# A cunning plan



## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

I've found out who owns the hen I've been admiring every time I go to refill our drinking water container.










I don't think it would be easy to integrate this hen into my flock - our laying hens are just too feisty; there would be a lot of bloodshed and feathers ripped out. But it would be relatively simple to mix a few of this hen's eggs in with our own and let a broody hen in our flock hatch them. I haven't spoken with the owner yet but I highly suspect she would be happy to sell me a couple of eggs, or maybe even persuaded to swap eggs. I do so want some chickens that look like this one. I hope it works out!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What are the chances for getting what you want if you don't know who the male was in the pairing?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Biring said:


> I've found out who owns the hen I've been admiring every time I go to refill our drinking water container.
> 
> View attachment 36090
> 
> ...


Perhaps you could work out a breeding agreement like they do for some Gamefowl here.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Biring said:


> I've found out who owns the hen I've been admiring every time I go to refill our drinking water container.
> 
> View attachment 36090
> 
> ...


Nice pic, good station.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Pretty good, I would guess. I’ve seen the cockerel that hangs around with this hen and I’d be happy to have him as part of my breeding programme. 50% of the genes would come from that hen. That would add some fresh genetics to our flock, which, with the exception of the colonel (our cockerel), are all descended from a single matriarch.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

It would bring some genetic diversity.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> Perhaps you could work out a breeding agreement like they do for some Gamefowl here.


I haven't spoken to the owner yet, but she runs a shop so she's likely to be amenable to a deal.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Keep us posted! Sounds interesting.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Say we buy three eggs and two hatch and both end up as cockerels, we could keep one and use him to replace the colonel (who will have fathered enough chicks by then). If we get one or more females so much the better.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> Keep us posted! Sounds interesting.


It'll be a month or so before any of our hens start laying again, and we'll have a two-week window, max, to make the swap, so there's no guarantee that these target hens will be laying at that point. After that there will be a few other windows so hopefully the stars will align at some point.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

Poultry Judge said:


> It would bring some genetic diversity.


I live among the motherlode of chicken genetic diversity so it would be a shame not to mix things up regularly.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Good point!


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

A unique looking bird! BUT if you have hens for egg production the addition of this hen's genetics may lower production. Something to consider and check out. There are many breeds that are poor egg layers.


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