# fancy chickens/chicks/eggs...



## hilarybennett

I have silkies, blue laced red wyandottes, blue and black orpingtons, and some unusual colored easter eggers. I have been hatching for three weeks, and fertility is good. I can ship eggs, prefer not to ship chicks or older birds due to recent changes due to post office budget cuts. I can email photos of the different flocks if you like. The birds range from "quite nice" to "stunning" to open show quality. 

If you are looking for something to show, the orpingtons are the best quality. They are large, full bodied, meaty birds with very docile temperaments. They are good layers (not as good as production reds or leghorns) and seem to go broody a couple times a year.

The Easter Eggers are my most consistent layers. Eggs are mostly blueish, more than greenish. Most are ameracuana and light sussex crosses/mixes. Larger and calmer than the usual purebred ameraucanas, and more meaty too.

The silkies are blues and buffs, penned separately. The blues occasionally produce blue partridge. Big topknots, more show type looks than backyard or hatchery looks. Very mellow temperaments. Great broodies.

The blue laced red wyandottes are large bantam, about half the size of the standards. They lay about the same as the orpingtons. Sometimes hard to tell their eggs apart. They would be the most economical variety I have.


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## jcatblum

Where are you located? Is it possible to post photos here & prices?


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## hilarybennett

Sorry, I'm in the San Diego area. Drive to the Inland Empire area (Riverside, San Bernardino) regularly. How do you post photos here?

Never mind. I used the "phone a friend" option... my brother told me what to do. 

black orpington hen. Not all are this nice, some show a little more leg, LOL.









Black orpington rooster. Never offers to flog or dance near me. VERY MELLOW rooster, but fertility is great! 









A few extra blue cockerels growing out for the stewpot. They get too big for a crock pot pretty quick! These are about five or six months old.









here is a small group of Easter Egger pullets. They are young here, not laying yet. This was from last fall probably.









And here are some silkies growing out. They hatched in Janurary, '13, so they are not full grown yet. Some do not look that great, but they will look a lot better in a few months. Silkies are slow maturing. This is not the best ones pulled aside for a picture, it is everything that hatched, so you can see that the quality is pretty consistent across the board, with a few exceptionally nice ones here and there. Toe spacing is good on all of them. 









Oh, and I have copper black marans too. They are Bev Davis, nothing mixed in, but several generations removed from her breeding choices. I have a blue rooster over mostly black hens, maybe ten, and a couple blue hens too. You seen one marans, you seen 'em all. They are good looking. Some have white streaks in their tail feathers and flight feathers, and the eggs are decent dark, not exceptionally dark, large, and they lay okay, not awesome, lol. Good for the stew pot, those cockerels are. YUM! Good natured roos. I don't keep any tempermental roosters, except one silkie that pecks my hand when I come feeling around for eggs, LOL.


Edit to add this picture... Here is a young blue cockerel I put in with the hens a couple weeks ago. He does not have a bunny tail. he lost his longer tail feathers while free roaming, from a close call. Had a human predator knock out about half my flock a few weeks ago. :/ He ate them. (wah!) Anyhow, LOOK AT HIS FEET!!! Some of these have hooves, like Clydesdale feet, or T-Rex! They are awesome looking! LOL









Here is one in splash. He is one that got taken. Never mind the bloody comb. They were getting to that age where they need to sort things out... 









Here's a three quarter shot, so you can see they are a broad bird. Mind you, at this age, a lot of that is just feathers, but the frame is there and it does fill out later on. AGAIN with the feet! Sheesh! LOL









Prices, Orpington and marans eggs are $5 each. Silkie, wyandoote, and EE eggs are $3 each.


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## hilarybennett

it won't let me add more pics to that post. Here is where I'm headed with my easter egger project. Trying to make lavender hued, coronation type easter eggers, but larger, meatier, more docile and lay a blue egg. I only have two that look like this so far, and one is blue hackles... that's okay. I got time...









Here are some individual silkies from the photo above.


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