4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[StephanieSB]

Well for those of you who read this thread-- I believe the mysery is either solved or close to being so about the breed of my gal, Phuzz.

 

This is what Graham from Golden Valley wrote to me today:

 

"STEPHANIE, KNOW YOU TALKED TO MY COLLEAGUE THIS MORNING BUT i NEED TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS, VERY CONFUSED BECAUSE PICTURE YOU SENT ME WAS OF A RHODE ISLAND RED , BLACK TAIL- GIVE ME US ANOTHER CALL AND WILL TRY TO SORT OUT, REGARDS, GRAHAM."

 

I spoke to him just now. Great guy. Very helpful. Very apologetic. And he has offered to either refund me the money I over-paid or to replace her. He's asked me to wait about 10 days to see if all the chickens start laying (he was surprised only 1 had laid already), and to see how they settle in with one another. If there is no bullying, all chickens are happy, and I am happy, he'll just mail me the money owed. If anything else goes wrong, we can talk about adjusting the size and makeup of the flock.

 

The only strange thing now is the colour of her eggs! She looks to him likea RIR, but... her eggs should be brown!

 

Will the mysteries never end?

[Egluntyne]

Sounds a decent fella....better than the experience poor Calnick has had.

 

What will you do?

[StephanieSB]

Sounds a decent fella....better than the experience poor Calnick has had.

 

What will you do?

 

Oh, what happened to Calnick?

 

We'll be keeping her and just getting a refund I am sure. I doubt any of the gals will need replacing for severe bullying or being bullied or sudden-chicken-death-sydrome or malfunctioning laying aparatus or anything dramatic that would lead to that. And we aren't ready to get any more hens now, so.... we'll most likely take the refund for the difference in price and leave it at that.

 

But this egg-colour mystery is so odd. Does anyone have a RIR or RIR-cross that lays light, creamy coloured eggs?

[Snowy]

An odd reply from the breeder still - I'm no expert but your girl has white earlobes. RIRs have red ears and lay a mid brown egg. Your girls ears are the same as my coral nick (although the coral has white feathers) and she lays a creamy egg. Either way, her ears are consistant with her egg colour, and normal for a legbar, but odd for an RIR

 

This is a cream legbar:

http://www.legbars.co.uk/creamlegbar.html

 

Or a Gold Legbar (white eggs):

http://www.legbars.co.uk/goldlegbar.html

 

Oh well, as long as you get some of your money back and she fits in with your flock, doesn't really matter I suppose!

[Egluntyne]

Oh, what happened to Calnick?

 

**Read about it here**

 

You will get your blue egg layer one day.

[StephanieSB]

An odd reply from the breeder still

 

Oh, no, I should be clear -- he said on the phone, after I sent him a picture of the egg (he didnt have tha for his first email reply), that he was as confused as I was, because he knows the egg should be darker if she were a RIR. I think he is now wondering what she is! He's said he sold out of all of his Legbars this weekend -- and I told him that my ginger-possible-RIR gal was not the only one of her colouring and markings in with the more obvious Cream Legbar gals (the ones that ran away from me ) -- and he kept wondering if I was "the lady who took home 4 Cream Legbars".... soooo... I think he'll be solving this mystery for a few other folks than me for some time to come.

 

You will get your blue egg layer one day.

 

Funny thing is, Egluntine, I didn't go there even wanting a blue egg layer! I thought he only had Meadowsweet Hybrids and was just looking for three distinctly coloured birds. When I saw he had about 8 other breeds, I just took a shot and went for 3 diff coloured eggs. But now... I am sort of hooked! I think, yes, one day now I must get me a blue egg layer.

 

But my husband is chuffed, as he thought she was a RIR and he loves them (the only kind of chicken he does like). Says, "Now, those are proper birds!" -- so I guess all ends well.

[Snowy]

That's OK - at least he was helpful! I've just read what happened to poor Calnick Good job suppliers like that are the minority

[StephanieSB]

... I'm no expert but your girl has white earlobes. RIRs have red ears and lay a mid brown egg...

 

Snowy,

 

Now her egg is definitely not white, but beigy-cream. Can you have a look at these ears. They aren't really white. Up close you can see, they are red with different amounts of white blotches on them. Doesn't count as a white ear, does it?

 

I'm hoping I have an entirely new breed or mutant on my hands! Maybe they will let me name it -- "Franken Hen!"

 

Left ear

 

Right ear

[StephanieSB]

Ummm... even to add to the confusion -- this gal looks like my Phuzz's twin! -- Wikipedia photo: Rhode Island Red Hen On Street. But still, she's got red ears w/ white on the feathers near the ear.

 

This RIR gal has beige ears.

 

And this gal's growing her own earring!

 

Oi! Well, so much for the theory that all chickens look alike!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

This is Milly, my Rhode Island Red:

 

 

 

Her eggs are the darker brown ones here:

 

[The Dogmother]

I can't put my hands on any photos of Roxanne at the moment - she's my rhose island red bantam, but your girl is the image of her, just bigger. Roxanne lays mostly darkish brown eggs that have a sort of plum-ish tinge to them, but the colour does vary (as with all hens) and sometimes she lays lighter eggs too.

 

They are lovely birds; really friendly and cuddly.

 

Here's a picture of Roxy's first egg so you can see the colour

 

http://claretblog.vox.com/library/photo/6a00ccff898588673100e398d4c5280004.html

[Egluntyne]

My Tikka has earlobes like the ones above. They look as if they have been Tippexed.

 

She lays a pale beige egg.

[Snowy]

Yes that's what my hens ears are like - sort of splotchy red and white, but not the solid red of the brown eggers, and not the pure white of the leghorns/campine. Mine lays the pale cream eggs. But my legbars ears are the same colour and she does lay blue eggs!

[StephanieSB]

Ah, thank you everyone, thank you! That settles it then -- she's a normal, non-Franken-hen, RIR w/ a black tail, stippled red-white ears, who lays cream eggs... for now.

 

Whew!

 

Now, if only I knew how to disappoint an entire nursery class of 3-4 year olds who saw my son's photos yesterday and who are expecting this strange thing called "a blue egg" to be brought in one day... Maybe I should have waited a couple of days before show-and-tell. Oops

 

Now I can move my mind on to more average new-chicken-owner concerns -- like trying to keep my nerve while the pecking order changes and shifts and gets itself established. Oh, chickens can be such bullies -- but those are tales for another thread, another time...

[The Dogmother]

She's a handsome bird Stephanie

[StephanieSB]

She's a handsome bird Stephanie

 

Thank you!

[dancing cloud]

She's gorgeous and I'm sure you wouldn't trade her in even if she was a Franken-hen

 

You could always cheat and paint or dye an egg blue, if a blue egg is essential?