I have spent the last couple of hours trying to get hens that just want to lay an egg to stand for a photo. I give up. One more flat backed, squatty picture and I will scream. 🙁
I did get a good photo of my third place white bird overall from the Minden show. Below is Shine, he has just turned a year-old. His mother/grandmother, ‘Dove’ was Best of Breed. My white pullet was Reserve of Breed.
This was Shine’s first and only show. He is a breeder not a show bird. I just brought him to see how he looked in a show pen and share with other breeders that showed up. He is brassy, has a poor comb and his right tuft was damaged in the breeding pen this year so it’s only half there. Other than that he is a 6 pound mass of muscle and there is not much I don’t just love about him. His chicks are beautiful, correct, BIG, and it’s looking like the comb and brassiness issue is much improved in the next generation. Now if I could just breed a good solid black male Araucana that is built just like this white! 🙂 I would be SOOOO happy.
Below is ‘Boeing’, Reserve of Breed bantam Araucana at APA District Meet, Minden, Louisiana yesterday. This is not the best photo of her but it includes the whopping 1.8 oz egg she laid half way through the show. It caused a bit of a stir from passersby and it is a little larger than what she usually lays (about 1.5 oz). As one of the Silkie Breeders said “I can not believe the big egg came out of that tiny hen”. Boeing played Araucana goodwill ambassador and a number of people handled her and commented on her muscling (she weighs 26 oz). One of my Black bantam Araucana pullets was Best of Breed.
I just wanted to share this photo of Boeing and her egg since she is retired to the breeding pen next week. She has been laying for 3 months now and I need to get some chicks out of her. She is a Christmas day hatch, so she has a birthday coming up. 🙂
Thanks to Ben Porter for the great job on judging our birds.