Clare Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 I never realised chickens could be so interesting but have really enjoyed reading through this thread Sadly last night Mr Fox found his way into the chicken house at the stables and we no longer have chickens The owners say they closed the door but it was open this morning. I have never been a big fan of chickens but had really got fond of our mismatched collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted July 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 The chickens I hatched in February are 23 weeks old now, three out of the four have combs and wattles and we knew it was just a matter of time before we got our first egg from them. Being mongrels we didn't know what colour eggs to expect. On Friday I found a weird two tone egg in the ex-batts nest box. It was a similar shape to one of the ex-batts eggs but was a completely different colour. I blamed it on the wonky shaped egg ex-batt and thought nothing more of it. Yesterday I found a stunningly beautiful very dark chocolate brown egg in the main coop nest boxes and because it was so dark I assumed Lily Pie must've started laying. Lily Pie is very dark and looks to have Marans blood in her and as we all know Marans eggs are dark. Slightly disappointed that it wasn't the same as the dark olive green Lily Pie hatched out of but nonetheless delighted with it because it was so pretty. This afternoon I've been sat outside with them. Poppy kept going in and out of the ex-batts nest box. Excited because I thought she was laying her first too I waited to see what she'd produce. Eventually she emerged in a very quiet and dignified manner, no singing or dancing. In the nest box I found another one of the chocolate brown eggs! So yesterdays egg wasn't Lilys at all, it belonged to Poppy So there's still a chance of a green egg! Poppys eggs are soooooooo pretty, I'm so proud of her. She herself is beautiful and we've often played 'guess the parentage' game over her. I always thought there was a fair amount of Sussex in her and now it looks as if the other half was Wheaton Maran! Our pretty eggs: Weirdy two tone stripey egg: Poppy eggs and the weirdy egg on it's head: The lovely lady herself: Does she remind anyone of Beryl, the old lady in Gimme Gimme Gimme or is it just me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 I've got two Maran's and their eggs aren't that dark , ones just a bog standard brown and the other's speckled. Poppy is very pretty, I've never seen colouring like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted July 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Doughnut, Bernard, Bruce, Steve and Jeff/Daphne are doing well Steve is definitely a Steve but I'm not sure about Bruce yet, Steve has much more of a comb already while Bruce doesn't. With my Light Sussex it was the combs that told them apart so I'm hoping Bruce is a girl. Steve is a lot darker too. Doughnut is feathering up really quickly, has a lovely tail already. Bernard is still very quiet, as Silkies seem to be, and is very very cute. Jeff/Daphne still lags behind, slow to feather up and slow to grow & gain weight. Legs are fine now but I suspect that she's not 100%. I say she because there are salmon coloured feathers coming through on her wings now, as opposed to black which boys have. I was confused because there was a lot of white initially followed by grey. I knew the salmon or black was the deciding factor so was impatient to see either but yesterday the salmon started to appear so fingers crossed Jeff is a Daphne and can stay All five: Jeff/Daphne: Bernard: Doughnut: Steve assists Doughnut with grooming: Steve shows off his comb: Bruce says hello mum! Bruce: Doughnut & Bruce: And to compare combs & darkness, Steve: Bruce: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Very nearly had a major disaster here this evening. We have workmen in painting the outside of the house. Sue and I had been out and when we came home we hadn't noticed that they'd left the gate into the yard open. Result was dogs everywhere chasing chickens. Tali (lurcher) grabbed our new cockerel, Chaz -a big blue Orpington boy. Despite Sue's frantic 'leave' requests, there was no way he was going to 'leave'. Almost by default, we managed to get Chaz safe and then Tali looked around for another victim and grabbed one of our brown hens. Eventually I managed to get him away from her too. Not many of our dogs are chicken safe so it was amazing that it was only Tali that grabbed any- maybe it was the way we were screaming at Tali that put the others off? Anyway, currently both cockerel and hen are ok although we'll wait until tomorrow to make any firm judgements. I think Chaz got away with losing lots of feathers but I think the brown hen has a puncture wound. I've put her somewhere safe for tonight and I'll have a proper look tomorrow when she's got over the shock. Could have been much, much worse but still very scary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted July 20, 2009 Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Hope they're ok tomorrow, poor chooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted July 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2009 Fingers crossed for them both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 The chooks that were caught by the lurcher are surprisingly doing well I have decided though to rehome Dave, our Amber Star cockerel. I don't find him much of a problem but he does have a habit of attacking people randomly, particularly the unwary So today I've sent him back to the farm from whence he came. He will be roaming in their fields with lots and lots of hens so I'm sure once he gets over the change he willl be well happy but personally I'm a little sad. I'd become quite fond of the little b****r I had loads of broody hens so bought some hatching eggs off Ebay. The moment the eggs arrived here all said broody hens decided they weren't broody any more. Ok. So I went and bought 3 broody hens from my local poultry supplier. They were broody there but got them home here and they decided they wouldn't be broody any more So I've now bought a new incubator for the eggs. These eggs will have cost me more than buying grown up hens at this rate. Such is life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted July 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Ooooooo what eggs did you buy? Now that Tiger Lily is laying again we're waiting for her to go broody. Emily wants to give her Poland eggs but I'm trying to be sensible and saying we need dinner chickens not pretty little things Hopefully Emily will see sense and we'll do more Speckled Sussex. Good news about the chooks that got caught Shame that Dave couldn't behave himself. I'm quite enjoying having Forrest Gump our Light Sussex cockerel about. He's about 20 weeks now, absolutely massive and fortunately not crowing yet. He's a nervous wreck, frightened of nearly everything but so funny to watch, he's like a baby giraffe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 (edited) I'd like a Light Sussex cockerel. Pity he's dinner, never mind, I'll have to get myself another one! I've bought Gold Lace Wyandotte bantams, Black Orpingtons and Splash Orpington eggs, plus 6 trout runner duck eggs. The three broody hens I bought are a Blue cochin, a Silver Sussex and a Black and Red pekin bantam. The bantam is a feisty little madam (the other two are a bit in awe of her!!). Promise I'll downloads some pics of them and the new Blue Orp cockerel tonight - oh, and the chick cross-breeds too Edited July 22, 2009 by Katiebob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Happy to here the chooks are well That sounds like an interesting mix of eggs, be dead jealous of the Orp's. The guy Iain I got my pullets from is incubating some Jersey Giant eggs, he's never had them before so they're a bit of an experiment, so I just might go and have a wee look in a few months time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted July 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Forrest Gump (who has grown since I took this two weeks ago) is now packing his suitcase and is looking forward to entertaining the ladies of Kent instead of seeing the inside of my oven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 It will be a great pleasure to welcome Forrest Gump to our flock - he looks stunning His main contender for 'most handsome male' is Chaz, our blue Orp boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoebejo Posted July 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 He's still just as dense as his namesake He got his name because the first time he set foot outside in the garden he just stood there for ten minutes, rooted to the spot, staring into space with a confused look on his face He still hasn't two brain cells to rub together but is ever so ever so funny to watch We're looking forward to meeting you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 It will be brilliant, especially after all this time If it's not too hot, I might persuade Pebbles to be my travelling companion although as she will only have had her 2nd vacc on Friday, maybe not. Would the girls like to meet Echo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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