Monday, August 16, 2010

Clueless In Montana

Somehow, I thought it'd be a good idea to incubate eggs.  Then, the insanity passed but not before I found myself with about 20 eggs in an incubator.

Barnevelder Chicken from FeatherSite.com
You can read about the thought process HERE.  Basically, I started thinking how wonderful it would be to have a kind of chicken called a Barnevelder.  I got it in my head when my chicken crack dealer friend offered me some Barnevelders because I wanted chickens with dark eggs.  Well, after she lost her Barnevelders to a fox, I looked online and short of hatching them, I figured it was impossible to find them.  So, I bought an incubator on Ebay.

Then, I went looking for Barnevelder eggs, only no one seemed to have them.  Many folks recommended French Black Copper Marans (FBCM). These birds lay very dark, chocolate colored eggs, which is a bit of a novelty.  Combined with the fact that I have Easter Eggers, breeding them to FBCMs will produce a bird that lays an olive colored egg.  Way too cool.
FBCMs from FeatherSite.com
 But again, there's that niggling problem of getting the birds.  Husband, bless his heart, doesn't know a Maran from a Rhode Island Red and can't imagine why I would breed such birds.  Well, they're cool and they're more what I'm looking for.  And they have feathered feet, which is an oddity. 

So, the problem was trying to purchase eggs for the incubator.  A couple of bids on Ebay won me Marans eggs of various breeds including blue and cuckoo as well as FBCMs.  I also picked up Blue Orpingtons -- since I like the Buff Orpingtons.  So. that will be my flock: Easter Eggers, Marans and Orpingtons.  My current flock of Rhode Island Reds, Black Sex Links, Gold Sex Links and Barred Plymouth Rocks will lay eggs for me for the next couple years while I phase in the chicks -- assuming any hatch out. 

As I said, sheer insanity.

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