Coco the mystery chicken...

[Sandrine]

I think it's about time I posted photos of my little flock ??
Here's a bit about them too...
The only pure breeds are Peep (Pekin) and Tilly (Ancona). All the others except Coco, are mixed breeds from my eggs. Rosie and Punkie (New Hampshire Red X Pekin), the other 3 (Punkie X Rosie or Peep or Tilly).
I am actually not sure what Coco is exactly as I can't remember. I bought her from a poultry farm last year and I just cannot remember what the sign on the pen door said... Hybrid more than likely with some Welsummer in her perhaps? Not sure! If you have any bright ideas please do share she's only laid a handful of eggs since last year, they were white / blue eggs.

Round photos are by age order: Peep (3½y), Tilly (2y2m), Coco (1y5m), Rosie and Punkie (1y4m), Lockie (4m) and Shelley and Ash (3½m)

 

[Tweetypie]

Gorgeous hens (and cockerel). They look so healthy. I especially like the pale grey one.

 

[Marigold]

They are lovely. Is that Tilly, in the middle Of the top row of square pics? I love the way she looks so firmly balanced and up together, with such a beautiful golden ruff like a cloak. You can imagine her as a dignified headmistress surveying a school assembly of children, all respectfully silent under her gaze.

 

[rick]

No Coco idea! A great gallery though!

 

[Sandrine]

They are lovely. Is that Tilly, in the middle Of the top row of square pics? I love the way she looks so firmly balanced and up together, with such a beautiful golden ruff like a cloak. You can imagine her as a dignified headmistress surveying a school assembly of children, all respectfully silent under her gaze.

That's Rosie (Peep's daughter) who's worked her way up to the top of the pecking order and now rules the roost jointly with Punkie... You've got her personality to a T lol

 

[Ilovemychickens]

Hi, she does look like a Welsummer but they lay very dark eggs xxx

 

[Margaid]

I've just had a look at a couple of not very good photos of the pure bred Welsummers I had. Coco's tail and the neck colouring are about right but her neck appears to be very short. Also the markings on the feathers on her back are very pronounced - sorry can't remember the technical term. But the most important thing as Ilovemychickens says is that Welsummers lay dark brown eggs. The colour of a Welsummers egg is added at the final stage so they can get quite light in colour through the laying season.

This photo shows a single hen and you can see that her neck is long and the feathers on her back quite plain.


This photo shows the four Welsummers and the cockerel (with the two Exchequer Leghorns and the Crested Cream Legbars near the isolation coop). You can see that the Welsummer hens have long necks



And finally a selection of egg colours. Some of them at this point were empty shells ... I'm fairly sure that they weren't all laying so at least two eggs are from the same hen.

 

[Sandrine]

Hi, she does look like a Welsummer but they lay very dark eggs xxx

Her eggs (the very few we've had from her) weren't particularly dark.

 

[Sandrine]

Thank you Margaid
So I think after looking at all this info that she's probably a cross breed with some Welsummer in her? I never got any dark eggs like the ones on the picture. I am not entirely sure which were her eggs when she laid some because I am pretty sure she's only laid a handful in the last year.
It would be easier to tell now though because at the moment I only get 2 a day out if the 7 hens. Peep doesn't lay anymore - not that she's ever laid past end of August anyway. The 3 young girls are not laying yet. So I only get eggs from Rosie (bottom row on the picture, small and light in colour) and Tilly. (Top row, larger and white).
Although in the photo the white eggs don't look as white as in the reality..
As for her neck, it depends on our she stands... Her neck looks longer when she walks around, though maybe not that much more. I see what you mean about the colours of the feathers as well...