03 August 2010

the chickens

We've had chickens in a backyard coop for about three years now. They each generally lay an (unfertilized) egg every other day.


One of our first two chickens is this golden-sex link, which is a red with buff accents and on her hackles (neck) and the tips of her tail and primary wing feathers.


Our other chicken was this red-sex link, which is a red with black tips on her tail and primary wing feathers. Here she is in the oat patch that I planted for them. They reach up and strip the oats off the stems. She died in May of congestive heart failure.

The term "sex link" comes from the attribute of these hybrids to have sex-linked coloring. The hens have the colors shown here and the roosters have different colors.


This is our new pullet, who is currently about ten-weeks old. Up to eight weeks, she was a chick. She won't lay until she's about twenty-weeks old and won't be considered a hen until she's one-year old. She is a gold-laced Wyandotte. She doesn't have her wattles yet (under her chin) but is starting to grow her comb. Wyandottes have a rose comb, which is compact with a point toward the back of their heads. The sex-links have a simple comb.

The gold-sex link is still mad about having to share space in the yard with her, and doesn't want her in the coop at all. She is getting better. They each like each other's food. The pullet is still eating "chick starter", which are crumbles, and the hen gets layer food, which are pellets fortified with calcium.

1 comment:

  1. Great Pictures Brad - I am glad you have found Morgans blog and he yours as I think your blogging is very much the same - Found the info on the chickens very interesting - when I was small my aunt "gave" me a chicken dunno what breed apart from she was white and I called her Kiev ;)

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