Introducing the Floracana!
The Goal of this new breed project: - Extremely Hardy - almost no comb or waddles, like Buckeye or Chantecler
- True Dual Purpose - fast growing roos, daily layer hens, like Bielefelders
- Great Forager - a must for sustainable homestead flocks
- Gentlemen Roosters - fierce protectors, kind to people and hens
- Striking Floral Feathers - fun for humans, great camouflage, like Mille Fleurs
- Rainbow of Egg Color - bonus fun for humans, like Easter Eggers
- Quiet - roos crow very little and hens don't fuss about eggs, like.... quail?
This breed is still in the fledgling stage, but I am so excited to share that I could not wait another season to go public with my project! So much has already gone into the gene pool of my flock I just have to spill the beans! Here's the breed list to date:
Bielefelder was my starting point. They were going to be the last breed I ever needed, as the sounded like the perfect chicken. Huge gentle roos, hens that popped out a big, beautiful, heavy (not kidding) egg a day, and autosexing to top it off. So why was this not my last chicken? Three reasons. First, they ate like pigs and were lazy. They would rather stand around the feeder and chow down and get fat than patrol the countryside to feed themselves. Maybe it was just my flock, but this was not working out for me at all. Second, though they are hardy, the tall comb and large waddles are a problem in the north where temperatures are just too cold to flaunt such accessories. Even with a rose comb, floppy waddles are just not ideal. Reason number three, they all look exactly the same. Maybe that's great if you can't stand to get attached to your food, but I love to get to know individuals, so for me, short of always having a mixed flock, I need something with speckles or other unique markings.
Easter Egger- I was given 4 EE hens, which seemed like a great idea because their eggs would be our eating eggs as they were completely different than those of the Bielefelder and would be easy to spot. But they were so beautifully blue! Being the diversity loving gene-happy breeder that I am, of course it didn't take long for me to see a blending of the gene pool. Who knows what breeds went in to create those Easter Eggers? But a little bit of a mystery is a fun thing! So into the incubator went my first Easterfelders!
Speckled Sussex and Mille Fleur d'Uccles- I needed flowers. I had regained a few of my original Mille Fleur d'Uccles from my daughter, but I wanted large fowl flowers, So we got Speckled Sussex. Loved loved loved the breed! I would still go back to them in a heartbeat! Great foragers, sweet, curious, ...Shortcomings? Large comb and waddles in the boys, and not quite enough eggs, though I knew good breeding could fix that. But I can't let go of the blue eggs. I just love colored eggs!
Meanwhile...
Buckeyes- Hardy! Still not satisfied with finding a true cold hardy breed, I derided on adding buckeyes to the zoo. Noisiest chicks I ever had! But they grew into the quietest chickens I ever had, go figure. Buckeyes are Great foragers and can even teach other chickens how to forage too! And they thrived in the cold weather with no complaints. But...They all look alike, and egg laying is the average every other day, and of course, are not blue.
Ameraucanas- I officially set off on a mission. At first, this mission was to breed Speckled Ameraucanas using Speckled Sussex and Ameraucanas. But I soon decided that all these wonderful traits I had collected could be combined to create a whole new breed of chicken! I made two breeding pens. In one pen I had Ameraucana roos over my various spotted mixed hens. In the other pen were my four splendid spotted roosters over Ameraucana hens. The first generation I selected only chicks that had a pea comb or close to a pea comb. I let all these select chicks grow up and then I selected the roosters based on form. Big, proud, strong legs, alert. Those that were obnoxious with the ladies, too noisy, small, thin, were omitted. The 4 selected roos look mostly Ameraucana in form. All hens were allowed to breed, but large eggs are the ones incubated. Most of the eggs are blue or minty green, since they are all half Ameraucana, but we do have a couple that skipped the blue egg gene and lay cream and brown. my favorite color is from my two girls that lay an olive-tan egg.
Floracana!- So here is the first hatch of this year's generation! Egg colors are fantastic! Chick colors are all over the board, blue, black, white, quite a few mottled, and some are indeed looking speckled! I am really excited to watch them grow up and see how they feather out this year! Stay tuned for updates! :)
