TropicalChickies
Crowing
Hi folks,
A frizzy Asiatic-looking all black pullet (8 mos) just joined my jungle tribe and I'm a bit curious as to what breed(s) she might be.
^This is Dusty. Her plumage is completely black with a green/blue beetle sheen. Her feet are blue-black as well.
(I posted over in the "What Breed or Gender" forum, but given the circumstances of my flock and the many people I see on this thread with an interest in keeping chickens as chickens (as creatures of nature), I thought some folks here might have interesting input.
A little background on my chooks: We live in a very rural area of Ecuador, South America. Most people here (including us) farm sugar cane, bananas, cocoa beans and other "tropical crops." The climate is subtropical rainforest and the landscape a mix of humid jungle and farmed land. Practically everyone here keeps chickens, and while the gamecock keepers are particular about the breeding stock, no one else is, so all of the farmyard chickens running around the little villages are mixes of various domesticated breeds and interesting landrace varieties. The people call the mixtures "criollas" -- same thing people of mixed indigenous and Spanish descent are called.
The locals here call Dusty a "Chirapa" -- an indigenous Kichwa word for "tatters" or a "Rizada" -- meaning "frizzy" in Spanish.
At home in the jungle.
For example, here's another one of Dusty with her pal Rusty. Rusty looks a lot like a Rhode Island Red, but she's very petite. Her eggs are cream colored with a bluish tint. Her feet are bluish as well.
I looked up all the breeds of black chickens and Dusty looks most like a Cochin, but she's also very petite, so maybe a bantam Cochin? They are eating very well in our farm, fed rations 2x a day and free roam all day for forage, so I suspect they will fill out.
So I'm asking just out of curiosity -- I'm pretty certain Dusty isn't a "pure" anything, but does anyone want to guess her possible origins?
Anyway, I think she's the most adorable ugly little hen ever.
A frizzy Asiatic-looking all black pullet (8 mos) just joined my jungle tribe and I'm a bit curious as to what breed(s) she might be.
^This is Dusty. Her plumage is completely black with a green/blue beetle sheen. Her feet are blue-black as well.
(I posted over in the "What Breed or Gender" forum, but given the circumstances of my flock and the many people I see on this thread with an interest in keeping chickens as chickens (as creatures of nature), I thought some folks here might have interesting input.
A little background on my chooks: We live in a very rural area of Ecuador, South America. Most people here (including us) farm sugar cane, bananas, cocoa beans and other "tropical crops." The climate is subtropical rainforest and the landscape a mix of humid jungle and farmed land. Practically everyone here keeps chickens, and while the gamecock keepers are particular about the breeding stock, no one else is, so all of the farmyard chickens running around the little villages are mixes of various domesticated breeds and interesting landrace varieties. The people call the mixtures "criollas" -- same thing people of mixed indigenous and Spanish descent are called.
The locals here call Dusty a "Chirapa" -- an indigenous Kichwa word for "tatters" or a "Rizada" -- meaning "frizzy" in Spanish.
At home in the jungle.
For example, here's another one of Dusty with her pal Rusty. Rusty looks a lot like a Rhode Island Red, but she's very petite. Her eggs are cream colored with a bluish tint. Her feet are bluish as well.
I looked up all the breeds of black chickens and Dusty looks most like a Cochin, but she's also very petite, so maybe a bantam Cochin? They are eating very well in our farm, fed rations 2x a day and free roam all day for forage, so I suspect they will fill out.
So I'm asking just out of curiosity -- I'm pretty certain Dusty isn't a "pure" anything, but does anyone want to guess her possible origins?
Anyway, I think she's the most adorable ugly little hen ever.
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