Re: blotchy shells

Jill wrote:
rumblings wrote:

Yes I bought them in Feb from a seller called Chirpy-Chicks. The
price I quoted was inclusive of postage - or perhaps you were
thinking of a seller called jamo-41 who has a similar sort of listing
for Barred Rocks and also claims to performance test. I thought I
might try him next - unless someone advises differently.

The one I was looking at has just started selling for this year, but is more exhibition than pure utility.

exhibition is a dirty word with me. I chose this lot as the seller claims 280 per year and claims to performance test his birds.


I would say wait a bit into the better part of the season, but you clearly have so many eggs under way that that is a bit moot <vbg>
You are going to have your work cut out keeping track of all the results from that lot.

The various ones which hatched are easy to tell apart and only a percentage will be hens, and I don't performance test and they are free range so it won't amount to much. I can see the three silkies being the most work as I don't want their genes to get into the laying flock and I expect they will be going broody a lot.

Look forward to hearing the results of your breeding in a couple of years time when you have got them all underway.

My laying hens are of mixed breed. They have quite a bit of leghorn in them and I hoped to acquire a good laying strain cockerel of a heavier breed to make them more dual purpose. Rhode Island would do, but the Chirpy-Chicks eggs sounded like a good strain and I thought his birds looked great in the photos.
(http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270209041846)

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