Breed Highlights
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BBS (Blue,Black, Splash) Ameraucana
By Alexandra Forrisi
IG @Home_Chicken_Keeping & @Forrisi_Farm
A true Ameraucana is a large fowl chicken breed recognized by the American Poultry Association. This purebred breed is known for being the blue egg laying chicken since they carry two copies of the blue egg laying gene. They have beards, muffs and pea combs and are a fantastic breed to have! They’re personalities are sweet, friendly and inquisitive. They are also very cold-hardy because of their plumage along with the small size of their combs and wattles.
Delaware
By Suzanne Chandler https://www.flowerfeatherfarm.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlowerFeatherFarm/
Delawares are a larger breed, with stunning coloring: all-white or silver with some black barring on the hackles, wings and tail. Calm, curious, and friendly birds, they lay large brown eggs. Delawares are an excellent choice for free-range as they are especially predator aware and as they are very low maintenance, they are a good fit for beginners. They lay light brown eggs with a pinkish bloom.
Jubilee Orpingtons
By Suzanne Chandler https://www.flowerfeatherfarm.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlowerFeatherFarm/
So fluffy! So gorgeous! Jubilee Orpingtons are gentle winter-hardy birds and faithful layers of brown eggs. Their extreme fluffiness and brown/gold feathering makes them excellent yard-art as they look like a pile of autumn leaves trundling about.
Introduced in 1897 by the WIlliam Cook family to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign, Jubilee Orpingtons have a mahogany ground color with white-tipped black spangles, white shanks and feet, and red eyes.
Silverudds Blue
By Sara Colburn https://facebook.com/notalottaacresoh/
The Silverudds Blue is a breed developed by Swedish chicken enthusiast, Martin Silverudd in the 1980s. Unfortunately, he passed away before "finishing" the breed, but we know that he wanted a true breeding green egg layer. Today's imported US birds are medium sized prolific layer of green, sometimes wonderfully speckled, eggs. The birds come in blue, black and splash plumage coloring, should have dark legs and eyes and a straight single comb.
In my experience, this breed is a wonderful addition to backyard flocks. They lay 250+ large eggs per year, add wonderful color to your egg basket and do well in both coop/run set ups as well as free ranging. When looking for Silverudds, be sure to ask if the birds come from stock that has been tested for the blue egg shell gene or you can run the risk of getting a brown layer (breed fault).
Swedish Flower Hens
By Suzanne Chandler https://www.flowerfeatherfarm.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlowerFeatherFarm/
Swedish Flower Hens, aka Skånsk Blommehöna, are one of my favorite of Flower Feather Farm’s resident flocks. Because they are a land-race — naturally evolving on the land independently of human intervention — the breed sports a terrific variety of looks. They are beautiful on their own and make a hen bouquet when gathered as a flock.
Additionally, Swedish Flower Hens, aka Skånsk Blommehöna, evolved to have superior foraging and predator-evasion skills and are well-suited to our weather and climates, being from Sweden.
They are on the endangered list, as they are not prone to going broody, so adding a flock to your yard helps support this lovely breed.