We recently had a big end-of-summer party and I was showing the animals to some new friends who had never met them. I got the question, “How in the world do you tell all the chickens apart? Some of them look exactly alike. Practically half of them are all black!”
Well, I DO have five all black hens. I had never thought about that before, really. They don’t look that much alike to me. But I guess that’s because I know them. Here’s how I described the look-alikes to our guests.
Aretha Franklin is one of my original girls. She’s an Australorp. She’s easy to tell from the other ladies. She has all black eyes. She’s quiet and is moving a bit more slowly in her old age.
She looks pretty good for an old girl!
Then there’s two Black Copper Marans I got the next year. The breed ideal is to have more of a dark brown neck like their sister Jasmine, but both these girls are mostly black.
Rapunzel has a large and slightly floppy comb and dark orange eyes. She has bad feet and walks with a weird gait.
Belle has the least pronounced features of all the black hens—actually of ALL the hens. She’s the wallflower of the flock.
Spot is supposed to be an Olive Egger. I got her with TopKnot and NoKnot from a hatchery last year. They do all lay the same color egg—but it’s a far cry from olive. And she looks NOTHING like them. She is a solitary soul and spends much of her day scratching all by herself in the backyard.
Spot has a distinctive small comb with a little “innie” on the top.
The newest member of the black hen club is one of this year’s babies, Marsha Marsha Marsha. Hatched by Jasmine, she was an only child. She’s Jasmine and Napoleon’s little girl, so I hope when she starts laying she will lay a nice dark brown egg like her mother.
Marsha Marsha Marsha has a very pokey-looking comb.
So as you can see, at first glance they may just look like all black hens…but once you get to know them, they look nothing alike!
**Shared at From the Farm, Our Simple Homestead, (mis)Adventures Monday and The Clever Chicks Hop**
So true! People used to ask me the same question about my sheep. Willing to believe their sincerity, I still wondered how anyone could confuse adorable Sweet Virginia with pushy Millie the Millennium Ewe, for instance. Still, lots of people think all babies look alike, too.
Oh, I’d like to meet Millie—she sounds like a spunky girl 🙂
Thanks for the nice introduction to your black chickens. I can see how you would know them all apart. I can also see how it would be easy to love a chicken….we have wild pheasants that we throw corn out to all winter and they even come up and peck on our glass door sometimes. We have some great pictures of them. I wish they didn’t have so many predators. I think raising chickens would be great, except for when you lose them!
I love pheasants! Years ago, someone (an irresponsible owner, we think) let a flock loose somewhere close to our neighborhood. We’d saw them wandering around for a few years. They were so pretty.
No doubt their personalities really help in telling them apart. Such sweet girls.
daisy recently posted…Mac-n-Cheese with a Kick!
As a chicken keeper I find it easy to tell them apart, it’s the combs for me. All your black girls have such different combs. My two bantam leghorns are so alike apart from their combs. Unlike the other girls their personality is very alike too but a glance at the comb and I know which one I am looking at. You have lovely looking girls.
Carol Caldwell recently posted…Corn cobs
Yes, combs are all so different. Feet, too!
It’s funny isn’t it, how we get to know them. Every year, I get a few ex-battery rescue hens. They’re all the same colour – standard brown. Eveyr year, I name all of them Claudia, until I get to know their personalities. So that makes sure they all have names, as every chicken should, but the names they end up with – hopefully – reflect who they are. I look forward ot doing it every year!
I love your hens, Joan, I do. But I love Doink the best. 🙂
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That is the best story ever. 🙂 Claudia is now my favorite chicken name. If I ever win the lottery, this barnyard is going to get a lot bigger. And Doink says, “Thank you. I do my best.”
Joan Hobbs recently posted…The Look-Alikes
We have 11 hens and 2 roosters and we can tell them all apart as well. They each have their own personality and unique features. I guess when you spend so much time with them they become a true member of the family.
Thanks for sharing on this week’s OSH Blog Hop!
http://oursimplelife-sc.com/our-simple-homestead-blog-hop-22/
Tracy @ Our Simple Homestead recently posted…Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop #22
I truly enjoyed this. It takes a lot of time and observation to be able to tell similarly-colored chickens apart. Thank you for joining us at Our Simple Homestead blog hop. I hope you’ll share again this week.
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