Thursday 25 September 2008

Who's who - LOTTIE

Okay - if you troll back to I think our very first blog you will know all about Lottie.
  • Lottie is a silkie bantam.
  • Lottie is Harriet's nest mate/sibling/sister.
  • Lottie is NOT normal!

So what makes our Lottie so unique?
Silkies have blue skin as did Lottie when she was a chick, however she started to lose her skin colouration. She went from blue to a very lovely turquoise (when I first saw her) through to yellow (the colour she was when we got her) to now, at four months old, and she has white/pink skin.
We have tried researching what could be the problem. She is in excellent health and veterinary opinion says that there is no real reason for such a loss of skin pigmentation. Scouring the boards we did get some negative feedback in that Lottie, it was suggested, could be a cross breed, however:
  • She came from an establishment that only keeps silkies
  • I saw her parents and collected Lottie and Harriet (her sister) from the enclosed aviary which would inhibit even a house sparrow from entering (though I am intrigued by the sparrow/silkie hybrid)
  • Lottie is the only bird from over 25 chicks from this pairing ever to have this condition and her condition has previously never been seen in any of the birds produced and they have bred countless silkies over the years

Positive points: Lottie is nothing if not unique. Quiet and gentle, she will probably make the best broody hen in the entire world. Negative points: too shy and quiet, easily intimidated. Harriet likes dust bathing in mud, Lottie positively adores it. Spends far too much time being mucky however she does preen up really well.

Definitely bottom of the pecking order and the biggest victim of Ruby's rush attacks, Lottie hangs in there. She and Harriet are very close though Lottie spends a fair bit of time alone as she is an adventurer and is quite happy exploring flower beds in search of bugs.

Lottie - she's a little sweetheart

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