Chooks away

Back in issue 26 we mislabeled a chicken (right) - calling it an Orpington when clearly, to any chicken-fancier worth their salt, it was no such breed. We put the question of the chicken's identity to you, our readers, (with the bribe of a bottle of wine) and got some very amusing responses.

Here's the winning letter, plus others that we liked but didn't have room for in the magazine - in no particular pecking order.

Hi,

That spunky chook is in fact a Barred Plymouth Rock.

Best chook story has to come from my childhood, my mum was an avid chook person and they were dear to her heart.

When her favourite chook was mauled by one of our farm dogs it was left without many feathers but still very much alive.  My mum sewed a pink knitted baby vest (it had been mine) on to that chook and it wore it for months till its feathers grew back.  I have no idea what the other chooks much have thought of their vested friend but my mums innovative approach no doubt saved it from death by cold.  

Linda

* Linda receives a bottle of wine

This chicken is a Barred Plymouth Rock breed and has its origins from American breeding in the middle of the 19th century. This Breed became very popular and was the most commonly used breed until World War II. This was due to its qualities as an outstanding farm chicken: hardiness, docility, broodiness, and excellent production of both eggs and meat.. The Barred Plymouth Rock was one of the foundation breeds for the broiler industry in the 1920's, and the White Rock continues to be used as the female side of the commercial broiler cross.

Bob Lenihan

I was nearly too chicken to write in but I had to lay it on the line, your hen is a Barred Rock aka Plymouth Rock

J.B

Is it that very rare Zebra Chook that is quite elusive in the wild. Being from South Africa I myself have only seen this once before, so was very pleased to set eyes on it again.

Darryl van Rensburg

I do believe that the chicken in question is actually one of the lesser known 'African Chama-Chama-Chameleon Chicks'. Not only to they attempt to mimic the sartorial elegance of Zebra stripes, they are also known to don jaunty red cockerel "falsies" on their heads. This is in a (quite convincing) effort to pass themselves off as layabout males and enjoy a little R&R from the egg-race.

Andrea

Such pretty chickens.  I cheated, I looked them up on google.  It may be a "Plymouth Rock".

Here's a story my Mum told me about my grandmother.  She died when I was little so I never really "met" her as such.

I was watching a cartoon show when I was little, it had the character "Foghorn Leghorn" in it.  I turned to my Mum and said, "Chickens aren't really that big are they?"  My mum thought for a moment and said, "We used to have a Rhode Island Red cockerel who was tall and big".  She explained that chickens had different breeds and colours and sizes.  I thought she'd gone mad.  I didn't know there were different types of chickens as a kid.

She went on to say that they had chickens when they were young.  One day her dad bought a Rhode Island Red cockerel.  She said Big Red was quite fierce and had taken a particular dislike to her mum.  Probably as she was the one who went in to clean out the chicken run and take the eggs.  He often tried to attack her with his claws.  Her dad said she was just exaggerating when her mum complained.

One day they heard their mum yelling outside.  They went outside to find their mum flat on her back.  The Rhode Island Red was on top of her and attacking her with his claws!  The shooed him off and rescued their mum, who was only slightly scratched on her arms.  That was the end of Big Red.  He was promptly dispatched by the gardener at my grandmother's command.  He turned up as a curry that night.  Apparently my grandfather was not impressed as Big Red wasn't cheap.

I'm still not sure today if that was just a tall tale, but at the time I never thought again that Foghorn Leghorn was drawn too big.

Daphne

That hen in your magazine is a Barred Plymouth breed. 

We are starting to know the breeds as we have kept 8 hens for the last year and a half in a coop in our back garden in Wellington.  We have a variety of breeds including Rhode Island Red, Leghorn white and bantams. Some are named Clucky, Henrietta,Teegs (short for Tegel). 

They are fed on organic mash and pellets supplemented with silverbeet greens and weeds which make their yolks very yellow. We get 2 eggs a day.

Attached a couple of photos - my husband building the coop at the bottom of our garden  and the other when they used to wander freely in our garden and onto the deck (sadly we lost a couple to a wandering dog and can no longer let them out). The joys of city farming!

Dean & Louise Compton