thixotropy

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Athena 2000-2014

Thank you for 14 years of sweet puppy kisses. I will always love you my sweet girl.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Erroneous Egg

A surprise lay in the coop today: a tiny egg! There are many reasons why eggs are small. Here are some possibilities:

1. It is a fairy egg laid by Stripes. Fairy eggs (aka witch eggs) are much tinier than other eggs and sometimes do not have yolk. They can happen randomly or near a chicken's "henopause."

2. It is War Machine's "point of lay," meaning her first egg. These can be yolkless or misshapen or tiny, like fairy eggs.

3. It is actually Stripes' first egg and the other light tan eggs have been War Machine's all along. Stripes is a bantam, which means her eggs may be smaller than a full sized hen's.

I'm hoping for #1, because the other two mean that War Machine is not the blue-egg-laying breed she was promised to be (Ameraucana). Unfortunately, in reading up on the different variety of blue egg layers, it is looking more and more like War Machine is not an Ameraucana. A proper pure-bred hen of this breed should have the following characteristics:

Peacomb (no for WM--hers is a single comb)
Muffs and beard (no for WM--she only has muffs!)
Red earlobes (no for WM--hers are blue!)
Tail (yes for WM)
Blue legs (unclear for WM--I can't find reliable photos that show what "blue" means for chicken legs)
White foot bottoms (also unclear for WM--she won't let me pick her up to check)
Always lay blue eggs (remains to be seen)

So that is only one definite yes out of seven [sad trombone noise]. Of course, she still may be a blue-egg layer, but just not pure bred. They call these types of hens Easter Eggers, because they could lay a variety of colors. The only trait that makes them Easter Eggers is that they are carrying the trait for blue eggs--though they may not display it or pass it on to their chicks. So, only time will tell what kind of chicken she turns out to be.

War Machine: