find they have different “favorite” egg colors. My husband loves the darkest eggs, and I tend to love the speckledy-est. (That’s not a word, I know, but you get the idea.) Plus, the dark color of the chocolate eggs will stand out more if you have other colors mixed in alongside them, and any speckled eggs will stand out more if surrounding eggs have a flat, consistent  finish. Add blue, green, brown and white layers, too!

Look at how well the chocolate eggs stand out against the sage green Favaucana eggs!

5.) When choosing your chocolate egg layers, don’t forget to keep  docility, winter hardiness and winter laying capabilities in mind! It doesn’t all come down to color. Penedesencas—the breeds that lays the darkest chocolate egg of all!—are not especially winter hardy, and they don’t tend to be docile or do well in confinement, either. They aren’t the best breed to get for a small backyard flock. By contrast, Black Copper Marans are great! They are friendly, good layers. But they can be difficult to reserve because they’re still so rare. If you’re having trouble adding Black Coppers to your flock, don’t give up!  Instead, consider the more readily available Silver Cuckoo Marans and Welsummers. They are also lovely, friendly, cold hardy birds, and the Welsummers in particular add “excellent foragers” to their list of wonderful qualities–they reportedly fight zombies as well. Although they do occasionally go broody, they don’t tend to be AS broody as Marans are, meaning you will probably get more eggs from Welsummers than from Marans as your hens get older.

Roosters can be a challenge sometimes. Don’t get me wrong–I love roosters! But they can be territorial and protective of what they regard as “their” hens. That’s part of their charm, of course, but when they compete with one another too much, they can hurt each other, or even hurt the hens! When you have multiple roosters in your flock, that protective instinct can get out of hand.

Here is one of my roosters, a Favauacana named D’Artagnan

Still, I currently have three roosters in my flock of 30, and that’s my normal mode of operation. In addition to my Favauacana, I have a mixed breed named Francis, and a Black Copper Marans named Gerard.  I tend to keep two or three roosters in my flock at a time–peacefully. If you want multiple roosters in your small flock, here are 5 simple rules to follow that will help keep the peace.

1. Have plenty of hens for each rooster. If you only have a flock of five or seven birds, you don’t want two (or more!) of them to be roosters. Generally—and especially when you want to keep multiple roosters—there should be 10 or 12 hens for each male in your flock. That will enable the roosters to have plenty of hens each, without worrying too much about competition from their rivals, and it will also be enough so that the hens dont’ get too overbred. When there are too few hens for each rooster, a hen can be mated too often, resulting in broken feathers, bare backs/necks, or even injuries.

2. Have plenty of space in your run. When you have multiple roosters, there will be the occasional squabble, and for the most part that’s okay. Those squabbles can get dangerous if there’s not enough space, though. If your birds are too crowded together—even when there are plenty of hens—you may see serious problems. With multiple roosters you will need more than the bare minimum of space. You’ll want to double or even triple the minimum space per bird for your flock. If you get too many roosters competing together in a confined space, testosterone-fueled aggression  and territoriality can boil to a head. Remember, roosters don’t have impulse control like (most!) humans do; someone could get hurt! If there is plenty of space, when one rooster becomes tedious in his showmanship and flirtation, generally the others will just lead “their” hens to a respectable distance away, so they won’t feel threatened by the boor and serious fights won’t break out.

3. If you have neither plenty of hens nor plenty of space, you can keep multiple roosters together by having NO hens. This is an arrangement you might have, for example, if you keep a flock of roosters for exhibition (rather than having a flock of hens for the purpose of laying). With no hens to compete for,  multiple roosters often live together in relative peace.

4. Raise them together in your flock. Roosters who are raised together establish a pecking order between them as they are growing up. Because they have already established that order, there is less incentive to fight when they are older and more likely to hurt one another by sparring. Alternatively, you can add new roosters to your flock relatively painlessly if they are raised by a hen in your flock, or if they are introduced to your flock when they are young, before reaching sexual maturity. It will be difficult to maintain the peace if you add an adult rooster to your flock that already has roosters, because that new rooster will be regarded as an invader—not just by the other rooster(s), but also by your hens!

5. Some roosters are too aggressive to get along with other roosters, no matter how ideal the conditions are. There are some breeds that tend to produce very aggressive roosters that are prone to fighting amongst one another, and other breeds with more genteel reputations. For example, game breeds often have aggressive roosters. Rhode Island Reds have notoriously aggressive roosters, too. We’ve also found that Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas don’t always get along well with multiple roosters in the flock, either. That said, most backyard chicken breeds do fine in flocks with multiple roosters. Favorite breeds for roosters (and multiple roosters) include Salmon Faverolles, Plymouth Rocks, Marans, Orpingtons, Australorps, Silkies and Brahmas.

Gautier was my Salmon Faverolles rooster, and the top cock for many years

Do you have any tips for keeping multiple roosters–or any favorite breeds for roosters for the home flock? Please let us know your opinion in the comments below!

Bearded chickens. When it comes to choosing chicken breeds, I go for beards. Why do I love them so much?

Oh, yes. Now that I look at this Easter Egger, I remember why I love bearded chickens so much. Because… They. Are. Awesome.

I’m not sure quite why, but bearded hens to me look especially lovely. Seems a beard might make a girl look masculine, but not in the case of chickens—at least not to me. The fancy feathers are sort of like a fancy collar–I love bearded birds. I’ve had bearded Faverolles, bearded Easter Eggers, bearded Silkies and bearded Ameraucanas, and I adore them all.

To be fair, I love ALL my chickens, bearded or not. I adore my Welsummers and Speckled Sussex, and they don’t have chicken beards. And I have a new-found fondness for my Black Copper Marans (also no beards). I didn’t expect them to be pretty—since they are mostly black birds— but they are surprisingly attractive with their red-gold hackles, bright eyes and lightly feathered legs.

Even though I enjoy these other birds, I still find that when I think of my prettiest chickens, I tend to think first of my bearded girls.

Just look at these Favaucanas, for example!

That’s also what I think of when it comes to choosing chicken breeds. And I don’t appear to be the only one with chicken breed preferences!

It’s no surprise that a lot of people gravitate toward certain things when it comes to choosing chicken breeds. Some people want only the best layers, or only birds that lay unusual egg colors. Or maybe they only want chickens that are good foragers or do well in heat. None of those things should be surprising because when choosing chicken breeds, you want to make sure you’re choosing breeds that will do well in your area. So–when some towns limit the size of a backyard flock to just a very few birds—choosing chicken breeds that lay well and will give you lots of eggs is important. It’s no surprise that people would want a carton full of beautiful, unusual color eggs, either. (Every time you reach for an egg, it’s a reminder of just how lucky you are to be raising chickens—and it’s fun to show off to neighbors and friends, or anyone you share eggs with!)

But there are also people like me who have a fondness for bearded breads. Others may like large crests like Houdans or Polish have. Some may like feathered legs while others like unusual plumage like silkied or frizzled feathers. What’s strange is that I’m usually more of a practical sort. I would have pegged me for someone interested chiefly in sustainability. And I am… but I also have this not-so-sectet-anymore love of breeds with beards. It’s like a guilty pleasure. Like admitting that I like Cheet-os. I don’t really want anyone to know!

Hi. My name is Lissa, and I like bearded chickens.

There, I said it.

So, what qualities do you favor when choosing chicken breeds–and why?

Are your reasons chiefly practical or aesthetic—or both? If you were in a different situation (warmer/cooler climate, more reasonable chicken regulations), would you be choosing chicken breeds differently? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

One of the mistakes I initially made years ago when choosing my chicken breeds was that I didn’t understand that there was a difference between cold hardy breeds and winter layers. To me, a breed that was described as cold hardy was bound to be a winter layer, too. But that’s not true.

Just having hens with the wherewithal to tolerate the weather doesn’t mean you’ll get eggs!

It’s just not the case that cold hardiness equates to good winter laying. Chickens may be cold hardy—that is, they may bear the winter cold well—without being good winter layers. For instance, Ameraucanas are quite cold hardy. They are notoriously terrible winter layers, too. And Marans: they bear cold well, too, but I seldom see chocolate eggs from my Marans in the West Virginia winter. And Brahmas don’t give me eggs, either, even despite the recommendation of a good friend.

This Brahma doesn’t lay eggs in the winter, even though she manages the cold relatively easily

Unfortunately (in some ways, at least), Wheaten Ameraucanas and Cuckoo Marans comprised half of my first flock. Don’t get me wrong—they are great birds. Winter layers they are not. I also started with a Salmon Faverolles (great winter layer!) and a Golden Laced Wyandotte. The wyandotte would have helped my winter pantry… except that she turned out to be a he. That winter, our whole family was dependent on one hard working Faverolles hen.

Now, I know better, though. When I add to my flock, I know to choose not just cold hardy breeds, but also good winter layers. Other than the Faverolles, my favorites for winter laying are probably Speckled Sussex. Sussex are so pretty, so friendly and such good layers, year round.

Our Speckled Sussex Hildy tucks in among the flowers

I also love the Welsummer, although they don’t seem to lay as well in the winter as the Sussex–at least not around here. When they do lay, though, they lay fabulous, dark brown speckled eggs.

This Welsummer is a good winter layer

Certainly breeds that lay well in winter will vary on your latitude and climate. Which breeds are the best winter layers in your area?

At My Pet Chicken, we get lots of questions from folks who would like assistance with chicken breed identification. We can often help… but sometimes we just aren’t given enough information to provide an educated guess!

This would not be a good photo to use for chicken breed identification, since we can’t even see the bird’s legs, much less her comb. This is a Light Brahma, but from this photo, she might be a Delaware, Columbian Wyandotte, or any of a number of breeds with Columbian-patterened plumage.

So, be sure to provide details. A picture is always helpful, but keep in mind that it will have to show these details, or else you’ll face the self-same problem with chicken breed identification as you’d have if you provided an incomplete verbal description. Even when we can see your chicken’s legs in the photo, for example, their color might not be apparent. In some cases, the colors in the photo may not accurately reflect what your chicken looks like in real life.

So, help us out with some additional information.

Characteristics used in chicken breed identification

It’s all in the details.  Here are the specifics we need in order to make a good guess about what breed your chicken is:

1. Feather color (buff, splash, red, black)
2. Feather pattern (laced, spotted, spangled, pencilled, etc.)
3. Comb type (single, pea, rose, etc.)
4. Leg color (slate, willow, yellow, white, black, etc.)
5. Skin color (yellow, white, black)
6. Number of toes (4 or 5?)
7. Feather leggedness
8. Unusual feather texture (silkied, frizzled)
9. Crestedness
10. Tuftedness
11. Taillessness
12. Beardedness
13. Egg color laid (white, brown, blue, green, chocolate, etc.)
14. Large fowl or bantam
15. Body shape and other factors ( tail length, tail angle, upright carriage, naked neck, etc.)

Because so many chicken breeds can be superficially described the same way, we  need a lot of  information to make a reasonable guess. For instance, when we get an email asking for chicken breed identification help, but the only detail provided is that the hen is black… well , it isn’t a question we can answer with any reasonable assurance of accuracy. There are numerous breeds that can be black or mostly black, including

• Jersey Giants
• Australorps
• Black Copper Marans
• Easter Eggers
• Ameraucanas
• Sumatras
• Cochins, etc.

On the other hand, just knowing the comb type can help narrow the field considerably and help with chicken breed identification. For example, a single comb would narrow the above list to four breeds (Jersey Giants, Australorps, Black Copper Marans, Cochins). Lack of feathered legs would narrow the list to two (Jersey Giants and Australorps). And knowing the skin is white rather than yellow would mean that the most reasonable guess would be that you have an Australorp. (Jersey Giants are also much different in shape and size than Australorps! But that difference might not be apparent, depending on the age of the bird.)

Even with with a photo showing the whole bird, sometimes we can’t be sure. For instance, the photo below is of one of my Black Copper Marans hens. But if I didn’t know that, it might be difficult to guess. In real life, her hackles are a beautiful coppery color. That’s not readily apparent in the photo. Also, her legs are feathered, although rather sparsely. You can’t see that in the photo, either. Her legs are dark in color… but if I didn’t know, I would have to wonder if her legs looked dark in the photo simply because she was slightly in silhouette, with the light behind her,  or if it was an accurate reflection of the color of her legs.

I prefer to maintain a little mystery about me in this photo.

In other words, it would be possible to guess, just judging from this photo, that this hen  could be an Australorp, too… but we would be wrong

Additionally, there are sometimes other rarer breeds that might fit the description you’ve given, but which are less common. For instance, Black Orpingtons wouldn’t have been eliminated by any of the tests above. However, since black is a relatively rare plumage color for an Orpington in this country, it’s not a guess we would consider likely.

Finally, all our guesses may be for naught; you could have a mixed breed chicken. Unless you want to have DNA testing done, no guess will be absolute!

Do you have any chickens you need help identifying? You can ask about them below in the comments–be sure to give every detail! If you have any pictures, you can post them to our Facebook page and ask about them there.

I’ve sort of hesitated writing about Hildy, my blind hen. Why? I get emotional about her. Of all the chickens I’ve had, she was one of my absolute favorites. She died a little more than a year ago. But I was looking through some old photographs, and I made it through without crying, so maybe it’s time.

Hello, Hildy. Our blind hen was a speckled sussex; you can see in this photo that her right eye was sightless

We don’t think Hildy was a completely blind hen; rather, she was mostly blind. We’re not entirely sure about the extent to which she had sight. She seemed to have some ability to distinguish light and see shapes. She could eventually find us when we called her name. But discerning light and dark: that was probably about it. She often ran into things, and often missed the feeder as she tried to access food.

As a chick, she was normally sighted. At a few months old, perhaps three or four, she received an injury. We’re not sure how; she may have been pecked in the eye. The loss of her sight dropped her to the bottom of the pecking order; she couldn’t see attacks coming, so she had no way to avoid them. And because of her sightlessness, she often instigated pecking from other hens accidentally by simply walking straight into them. Poor Hildy.

During her long recovery, I used to go out to the coop three or four times a day and stand watch over her while she ate and drank. I wanted to make sure she was getting plenty and that she had some unmolested time at the feeders and waterers. Eventually, she began to anticipate my visits and run to my feet (or the general vicinity) when she heard me come in.

Because of the special attention she received, she became extra friendly. She loved being picked up, and settled comfortably into the arms of strangers. In fact, she was one of the hens who always won people over to chickens. To begin with, she had her beautiful speckled plumage…

She couldn’t know how pretty she was!

and she simply had no fear of people. She loved being touched, and if she wasn’t given enough attention and petting for her liking, she would stand on your feet until she got it.

Just stand there, pressing her body against your leg.

Her injury took a long while to heal, and she never recovered her sight. But she was able to reintegrate herself into the flock, at least to a certain extent, and she was a champion layer once she got started.

Next week, I’ll share another story about our blind hen Hildy if there’s enough interest (let me know in the comments!). In the meantime, please also share any stories about special needs hens you have.

If you have a microflock—meaning an exceptionally small flock of three to five hens—you have to be selective with your breed choices if you want to be able to gather enough eggs to supply your family.

Some towns tightly restricts on the number of hens you can keep to just three or five, so you need the best layers you can find for your little flock. Commonly, these “high production” choices will be the RIR, the white leghorn, and/or various hybrid production reds (such as the Golden Buff/Red Star). With three young hens from the above breeds in your microflock, you can usually expect 15 to 21 eggs per week in the laying season—plenty for a family (if the family is small). You won’t go wrong with those choices!

But what if you’re interested in keeping some less common pet chicken breeds in your microflock?

Silver Spangled Hamburgs can be a good choice for a microflock

At My Pet Chicken, we find our customers often want to explore some unusual varieties. They want a mix of colors and personalities in their flock. They like unusual and beautiful plumage patterns, including stripes, spots and lacing. They want fancy feathering, like beards, crests and feathered legs. They want people to see the birds in their flock and be astounded at the varieties of chicken available. The problem is that sometimes the unusual varieties don’t lay so well.

For example, Silkies—they are fabulous! But their eggs are quite small, and even though they lay relatively well when they’re laying, they go broody so often that they don’t usually lay a huge number of eggs per year. If you keep a flock of three silkies, it may satisfy your desire for adorable pet chickens, but it may not entirely satisfy your desire for eggs.

Silkies may be great pets, but they’re not especially productive layers because they’re so broody. If egg production is a concern, a silkie probably won’t be a good choice for a microflock.

Polish are similar. I mean–WOW!–look at them! With their cool top knots, they hardly look like chickens. They’re more like lawn decorations, with incredibly beautiful plumage patterns and huge crests. But, if you can only keep a few chickens—and if you also want lots of eggs—you may find yourself disappointed, since they don’t lay very well and their eggs are small. If you kept a flock of three young Polish, you’re likely to get less than a dozen eggs a week. Considerably less.

Polish, including Polish Frizzles like this one, lay small eggs infrequently, so they aren’t the best choice for a productive microflock

They are fun additions to a larger flock of egg layers, but if you can only keep three pet chickens—and if you want eggs as well—you want chickens that are not only unusual, but also productive. When the number of chickens you keep IS tightly restricted, it is possible keep something other than leghorns, Rhode Island Reds and other common stand-bys, and still have eggs!

Here’s a list of unusual—yet productive—breeds to consider for a microflock. Be sure to follow the links below for photos and more information about each breed.

Top 7 Pet Chicken Breeds for your Microflock

1. Plymouth Rock – The Barred Plymouth Rock is an heirloom favorite. They produce nearly as well as the Rhode Island Red, and have a similar, friendly personality, but their back-and-white striped plumage is far more striking than the plain red of the RIRs. Also consider other plumages of Plymouth Rock, such as the Partridge or Silver Penciled.
2. Sussex – The Speckled Sussex is another heirloom favorite. These extraordinarily friendly birds are a particular favorite of My Pet Chicken employees, who seem to have had more than their fair share of exceptionally affectionate speckled hens. Joyce had Lenore, for example, and I myself had Hildy. Speckled Sussex are great foragers with beautiful plumage, and in addition to being generally calm, friendly birds, they’re fabulous layers, too–and even lay well in winter.

   Flora the Speckled Sussex shows off her plumage while foraging

3. Faverolles – Salmon Faverolles have beautiful plumage, mostly white with white laced salmon feathers on their heads and backs. They also have fancy feathering, including feathered legs and beards. They lay very well, and also forage well. Since they tend to be submissive and fall at the bottom of the pecking order, they don’t always do well in a small mixed flock. But if you want a small flock of an unusual and beautiful chicken breed, you couldn’t do much better than keeping a flock of Faverolles.
4. Dominique – The Dominique is an American heirtage breed with plumage similar to the Barred Plymouth Rock, but the Dominique’s small comb means they are less susceptible to frostbite. They are good layers of brown eggs. They also tend to be more economical to feed than many backyard breeds, not only because of their relatively small size, but also because they forage extremely well. Our Dominiqies in particular seem to be customer favorites—we must have a particuarly friendly line, based on feedback from our customers, at least!
5. Welsummer – Welsummers are lovely hens, with warm brown plumage with a hint of flame coloring around their necks. They’re friendly and wonderful foragers, but the really unusual and interesting thing about them is that they lay a productive number of beautiful dark brown, terracotta eggs. Not only that, their eggs are often speckled. Wellie eggs are a standout in the egg carton, and fun to show off to family and friends.
6. Wyandotte - Wyandottes with laced feathers have an absolutely stunning appearance. Each feather is trimmed in a contrasting color, making it look as if they’re dressed in dragon scales. They’re calm around people, and are very good layers of brown eggs. What’s more, they’re also quite cold hardy, and continue to lay relatively well during the winter.
7. Hamburg - The Hamburg lays prolific quantities of small white eggs. This breed may not be the best choice for everyone: like leghorns, Hamburgs are not known for friendliness, and they tend to need a lot of space. They are also good flyers, so they can be hard to keep contained! Nonetheless, if you do have room, Hamburgs can make a beautiful addition to your backyard flock, because they eat little, forage extremely well, and lay plenty. If you were considering Leghorns, you might want to consider Hamburgs instead.

Beautiful!

Many of you may be wondering why I haven’t included Easter Eggers on my list of good choices for a microflock. I admit I waffled on this, but finally decided against it. Easter Eggers are beautiful and friendly, they have fancy feathered beards, and another bonus is that their eggs can be shades of blue and green, which is often stunning to people who’ve never seen the amazing colors chicken eggs can be. But Easter Eggers are notoriously bad winter layers. Plenty of microflocks do include Easter Eggers, but before settling on this choice, be sure to consider whether or not the poor winter laying will be a problem for you.

What breeds would you recommend for a microflock–do you think I should have included Easter Eggers, or do you have any other suggestions? Please share your thoughts in the comments for the benefit of those trying to plan their first microflock.

You can tell your backyard pet chickens are too hot when they hold their wings away from their bodies to help release heat; they may also pant with their beaks open to try to cool themselves off. But what can you do other than choose heat hardy breeds…  or move north?

Don’t move; I like it here!

After all, while you may be willing to bring your dog or cat inside to huddle in the air conditioning with you,  most people are not interested in having their flock of backyard pet chickens in the house. I love chickens, mind you, but I don’t want them roosting on my sofa, or flying up to the kitchen table to see what I’m doing! Having one chicken inside temporarily to recover from an injury is not akin to having a whole flock of backyard pet chickens in your house for the air conditioning. Plus, frankly, the chickens won’t be too happy about going from foraging the lovely yard for bugs and greens, to foraging your carpet for lint and fuzz!

This is much better than carpet!

Here are our five best tips for helping your flock of backyard pet chickens beat the heat:

1. Make sure your chickens have plenty of  fresh water. Hens especially need to stay hydrated–it takes a lot of moisture to produce eggs, and they can easily get dehydrated on hot days, even if they’re just without water for a few hours. Even being out of water briefly means they could be off laying for several days if not longer. If they’re without water for a longer period in a heat wave like this, they could die from heat stress.

2. Make sure your chickens have access to shade in their run, especially during the hottest part of the day. Some runs have plenty of shade in the morning and evening when the sun is low, but little or none when the sun is high overhead in the middle of the day. If your run doesn’t have adequate shade for your backyard pet chickens, consider rigging a tarp or setting up a gazebo tent to make sure they have somewhere to escape the beating sun!

The flock takes shade under the pear tree

3. Make sure your coop doesn’t get too hot. Some coops heat up during the day like the inside of a car, so check to make sure ventilation is adequate. In very hot areas, it’s common to have a three-sided coop, with the fourth wall made of secure welded wire like 1/2″ hardware cloth. Some coops in extremely hot areas may have welded wire floors, as well. While being kept permanently on wire can cause foot problems for chickens, if they have a run and access to the ground during the day, it won’t be a problem for your chickens the way it is in some factory farm situations where the chickens must stand hunched on wire 24/7. Your backyard pet chickens will roost at night off the wire, and during the day will spend time on the ground. However, this system won’t work well if you also have cold, icy winters!

3. Keep your chickens’ water cool with ice. Of course, you can simply put ice cubes directly into their waterers, but remember, the larger the block of ice, the longer it will take to melt, so using blocks of ice is usually a better idea than small cubes. Make sure ahead of time that what you are using will fit into your waterer, though. You can buy cold packs and use those, or you can “make your own” by freezing water in plastic bottles. Place your commercial or DIY cold pack  in your backyard pet chickens ‘ waterer.  You can also simply freeze blocks of ice in clean cartons (such as a small paper milk carton), peel away the carton for a black of ice to add to their waterer. Be creative!

4. Offer frozen or refrigerated foods to your backyard pet chickens as a treat in the heat. Chickens especially love refrigerated watermelon—and it’s so high in moisture that it also helps keep them hydrated. Frozen grapes or berries are also good choices, as is frozen corn. Be sure to offer any treats in moderation, as always—and also try to to offer the treats in the shade. Don’t make your chickens come out from the shade in order to get something that will cool them off!

5. Use a mister… or avoid using one! In some circumstances, a mister works well. In others… not so much. If you live in a dry area such as the desert southwest, a pet mister can really help keep your flock cool. By contrast, if it’s very humid in your area, a mister can cause problems. Misters work by cooling the air as the water quickly evaporates, but if it’s very humid in your area, the mist will not evaporate, but will simply create a muddy mess and increase overall mugginess. Mud and moisture also serve as a breeding ground for insects and bacteria, and in some cases, invite the growth molds and mildews. If your area is too humid for a mister, consider getting a small kiddie pool and filling it with an inch or so of ice-cooled water during the heat of the day. Most chickens will enjoy chilling their feet in the cool water, and you can dump out the water at the end of the day (reuse it in your garden or for your landscaping) to keep it fresh.

What are your tips for keeping your flock of backyard pet chickens cool in the heat?

People are always asking us which is the best chicken breed–which breed should they get? Of course, we have to explain that it all depends on what you’re looking for in a chicken! We often point them toward our “Chicken Chooser” Breed Selection Tool, an online “quiz” where you can input your criteria, and then receive a list of birds that  would work for your situation.

But when you get a list of breeds that would work for your criteria, how do you choose the best chicken breed for your personality? We usually suggest reading the breed descriptions and looking at the photos, just to see if you find one more striking than the others.

This silver-laced Polish Frizzle is striking, but it certainly isn’t the best chicken breed for everyone!

The best chicken breed on your list may be the prettiest, or the best layer, or the most cold hardy, for example, depending on your personality.

For that reason, we’ve made this short list. If you’ve looked at the online tool and need more help choosing between breeds, this post could help you!

Best chicken breed for your personality

You’re utilitarian and efficient

If you want the best chicken breed and you have a mostly practical outlook on life, you may want to consider these birds: Rhode Island Red, Sex link (Stars/Golden Buffs/etc.), Leghorn, Australorp, Plymouth Rock.

Poor Prissy, my Rhode Island Red, sometimes comes outside and only afterwards realizes she doesn’t want to be out in the snow! Here she is trying to perch on an old chair so she doesn’t have to walk in it, anymore.

These are some of the most common, easy-to-find breeds—and they’re popular for good reason! They lay well and tend to be hardy in a wide variety of climates across the country. They’re also less likely to go broody than some breeds, meaning there is little “down” time. Plus, these breeds tolerate confinement well so they’re a good choice for small urban yards. These breeds are also chosen for those who may want to sell eggs, because they produce efficiently.

Chances are good that if a lot of these breeds are appealing to you, you’re someone who doesn’t like to take chances, or who wants to make the most of what they have—both good qualities to have in a chicken AND and human!

You’re assertive and practical 

If you want the best chicken breed to address a specific need, you may want to consider these breeds: Chantecler, Buckeye, Fayoumi, Hamburg, Brahma, Andalusian, Spitzhauben, Orpington (buff).

This silver spangled hamburg is heat tolerant and lays large numbers of small white eggs

Birds in this category are often chosen for hardiness in a more extreme climate. Some are quite cold hardy (Chantecler, Buckeye, Brahma), while others tolerate hot climates (Fayoumi, Hamburg, Andalusian, Spitzhauben).

Chances are good that if a lot of these breeds appeal to you, you pay attention to detail more often than others. You may be someone knows exactly what you need, and you make choices to assure you get it.

You’re dependable and reliable

If you want the best chicken breed and you’re someone who has an appreciation for the “good old days” and history, then you may want to consider these classic breeds: Welsummer, Speckled Sussex, Faverolles, Dorking, Dominique, Delaware, New Hampshire.

This Welsummer is a good winter layer

Birds in this category are chosen for a variety of reasons, but often because they offer a little bit of everything: They’re beautiful and unusual, but lay well. They go broody and will raise chicks, but aren’t stubborn about it. They forage well, but will also tolerate confinement. These are older, classic breeds that are well-rounded and time-tested. While these breeds will do well in a small urban plot, they’ll also make the most of a larger suburban yard.

Chances are good that if these breeds in this category appeal to you, you’re someone who likes to grow heirloom veggies or flowers, and save seeds.

You dance to your own beat of your own drum

Silkie, Polish, Frizzle, Turken, Easter Egger, Sultan, Sumatra, Serama, Crevecoeur, various bantams

This white silkie looks more like a kitten than a chicken!

You gravitate toward the most unusual-looking breeds, and are less interested in purely practical poultry. These breeds may go broody a lot, meaning they won’t lay well year-round… or they lay may lay very small eggs, and seldom. (Easter Eggers are the exception: they tend to lay a fair number of large eggs, although they’re not good winter layers in northern areas.) Regardless, birds in this category are chosen for their value as show or pleasure birds (fur-like or curly feathers, small size, large crests,  beards, naked necks, blue/green eggs, etc.). Even if you don’t show birds officially, you probably enjoy having birds that don’t look much like stereotypical chickens to show off to your friends and neighbors!

Chances are good that if these are the breeds that most appeal to you, you’re conscious of appearances and presentation—whether it’s because you’re extremely fashionable, or because you bend over backwards to sport your own personal style, regardless of what others are doing.

You appreciate the sophisticated and rare

Marans, Cream Legbar, Penedesenca, Ameraucana, Araucana, Barnevelder, Cochin, Orpington (rare colors), Sussex (rare colors)

This black copper marans hen lays chocolate brown eggs

Breeds in this category are often harder to locate, so it’s most likely that you’ll get (or have) these breeds if you’ve dedicated some effort not only to learning about all sorts of chicken breeds in general, but also because you’ve dedicated significant effort into acquiring the specific rare breeds you want. This category has a lot in common with the beat-of-your-own-drum category above because these birds often have a lot of show value, but these breeds tend to be a little more practical to keep in a small flock. They lay fair numbers of eggs, but have show or pleasure qualities as well. For instance, they may lay dark chocolate eggs, or blue eggs. Or you may like to get the rare, hard-to-find colors of common breeds, like Orpingtons–which also come in plumages like “lavender”–or Sussex which can be found in plumages like “coronation.” In order to get these breeds, you have to be educated enough about chicken breeds to be aware of them… and committed enough to seek them out.

Chances are good that if breeds in this category appeal to you, you may home incubate, as some breeds in this category are available only as hatching eggs. You may consider yourself a chicken nerd or a chicken addict!

If you have breeds in every category, you may also consider yourself a chicken addict!

Chicken addict with flock! (Photo courtesy of the Hot Tomato Pin Up Academy.)

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Tell us, do we have you pegged, or have we got it all wrong?

It’s that time of year! Baby chick ordering for 2014 has begun at My Pet Chicken. Before you leave for Black Friday shopping, you may want to reserve your Black Friday Flock.

Some of the rarer breeds (or preferred colors) of baby chicks sell out fast! Black Copper Marans, for example, are often all reserved within just a few weeks of being made available.  For instance, as I check this morning, I see that they’re already sold out until MID-MAY of 2014. That will change quickly, too, so if there are any special breeds you’re just dying for, you’ll want to place your order soon.

Now, maybe.

Maybe you shouldn’t even wait until Black Friday to reserve your Black Friday Flock. Consider this a friendly suggestion to get a, um… a sort of Greyish Tuesday Flock reserved.

Here’s a quick list of the Top Ten Breeds that tend to sell out fast. If the breed you want is on this list, be sure to make your reservation soon:

1. Silkies of all colors, but particularly White Silkies
2. Blue and Wheaten Ameraucanas
3. Salmon Faverolles
4. Speckled Sussex
5. White Sultans
6. Welsummers
7. Chanteclers
8. Buckeyes
9. Frizzle bantams
10. Mille Fleur bantams

Black Friday Flock–do you really want to wait that long? Place your baby chick order today to guarantee you get the flock you want next year!

We have some good and bad news about our Salmon and Blue Salmon Favaucanas.

Juvenile Favaucanas are so pretty together! These are mostly blue salmon Favaucanas.

We’ve had nearly 400 people (at the time of this writing) sign up to be notified about when our Salmon Favaucanas—our new “designer cross”—will be available to order.  Those of you who have been following the blog will remember this is a cross breed I started hatching at my WV farm, and which I promptly fell in love with. They’re beautiful and calm, social and friendly, hardy and productive. They lay beautiful sage green eggs in copious amounts, and are great foragers.

And friendly. Did I say friendly? Did I say sage green eggs? Did I say lots of them?

Also look at how beautiful the roosters are. Here’s our Favaucana rooster D’artagnan.

When I provided our CEO (Chief Eggsecutive Officer) Traci with eggs so she could hatch her own Salmon Favaucanas, Traci promptly fell in love with them, too. That’s when we hatched a plan to develop designer Favaucanas for My Pet Chicken to sell—we wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience how awesome Favaucanas are! Once the breeding program was set up, I shared the good news here on the blog, and we provided a place for people to sign up to be notified about when Favaucanas could be ordered.

But you know us. We wanted our Favaucanas to be raised with access (actual, meaningful access) to the outdoors, where they could forage and be… you know… chickens, rather than just egg producing machines. And so they were: our set up was probably very much like the type of set up most of you have at home, lots of space and sunshine and outdoors.

Here are some Favaucanas in my mixed flock at home

Unfortunately, having access to the outdoors also means the outdoors has access to the chickens. Wild birds can get in the chickens’ area, for instance, and while that’s not usually a problem, it CAN be… and it was in our case. My home flock is fine, thank goodness. But the Salmon  Favaucana breeding flock contracted an illness from wild birds and had to be culled. This was tragic not only on a business level, but on a personal level. You know we love our chickens, and having a flock die on us was just tremendously heartbreaking.

Winter sunset and Salmon Favaucana hen

That’s the bad news: we lost the whole Salmon Favaucana breeding flock, and have to start all over with the Salmon Favaucanas.

But on to the good news: the Salmon Favaucanas were not our ONLY Favaucana plan. We’re tricksy that way. We also developed Blue Favaucanas. The Blue Favaucaunas have the same wonderful characteristics of the Salmon Favaucanas–down to egg color!–but with the pretty smoky blue plumage that’s all the rage right now.  And the Blue Favaucanas will be available very soon, so soon we’ve already listed Blue Favaucanas on the My Pet Chicken website.

Blue Faverolles photo, courtesy of Beanwood Faverolles in the U.K. The blue Favaucanas will be similar, but with a pea comb and a slightly less profuse beard

So… we’ll do the same things here that we did for the Salmon Favaucanas: if you would like to be notified when the Blue Favaucanas are available for ordering, please comment below. We’ll notify you FIRST by email!

When getting into pet chickens, one of the most common disappointments in the process happens even to people who have done all their homework and have done their best to prepare. They’ve checked their local laws to confirm pet chickens are permitted. They’ve researched chicken care, purchased a brooder, and built or bought a coop. They may even have egg cartons in readiness, and special treats. They’ve done their homework on chicken breeds, and have chosen which breeds they want for their situation. They’ve chosen beautiful breeds, or friendly breeds, or those with colorful eggs or friendly personalities… or a combination of rare chicken breeds! They may even have some names ready for the baby chicks they can’t wait to receive. However, they’ve wisely put off purchasing their rare breeds of chickens until everything—or so they think!—is in readiness at their house. 

Everything seems ready from here!

Does this sound like you? (If so, good for you for taking the time to really prepare!)

Can’t you totally just feel that fuzzy little baby on your hand?

But here comes the disappointment: when they go to order those lovely, wonderful, rare chicken breeds they’ve picked out, they’re sold out! It often turns out that the rare breed chicks they want aren’t available for 6 months—or next year!  They’ve failed to realize that they want the chocolate or olive egg layers for various reasons of awesomeness… but so does everyone else!  And everyone else got there first. If you don’t want to stick entirely to relatively common breeds like Rhode Island Reds, you may be in for a shock.

It’s a terrible feeling. Unpleasant surprises like this—and this is truly a very common “mistake,” if it can even be called a mistake—are one reason why we wrote our book, the My Pet Chicken Handbook. Our book warns  about issues like this in advance, so you can plan like an expert, even when you’re just getting started.

Important distinction: Learning from your mistakes is good. But learning from others’ mistakes is far less stressful!

But if you weren’t aware that in many cases you’ll have to order so far ahead, don’t despair. There are still TWO ways to get rare chicken breeds, even if you didn’t think to order them months in advance.  Let me explain.

Like all hatcheries, we have to count our chickens before they’ve hatched. Literally. We have to predict how many of each breed’s eggs will hatch, because not all eggs hatch, even in our high-tech incubators (or even under a hen). So buying chicks is akin to purchasing an airline ticket… but it’s a ticket for a  plane that capriciously changes sizes and on the day of your flight, may have 35 seats, or only 28. Does that sound awkward to manage? It is!

How many of you are coming out of there?!

When the hatchery knows there’s a good chance only 28 seats—er, chicks—will hatch, that’s how many we make available to reserve. We don’t want to sell 35 Welsummers when only 28 may be available, because we don’t want to disappoint the people who—in a wibbley wobbley timey wimey way—ordered 7 chicks that didn’t exist!  (Or will not have existed. What tense are we in? Where’s the Doctor?)

Being completely without the power of time travel, hatcheries must estimate how many eggs will hatch based on how many eggs have been set, and referring to various statistics relating to the hatchability of the eggs of that particular breed at that time of year. At My Pet Chicken estimate with good accuracy (but conservatively, to avoid disappointments), and we may adjust availability if we find our flocks are producing more eggs each week (or more eggs are hatching each week) than we anticipated.

So, how to get those chicks you want if you didn’t realize you had to plan so far in advance?

Top 2 ways to get “sold out” rare chicken breeds

1 – Check 21 days before your hatch date for updates due to having more eggs to set than predicted.

Chickens take 21 days to hatch, so we often ADD more chick availability if there are significantly more eggs to set that week than we anticipated. This additional availability usually happens Mondays and Tuesdays at My Pet Chicken. But act quickly if you see your chicks available, because we may only make an addition of, say, 5 chicks! There won’t be many! But if you’re dying for, say, White Silkies, then you may not have to wait until next year. If you check on Mondays or Tuesdays, you may see additional availability about 21 days out.

How can we blame you for wanting a Silkie or two?

2 – Check early morning on Mondays for “overhatch” chicks that can ship THAT DAY.

We don’t have solid numbers until the chicks actually pop out of their shells and are sorted by sex. We estimate how many will hatch, and we estimate how many of each sex we’ll have. Chicks normally hatch at a 50 – 50 ratio of males to females. However, that ratio is never exact. If we hatch 100 chicks, there is no guarantee that exactly 50 of them will be female. We account for normal variations (and having “rare breed” assortments helps us to manage small differences), but occasionally we’re off by more than a few and can add “overhatch” chicks, chicks available that very day, to be reserved. Again, these go quickly. Sometimes we have quite a few overhatched, but with rare breeds, it’s seldom more than 10, and sometimes as few as one lone chick.

If it’s the Speckled Sussex you want, though, it won’t matter if there’s just one! It’s great to get the breed you want.

You’ll want to watch our Facebook page every Monday morning for overhatch updates, and place your order ASAP when you see the chicks you want–reserve them before anyone else does!

Are there any breeds you’ve been dying for but can’t seem to get?

One question we often get asked by people planning for their first flock of backyard chickens is this: how do I get friendly birds? How do you train pet chickens to eat from your hand? In most cases, the answer is simple: Handfeeding pet chickens is something you almost never have to specially “train” them to do. Chickens love to eat, and if the food is in your hand, then so be it!

Even so, we do have some tips to share that can help if you’re brand new and starting from scratch (pun intended), or in certain other situations where handfeeding chickens may present some obstacles.

Situation 1: Your brand new baby chicks all run, terrified, from your hand!

This is an issue that often happens with people brand new to chicken keeping, who may not immediately understand how to interact with chickens. For some it’s intuitive, but others may relate more intuitively to other pets.

If this is what you’re picturing when you think of pet chickens, it’s easy to achieve!

You can do it in a few short hours

Imagine, for example, a dog person trying to interact with a cat with the same sort of play dogs often appreciate. Dogs enjoy a vigorous scratch behind the ears and some roughhousing, while cats tend to prefer more gentle handling offered on their terms, which does not affront their dignity. To approach a cat the same way you approach a dog is to invite the cat to regard you as a mannerless philistine.

Similarly, even though chickens are friendly and can make very good pets—even seeking out your lap and begging for affection— you must first understand how to approach them and interact with them. A person new to chickens may beg for my help taming “wild” chicks that run from their hand whenever it’s placed in the brooder; they are astounded when I have them rushing to my own hand in a matter of 30 minutes. Or just five.

Knowing how to interact with chickens is key

“But I tried the exact same thing!,” they protest. When I reached in, they just ran away! What gives?”

I explain that there are a few key things to keep in mind when interacting with chickens:

Chickens are prey animals, in contrast to dogs and cats, who are predators. Dogs hunt in packs and instinctively cooperate with members of their social group. Cats are solitary hunters. Chickens are certainly bug (and occasional mouse) hunters, but a pack of chickens does not coordinate to hunt down a single prey like dogs do. Chickens are solitary hunters like cats (what bugs I find, I eat!)… but unlike cats, they also organize into flocks, their packs, for safety.

While the hens forage, the roosters keep watch and sound the alarm when a predator is spotted. If there is no rooster, a dominant hen may take that social role. Chickens watch other flock members for clues; when one startles and runs for cover, especially if she is high up on the pecking order, they all may take their clue from her and emulate her behavior. Compounding this issue is that chickens are more or less “programmed” to avoid danger from overhead. This means that when you lean over the brooder and reach your hand in from above, every instinct screams for them to flee. The sky is falling!

The solution? Simple enough. Don’t lean over the brooder, and don’t reach directly down into the center of a group of chicks. Sit down and sidle or scoot over to the brooder obliquely. When you reach in, reach in to the side nearest you, rather than toward the chicks directly. Then just leave your feed or treat filled hand in there a while so they can get used to you. When your hand doesn’t turn into a five-headed bird-destroying monster, the most dominant bird in your flock will eventually come over to investigate.

The thing is, you only need to charm the dominant bird. The others will all follow their comrade. Once that first bird starts eating, the others will quickly follow, and voila! You are handfeeding chickens. Wash your hands afterward. Repeat this process a few times over the course of a few days, and they will take less and less time to approach your hand. With friendlier breeds, you may have them instantly rushing you in just a matter of a few hours or less.

Situation 2: You’re adopting adult birds, and they are stand-offish.

“Taming” adult birds can be a challenge even to experienced chicken keepers. What makes it hard is that birds are unquestionably creatures of habit, and where your affection isn’t a part of their habit, it will take a while to establish.

Once it is established, though, it is amazing!

What makes it easy is that chickens are overwhelmingly food-motivated. They also develop associative memories, so as simple as it seems, to create the habit of friendliness, ground feed them. Don’t immediately worry about handfeeding. In other words, drop something delicious on the ground and let them eat it while you’re there. Be aware that (1.) sudden, vigorous “throwing” motions can scare them (death from above!); (2.) birds that are more timid may be put more at ease of you are crouching or sitting than if you’re looming over them; and (3.) use feed or treats that come in relatively small tidbits that they’ll have to forage, rather than bigger chunks they can grab and run away with.

Some birds might be more tempted by a container of treats, but scattering some on the ground is usually more instinctually satisfying to chickens

Scratch works well, and our Kelp and Bug Crunchy Trail Mix, designed for chickens is a bit higher in protein (plus it provides micronutrients they need). Another favorite is mealworms. Sunflower seeds or chicken “crack” also work well.

Whatever you provide, you should leave just before they’re finished; leave before they do… thus, the treats are only around when YOU are around. They will come to associate you with abundance and deliciousness. 

Once they come rushing to your feet when you step into their area, you’ll be able to move on to the next step. While you’re crouched or seated, drop some treats to get them interested, but leave most of them in your extended hand. Just as with the baby chicks above, all you need to do is charm the most dominant bird, and you’ll be handfeeding your chickens in no time. With adults who are set in their ways, it may simply take a little longer than it does with baby chicks.

What is that in your hand? Is it for me?!!

Situation 3: Your flock is not comprised of friendly breeds.

This is the most challenging of the three situations. The truth is that a wild Penedesenca, under most circumstances, will simply not become as friendly as a Speckled Sussex, Silkie, or Orpington. Some breeds tend to startle easily, and may be regarded as “flighty,” but they are not actually unfriendly. They may just require extra attention to avoiding movements that may trigger instincts to flee from danger. But other breeds actively avoid human contact.

The best solution here is… if you want friendly birds, be sure to choose friendly breeds. (Our book, the My Pet Chicken Handbook, has the most comprehensive guide to choosing the right breed for your situation you will find anywhere.) But if you’re in a situation where you already have some avoidant breeds and want to tame them… you can do so, but it will require patience. Your wild or unfriendly breeds will sometimes not get near enough to you at first to eat any treats you may drop. So, start out by dropping treats or feed… then stepping back to allow them to approach. Again, the dominant bird will usually be the first to take the plunge. Stay where you are, and be very still while they eat.

It’s unusual with most breeds, but sometimes working toward handfeeding chickens takes patience!

Over the course of a few days (or possibly a few weeks, depending on how flighty they are and how well your body language says “I’m no danger!”), stand closer and closer to the treats as your chickens eat. Eventually you will be able to stand among them. Then proceed as above in situation 2: crouch down, extend your hand, and wait for the dominant bird to approach.

This will likely take longer with the wilder breeds than it will for docile ones, but most chickens can be tamed with just a little effort.

In the end, you may find your birds alert to every move you make. As soon as you step out of the house, they will all come running to see what you have for them!

Hey, there! I’m ready for my treats, get corn cracking!

Tell us, what were your experiences in handtaming your birds. When you started, did you find handfeeding chickens difficult, or did you “speak chicken” right away?

Crested chickens: To keep, or not to keep? That is the question—whether ’tis nobler in the, er, flock to suffer the obscured vision of an outrageous crest, or to keep other breeds, and by consumer choice, avoid them…

Why would you want to avoid crested breeds?

There are a few good reasons to avoid crested breeds—but there are also some compelling arguments that those reasons shouldn’t automatically rule out crested chickens in your situation.

Everyone should keep a silkie, right?

So, et’s look at the cons–and discuss when those cons don’t matter!

THE CONS OF CRESTED CHICKENS

Con # 1. Crested chickens tend to get picked on more often by other birds in the flock, because they can’t see a peck coming to avoid it!

When doesn’t that matter? If you keep nothing but crested breeds, everyone is on equal footing. Additionally, you can choose to keep mostly docile rather than aggressive breeds, and you can give your birds plenty of space. Picking is mostly an issue when you keep very aggressive birds, or when your chickens are closely confined. That isn’t the normal arrangement in backyard hobby flocks, where pet chickens often get pleasantly spoiled.

Which way should I duck?

Con #2. Crested chickens are more easily predated. With obscured vision, they can’t see a predator coming as well as clean-headed breeds.

This can certainly be a problem, especially in free range situations. But if you don’t free range your birds–if you keep them in a fully secure area, or range them only when you’re their to supervise—then this is usually nothing to be overly worried about. Some crested chicken breeds such as the Cream Legbar have small crests that don’t appreciably obscure vision. The Appenzeller Spitzhauben tends to have a smaller crest than Polish, Sultans and the like, too.

Who’s there?

Con #3. Crested chickens are not typically “production” breeds, so if you want lots of eggs, choosing crested breeds is not likely to serve you very well.

Polish, especially–one of the more popular crested breeds—lay quite poorly.

My head is shaped like an egg. That’s enough, right?

So do Sultans. Crevecoeur and Houdans are only slightly better. Silkies produce well when they’re not broody, but it seems sometimes that they’re almost always broody and “temporarily” out-of-lay. But there are crested chickens that lay well. Appenzeller Spitzhaubens lay reasonable numbers of eggs, and Cream Legbars lay quite well indeed! Plus, not everyone wants to keep chickens just for the eggs. Some people keep birds for show or pleasure. Others have a mixed flock consisting of breeds to provide plenty of eggs, and a few unusual crested chickens just because they’re so beautiful.

Do you keep crested breeds—and why? What are your favorites?

Chicken math: it’s sort of an inside joke with chicken keepers. It goes something like this:You get approval from your significant other to get just a small flock–maybe five chickens, tops! How do you get to five?

Well, first you need two chocolate layers.

Marans eggs: because who doesn’t want eggs that looks so gorgeous?

Then you need two blue layers. So far so good.

A couple Cream Legbars should provide some lovely blue eggs.

But you notice that the almost-impossible-to-get olive eggers are available on your targeted hatch day, so you add one. Okay, and maybe a Favaucana just for a different shade of green. How many is that; it can’t be more than five, right?

Then, you remember that your  daughter needs a Silkie as her special pet lap chicken.

Chicken Math means the silkie you get your daughter doesn’t count against your flock total.

And your son loves Big Bird, so you add a Polish for him.  If your daughter gets a special chicken, so should he, right? You’re just being fair.

In chicken math, 7 + 1 still equals 5, so long as you have a justification.

When you get your chicks–eight, not five (but who’s counting?)–you realize you’ve forgotten something. Your coop only holds five birds. So, your coop plans have to change. Instead of the small coop you planned for, you’ll have to build or buy one large enough to fit your flock of (eight), I mean five.

The coop you decide on can fit up to fifteen–perfect! There will be plenty of space. For your five, or eight… or whatever. In fact, you could add some more birds!

… so you get to thinking. (This is often dangerous when it comes to chickens.) The truth is that you had really wanted your flock to lay well in the winter, so you’ll have eggs year round. It seems silly to have chickens but maybe be short of eggs in the winter, and a few of your birds aren’t known for winter laying. You decide you should add an Orpington, definitely! They’re friendly, and pretty, and lay well in the winter. Plus you can get the pretty lavender color for your flock. That’s two birds with one stone, er–order—right?

However, to your joy—I mean, dismay—you realize that you do need to order at least five birds so they can safely be shipped. So you take TWO Orpingtons… and add a couple Speckled Sussex, just because it’s what your grandma used to keep. They lay well in winter, too! Also,  a Welsummer, for good measure… and a Silver Laced Wyandotte, because they’re so beautiful. 

Chicken Math to the rescue… your coop has room!

Somehow, five chickens has turned into fourteen: that’s chicken math! It’s especially chicken math if—after all that—you’re still planning what breeds you’ll add for next year. After all, you have space for one more, which means you’ll have to order eight or so and expand the coop.

Please tell your story in the comments: how does chicken math work in your family?

Why is spring the traditional time to begin raising baby chicks? The main reason is that, in the past, chickens simply laid fewer eggs than they do today—and their top laying season was in the spring, so more eggs were available then for hatching. However, since modern chicken breeds have been selected for higher production and near-year-round laying, we can now choose to raise chicks almost any time of year. Fall has some important advantages!

Raise chicks in the fall? You bet. You can start your laying flock as soon as NOW!

The number one reason to raise chicks in the fall is that your pet chickens will be the right age to begin laying the next spring, so they lay wonderfully once they begin since  it’s seasonal for them to lay more eggs in the springtime as the days are growing longer. It’s glorious! 

So far, we’ve been unable to teach them to adorn their nests with spring flowers.

If you’ve chosen breeds that are excellent layers (such as the Rhode Island Red, the Australorp, the Speckled Sussex, and so on), each young bird could be laying as many as seven eggs a week . But even breeds that are fair or poor layers will be laying at their top speed. And believe me, those first backyard eggs you get from your own flock will be the best you’ve ever tasted! You’ll probably be eating more eggs, not only because you’ll have so many, but because they’re so delicious–so having your chickens laying lots of eggs is wonderful, since you’ll have plenty to use.

A second important advantage you get when you raise chicks in the fall is that–if you start them in early fall–their laying is delayed until your birds reach a larger size. While you’d not initially think of this as an advantage, they will lay generally larger eggs throughout their lives, and they’ll lay with more consistency when they experience increasing daylight at the right age.

If I begin laying now, I may as well start laying snow balls.

There are advantages to starting chicks in the spring, though, especially in the north. When you start chicks in the spring, it’s warm (or at the least warmER) outdoors when chicks are old enough to move outside. This means the transition from brooder to coop is much easier, because they’ll be moving from their (by-then) room temperature brooder to similar temperate weather outside. But the traditional problem with spring-raised chicks is that, just as they begin laying, the daylight hours are growing shorter and signaling them to lay fewer eggs during the winter season. This means spring-raised chicks will be producing eggs quite sporadically for their first few months of laying, in comparison to fall-reared chicks.

If you do decide to raise chicks in the fall, the most important thing to remember is to be prepared to provide temporary supplemental heat to help your young birds transition to cold outside weather.