We will be exhibiting our bantam Sicilian Buttercups at two different shows in the next month!  Feel free to drop by these shows to see our birds or meet the owners!  We will have eggs and birds available for sale at both shows. 

The shows are as follows:

Cascade Spring Show
March 14th
Monroe, WA
This show is put on by the Washington Feather Fanciers, and is the closest APA sanctioned show to our farm.  Consequently, we are regular visitors to this show. 
If you are interested in entering birds yourself, the entry deadline is March 1st.  

Northern California Poultry Association Spring Show
March 28-29
Red Bluff, CA
This show is put on by the Northern California Poultry Association, and is also APA sanctioned. This will be our first time exhibiting at this show. 
If you are interested in entering birds yourself, the entry deadline is March 13th. 

We will post photos and updates live from both shows! 

This is the second week of putting eggs in the incubator, and we now have over 200 eggs incubating.  Hatching season is a great reminder of what great layers our flock of bantam Buttercups are, as we are never short of eggs. 

Our eggs this season are from three different breeding pens, each with a different bloodline.  We are in the midst of designing several new coops to start some breeding pens specifically dedicated to line-breeding for certain traits.  Check out the page on our breeding program to learn more about our bloodlines and how we set up our breeding pens.

Some of these eggs are already reserved for buyers, but there will be plenty of chicks available as the season progresses.  If you'd like to order some chicks, contact us! 

This incubator is a cabinet style model.  It has three egg racks with a time-controlled turning mechanism.  Tilting the eggs to alternate sides several times a day helps prevent the yolk from sticking to one side of the shell.  A hen would naturally turn the eggs as she shifts on her nest, and the automatic egg turner is an attempt to replicate this effect. 

Incubators also require water containers, as can be seen at the top of the photo.  Water supplies the humidity necessary for incubating eggs. 

The weather could not have been better this weekend.  Many folks complain about the constant rain in the Pacific Northwest, but when the sun finally comes out, the greenery makes this one of the most beautiful places in the world.  

We thought we might take advantage of the sunshine to snap a few more photos of our flock.  We will post more photos with analysis soon. 

Here are a few of our hens and pullets.  For those unaware, a hen is a female chicken, and a pullet is a hen under a year of age.

The pullet in the center has the nicest coloring of any of our current females. Note the uniform golden color of the hackle feathers on the neck. Many hens possess spangles in the neck feathers, or a brownish tinge like the hen to the right, and these traits are less desirable. 

However, a good breeding program must balance various traits to approach perfection. The hen to the right may have a less desirable hackle, but her spangling in the body is more clear and defined, and she has a larger tail and spectacular comb. 

Also note the leg color difference between the two birds: Buttercups are required to have willow green legs, and the hen to the right clearly has slaty blue legs.  Why is this acceptable?  Well let us first examine what causes leg color in chickens.

There are several different leg colors in the chicken world, including white, yellow, blue, and green.  The willow green of the Buttercup leg color is caused by a very dark under color, with an overlay of yellow skin.  A slaty blue leg is caused by a bird with the same under color, but white skin, such as a Polish. 

Like all Mediterranean breeds, Buttercups are bred primarily for egg production, and are required to have yellow skin.  Their yellow skin provides them with yellow pigment to supply to their egg yolks during egg production.  While they are laying, hens begin to go through a bleaching process as all the yellow pigment in their skin is used up.  Eventually, all their skin bleaches to white, and the dark under color of their legs shines through as slaty blue. 

The hen on the right has been laying for several months now, and the yellow skin on her legs has bleached to white, causing her legs to turn from green to blue.  The pullet in the center has just started laying, and still has plenty of yellow pigment in her skin.

Check out our page about the breed or our page on heritage breeds for more information!  Feel free to contact us or leave a comment with questions or thoughts! 

In addition to our website, we also have a Facebook Page for our breeding operation!  "Like" our page on Facebook, and follow our latest news.

https://www.facebook.com/janickibuttercups

Sicilian Buttercups were admitted to the American Standard of Perfection in 1918, but were present in America considerably earlier.  Here is a link to an enlightening article about judging buttercups that was printed in 1929:

http://www.geocities.ws/americanbuttercupclub/judgingbuttercups.html

This article is posted on the website of the American Buttercup Club.  

Welcome to our blog!  This is our first post, and we hope to include many more to come.  There will be a great variety of information here.  

Want to learn more about Buttercups or other breeds of poultry?  We will be posting lots of fun and interesting facts and articles about both here.

Want to see more photos?  This is where the latest photos will get posted first. 

Want to hear what poultry shows we will be exhibiting birds at throughout the year?  Want to see photos of our birds entered in the show?  This is the locale!

Want to hear the latest news in our breeding operation?  Want to hear about new bloodlines we are acquiring and when we are putting eggs in the incubator?  Stay tuned for news from the Blog!