Henniversary!

I can't believe it's already been a year since we got the chickens. I'm thanking my luck that it's been an uneventful year without any major disasters and my skittish little chooks have grown into cheeky and very greedy girls.

I've been keeping an egg tally to see how many eggs the hens have laid so far and the results are in... During their first year, the chickens have laid a total of 594 eggs: Bella the Bluebelle 308 pale cream ones and Cissy the Speckledy 286 slightly darker (and sometimes speckled) ones. Bella started laying November 11th last year and although Cissy didn't start until December 16th, she's slowly catching up. The smallest egg so far was Bella's very first attempt, weighing only 43g, and the largest a whopping 83g double-yolker laid by Cissy.

Our second chicken keeping year will start tomorrow with a worming party!

Who's the boss?

When we first got the chooks, I thought Cissy, although shy, was going to be the top hen as she kept pecking Bella. After observing them for over a month now, I can quite safely say that Bella is definitely the boss. She rules gently but firmly, never pecks but has other ways of showing that she's in charge.

When it's treat time, she shuffles her fluffy knickers to block Cissy from getting to the bowl until she's had what she's after. As soon as Cissy moves to her other side to quickly snatch a few mealworms Bella shifts and blocks her again. It's funny to watch, but I do feel sorry for the little one as she won't get as many treats. Bella's one tough chook.

Here come the girls!





They're finally here (just in time to celebrate egg week apparently). We drove to Barnsley on Monday and came back with two girls, a Bluebelle and a Speckledy. The journey went well, although it did get a bit whiffy in the car as one of our new pets decided she needed a poo right after leaving the farm. Hubby wasn't impressed with this, but I couldn't help sniggering. Too late to complain now!

I chose the Bluebelle, she was the only completely grey bird as all the rest had a reddish brown patch on their chest. She's a beauty with bright eyes and very fluffy knickers! She's definitely the tamer of the two and I'm hoping it won't take too long before she's eating from my hand.

I let Hubby choose the Speckledy and as soon as we got home I regretted that decision. He can't see there's anything wrong with her, but I don't think she's as fluffy as the Bluebelle and her feathers look a bit ruffled. And she keeps pecking 'my chicken'! They both seem perky so maybe I should stop worrying. I'll do my best to keep them well fed and hope that the poor looking one starts fluffing up.

It took us a while to name them, but in the end we named them after the Black sisters (I trust everyone's read their Potters) as they seemed to suit them best. The beautiful Bluebelle is called Bellatrix, or Bella for short and the speckled chook is called Narcissa (because she thinks she's all that), or Cissy (sissy more like, she's a right Miss Panicky Poo and scarpers as soon as we get too close).

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo (not the first or the last one in this blog, I can assure you), but I didn't want to disturb them too much while they're still settling in.


Choosing chooks

 

Images from http://www.omlet.co.uk/

Got the coop, what next? There are lots of different breeds of chickens to choose from and frankly, the more I read the more confused I get. There are so many things to consider. There's the bird's appearance, friendliness, hardiness, egg production, egg colour, flightiness, broodiness... My head is spinning.

If I understand this correctly, the hybrids (the mutts of the chicken world) are very reliable layers, they lay most eggs the first year and then the egg production starts to diminish. So far, I've taken a liking to Black Rock, Bluebell and Speckledy. The pure breeds may not lay as frequently, but will usually lay for longer and perhaps more consistently. Pure breed hens that have caught my eye are Cream Legbar, Rhode Island Red and Welsummer.

I'm guessing the best thing to do would be to keep a mixed flock, a little bit of everything, but how will I manage that when I've only got space for two? I think I'll just ignore everything I've read, go see the hens and pick the ones that I like.