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Would you like to see some fancy chickens?
Here is a Sultan.
Here is a Sultan.
Oh! I’m snagging these photos from the @.MurrayMcMurray website in case you need to see more. They have lovely illustrations.
We have two of these, very small at present. Red-laced Blue Wyandottes:
We have two of these, very small at present. Red-laced Blue Wyandottes:
Cochins are my personal favorite. They are huge and fluffy and super chill. If you need a rooster who won’t attack you? Cochin or Brahma.
They also come in bantam varieties, which means they’re a tiny round fluff. Here’s a blue bantam Cochin hen:
They also come in bantam varieties, which means they’re a tiny round fluff. Here’s a blue bantam Cochin hen:
Brahmas are also super chill and, as I mentioned, the best roosters I’ve ever had. (Worst was a truly vicious Black Australorp.)
Here’s a dark Brahma rooster. Tail feathers are green/blue in the sun. I think this one is young, his tail feathers aren’t fabulous yet.
Here’s a dark Brahma rooster. Tail feathers are green/blue in the sun. I think this one is young, his tail feathers aren’t fabulous yet.
And a light Brahma. Did I mention that Cochins and brahmas have feathered feet?
Okay, okay. Fancier. Let’s go. Polish chickens have fancy hats/face feathers. They are the labradoodles of the chicken world (but not a cross-breed). Here’s a Golden Polish:
Okay, I grabbed this photo from the Cackle Hatchery site. Silver Phoenix roosters are popular in the show community because their tail feathers can grow to absurd lengths with proper care.
The Houdan, a bit bigger than the Polish. Where are your eyes, young miss
I have tried and failed to find you the perfect Mille Fleur chicken photo. (I believe this is a juvenile bantam.) Illustrations through the link. They’re so so pretty and sweet in person. https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/bantam_mille_fleur.html">https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/bantam_mi...
The cream puff of chickens, the Salmon Faverolle:
Frizzles and silkies always look sick/wet to me, but a lot of people like them. Frizzle is a curled feather pattern, found in a couple of other breeds. Here’s a frizzle.
Here’s a silky. They’re very soft! (People like to eat them, you can do that research on your own.)
Silkie. My phone says I’m spelling it wrong. 
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Please know that I am NOT sharing duck breeds, but I have been tempted. Wood ducks are the cutest and I love them.
I am also not making you look at the different varieties of combs to be found on various chickens. I’m a benevolent chick-tator.
Some color patterns are possible across many breeds, “splash” is one of my favorites. My step-father breeds his bantam chickens for splash patterning and they surprise us all the time with variations. Blue (gray) is an interesting genetic trait in chickens.
Okay two more and then I am done. (Or am I?)
When I was home one summer, we had ONE Silver Spangled Hamburg hen. She was WILY. An excellent flyer, she’d escape and hide her eggs all over the place. We’d see her running back in to snag grain and then off again.
When I was home one summer, we had ONE Silver Spangled Hamburg hen. She was WILY. An excellent flyer, she’d escape and hide her eggs all over the place. We’d see her running back in to snag grain and then off again.
Last one, think back to that Silver Phoenix and his fancy tail. This is a youngish Sumatra rooster. Very black, lustrous greens and blues in the light.
A single photo doesn’t do the Spitzhauben justice. If you want to be jealous of a chicken’s wardrobe...
https://greenfirefarms.com/spitzhauben.html">https://greenfirefarms.com/spitzhaub...
https://greenfirefarms.com/spitzhauben.html">https://greenfirefarms.com/spitzhaub...
I can’t stop myself. Have some Sebright bantams:
One of my mother’s perennial favorites, the Speckled Sussex:
