Speckledy’s

Four more hens have now been added to the coop with the two Warrens. This breed is called Speckledy. They are funny looking birds, quite dinosaur like in appearance but have very beautiful feathers and seem to be holding their own against Bulley and McQueen! They are a little way off laying yet but when they do they should be dark brown eggs, which may be speckled.

EGGSciting!!!

Overflowing with Pekin’s!

Sorry but we just couldn’t resist their charms and their fluffy flared feet! We’ve got three more Pekin’s. Urmm actually only two because I’d forgotten that one of them is not a Pekin (well we think) but a Silver Birchen, who we’ve named Urchin, which is quite apt seeing as she’s the youngest. Anyway it didn’t take long for them to get settled in and the other birds seemed to accept them quickly (this could be as they are from the same breeder?)
So finally we have some happy hens who may just start laying in the next few weeks?

Here they are: Urchin, Lavender (who is not a blue chicken, LOL! but more of a grey colour) and Buff.

A Good Egg!

WOW!

Yes we’ve had our very first egg and one every day since! They taste great and it’s so nice to finally not have to go out and buy from the shops, we just pick up an egg from the farm! Ok, they are a little bit smaller than some shop varieties but we really don’t care as they are just beautiful!

One question though, why is one Warren laying and the other not? Surely we should be faced with two eggs and not just the one. I just hope for the Warren’s sake (whichever one it is) this happens soon!!!

Big Coop, Little Coop

Ok, well the so called ‘pecking order’ seems harsh for the little Pekin’s after all, so after much deliberation we’ve decided separation is in order. So Nik has been hard at work constructing a miniature coop for them.

We’re pleased to say that the separation has worked a treat so no more stressed out Pekin’s, although the two Warren’s seem to pace up and down the fence quite a bit…….. but I think they’re just jealous of the fresh grass …….. well you know the saying!

The “Pekin” Order

Monday 7^th September was the final ‘move in’ date for our hens. We had two Warrens looked after and given to us by our good friend Andrew and three Pekin Bantams being brought over by our local chicken rearer (who turned up and we then discovered that we got four birds for the price of three, as he chucked (see what I did there!) another one in for free.

So that evening the car laden with boxes of chickens we headed up to the farm.

Initially it was all going so well until one of the Warrens (who we’ve now named Bulls-eye or Bully for short) started to have a go at the smaller Pekins and we had quite a kerfuffle on our hands!

This, we’ve been informed, is the chickens establishing a ‘pecking order’ as there will always be one top hen in the coop.

We’re hoping, given a bit of time this will calm down and every chicken will find its place.

We have admitted to ourselves that this must be like having children, as all we have done over the last few days is worry about the birds!

Home to Roost!

So finally we have completed one coop! All the hard work paid off (more Nik’s hard work than mine – I just slapped the creosote on!) After a phone call to Nik’s Mum we managed to rope Father-in-Law, Ralph, to bring over his (borrowed) trailer to help us transport the new coop to the farm.


As you can see the move was somewhat ………………. Interesting!


But it it went in ok in the end

On Guard!

Ok so we’ve established that we’re not fencers, but glad to report that we now have built space for 3 coops and runs, so after much hard work trying to make them fox proof and one wasp sting later we’re nearly there!

The EGGSperiment

Apparently eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three months! Really??? Well we wanted to find out for sure so we took one lucky egg (out of a cast of ………… erm…. six) and we aim to keep it in our fridge for the full three months just to prove the theory.

Nik said he will crack the egg on my birthday (25th November – just so you don’t forget!!!)

So watch this space for the results.