Summer Chickens, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Summer... time of sunshine, breezes, droning bees....
and fugly chickens.

It's a pretty good bet that most everyone's coops are full of chooks that look nothing like the glossy, sleek, varigatedly stunningly iridescently breathtaking birds that lived there in the spring.

Most everyone now has half-naked chickens,
copping a sunburn on their bare puckered skin.

Except for one or two - who are feathered because they are so busy running around de-feathering everyone else that no other chicken can get a peck in sideways.

But we should not assume that the rattiest taggliest looking hen is the worst producer. In fact, it is very likely that the ugliest hens are the best layers. All of their energy is going into the eggs.

The comb is a good indicator of laying production... if it is full and healthy looking, that's a good sign. And if the feathers are sparse, the legs are pale yellow (except in black leggers...) that might all be indicative of a great hen.
Or one that's about to die, but there's the rub with chickens.

So, not that anyone out there is actually culling their flock, in this age of Half of the Circle of Life... (given that butchering is illegal in most areas where urban chicken farmers farm)... but if anyone were culling their flock,

The ugly chicken may well be the best chicken.
Suspect the beautiful ones - they may be doing something un-good-hen-ish that is feeding their beauty.
Actually, that probably goes for humans as well.