My new "posh birds"

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Icemaiden

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Seven months after getting my first hens (here are Duracell & Varta, my surviving ex-batts),P1020719 (640x480) (600x450).jpg I've had my first outbreak of Morehens disease ;)
I've divided my 8m x 4m run into two halves with some leftover chicken wire while the girls get to know each other, though on the first morning after their arrival, the utility Light Sussex (not named yet)P1020738 (2) (450x600).jpg decided to fly over the wire to say hello to the existing three. They cornered her & set upon her, so I rescued her & put her back on her own side of the wire; since then the new girls have had the sense not to try that again!

The Chalkhill Blue has been tentatively named Nadia, after Nadia Comaneci, as she's quite a gymnast, and has already been up on the greenhouse roof.P1020743 (600x450).jpg
P1020745 (600x450).jpg
The Longtown Brown, on the other hand, has been tentatively named Attilla the Hen, as she's a bit of a brute & is already throwing her weight around. The photos don't do her colour justice; she's more dark green than black, & I did think of calling her "Herbie", as she looks like a beetle!P1020746 (600x450).jpg
Somewhat worryingly, I've already seen her eating a couple of feathers from the ground. I hope she's not going to turn out to be a feather muncher :-)09

Here are the three of them together.P1020753 (600x450).jpg
They're starting to get used to me; I've managed to pick each of them up, though I still need to clip the left wing of the Light Sussex. I did the Chalkhill Blue's wing on Tuesday, after the Sussex's trip across border control. My husband's decided that the Sussex is "his", so I'll probably get him to help; it's lovely that he's finally showing an interest.

Hopefully Attilla & Nadia will come into lay before the winter. I'm not so sure about the Sussex, as her comb is still pretty small & pink. What do you think?

I'll wait at least a couple of weeks before I introduce the two "flocks" to each other, & won't be letting the new girls out of the run until they come running to me when I shake a tub of corn & mealworms. I've learned that lesson the hard way :-)02

Many thanks to Foxy by the way for the pinned instructions on posting photos; for future reference (note to self...) a maximumm size of 600 pixels seems to work for me, though if I made them a bit smaller still, it'd get rid of the scroll bars.
 
Thanks Foxy! All credit for that to Chalk Hill Poultry, & to Chris Mahon for the idea of putting a piece of fruit in the box with the girls when taking them on a long drive. It took 4 1/2 hours to get them home, though at least they had the benefit of air-con.

By the way, to the poultry geneticists amongst you, what's with the one white claw on each foot of the Longtown Brown? I believe that she's part Welsummer & part Marans; she has a slate / black beak & matching legs, but just the one white (middle) claw on each foot. Wierd :-)19
 
Nice trio there Icemaiden. The fruit idea is Tygrysek's and works well -good for when they are hot and bothered as well and have lost their appetite. We're hoping to move soon and will be making sure, if we don't have apple trees, they are the first thing planted.
 
Great looking birds Icemaiden,really enjoyed all the photos and comments for them :D I hope that all will be friends soon :D
 
Can't remember how old I was told they were, but I was advised that the Chalkhill Blue should lay before winter, & that the Longtown Brown might.
Stop press; while poo picking the run & greenhouse this morning, I found this in the cardboard box that I'd put in the greenhouse...Attilla's first egg.jpg
Now that's what I call "point of lay"- I've only had them since Monday! It's over 70g too, so I'm hoping for a double-yolker...
I trust that I shouldn't be too worried about the blood smear, as it's Attilla's first egg? I'll inspect her vent before she goes to sleep this evening, while she's fairly calm, but hopefully all will be OK?
 
WL, done, Attila! Yes a small boos smear like that is quite usual on a first egg, especially a large one. Just keep an eye in case she goes on to lay even bigger double yolked ones as there may possibly be some prolapse, not unknown in young POL pullets, but no need to worry about this.
As she's probably a bit older than the other two, this would account for her apparent bossiness at this stage.
 
Well done Attila! Not unusual to have a slight smear on the first few eggs, the burning question though..boiled, poached or scrambled? :D
 
Hi icemaiden,
I love your new birds. Beautiful. Perhaps that new one is low on calcium or roughage or something. Hopefully she will stop eating feathers when she has had some of the right additives to her diet. I hope they soon start to get along so they can run together, but of course they should be segregated at first, for a couple of weeks at least. Have fun with them!
 
Thank you all for your kind & reassuring replies; much appreciated.
The first egg (double yolk) got fried in the end, as there wasn't a second one to poach with it, & poaching shop bought eggs is a disaster :roll:
Having had Attilla's first egg 8 days ago, there's been nothing since though. Is this normal? I'll be combining all 6 birds together in the next week, so the upset might put her off laying for a bit anyway, but I'd have hoped for a second egg by now? :-)19
 
Just wanted to update you all on the girls' egg-laying progress.
I see that Chalkhill Poultry have now renamed the Longtown Browns as "Chestnut Rangers", which I think sells them short, as they bear no resemblance to the regular hybrid "rangers", which are standard "little brown hens" like my ex-batt, Varta (lovely though she is). Mind you, "Longtown Brown" is the name for a breed of cow, so that wasn't ideal either. Anyway, I digress...

I've been keeping laying records (does anyone else out there do this any more?), made easier by the fact that Nadia (the Chalkhill Blue) lays very pale blue shelled eggs, Attilla the Hen (the Chestnut Ranger) lays terracotta brown ("chestnut brown") shelled eggs, Heidi (ultility Light Sussex) lays eggs with a pink tinted shell & Varta doesn't do shells any more.

After a sporadic first 4 weeks laying occasionally, my Chestnut Ranger has settled down to laying very well, producing 166 eggs between 28th July 2013 & today. The largest has been 88g (ouch!), with 13 double yolkers in the first few months. These days the eggs are generally between 65 - 70g with the occasional bigger one.

My Chalkhill Blue was the next to start laying. She's produced 172 eggs since 10/8/13, which are now mostly between 50-55g each. She laid reliably through the winter, which was good, & produces very good shells.

My utility Light Sussex was the youngest of the three & a pure-breed, so it was a pleasant surprise to get her first egg on 25/11/13. Since then she's graced us with 49 eggs- not bad for a pure breed over the winter months! These weigh in at 60-65g as a rule & also have very strong shells.

All of this means that Varta can enjoy a well earned retirement, as we have plenty of eggs for the two of us with a few spare for friends.
Thanks to Marigold for the recommendation of Chalkhill; it was a long drive on a hot day, but it's been well worthwhile.
No disrespect to all of you with good looking & prize winning hens, but I wouldn't swap my girls for the world.

If anyone else keeps laying records, they could be useful to anyone thinking of buying more hens for eggs, perhaps?
 
Hi Icemaiden, I'm glad it turned out well for you. I used to keep egg records but it somehow fell by the wayside over the years. However, I can echo your comments about getting good healthy stock from Chalkhill Poultry. My Marigold, and Nutmeg my CLB, are now over three years old and still laying quite well (when Marigold isn't broody; Nutmeg has never gone broody, which is a plus.) The two hybrids I got who started lay in October 2012 are a Brown Leghorn, who is a very beautiful healthy obird, if flighty, who lays white eggs of a medium size, around 60 grams, not very reliably I have to say, and she had a long break this winter. The other one, a Columbian Blacktail, is absolutely fabulous - I wish I had kept counting her eggs because she has hardly missed a single day since October 2012, not stopping for a moult and going on through both winters, still laying now, so she must surely be up to 500-600 and still going strong. Very tatty looking little girl by now, also a very small hen, but lays the biggest eggs of the lot. When I need more hens I shall definitely get a couple more of these, as the previous CB I had was nearly as good.
 
We used to keep egg records of some description Icemaiden, but not over the last two years. We have the other extreme -hens that lay very few now because of their age, so it is a surprise when they do lay. Victoria, a 6 year old Buff Orpington, has laid 3 this year so far -her eggs are tiny, the same size as our bantams. Surprising how big the birds are when grown, from the little tiny chicks that result from tiny eggs. The biggest letdown is Margo, a very pretty gold laced Wyandotte. She is 4 years old now and we still await her first egg!!!
 
Chris- my family & my husband's can relate to your disappointment with Margo, as I've never produced either :-)11
 
Icemaiden,I have kept the laying record for mine too.Each year I buy nice poultry calendar and put everything in each day.I weight the eggs to.It is really interesting for my self how well they do.I have 2 Marans girls for eg. and one of them always lay bigger eggs than her sister.I had also observation last year.One of my hens was broody 3 or 4 times last year.I let her rise one brood which she take good care of for longer than she had to really but still she laid same amount of eggs as year before.Her laying period was prolonged for all winter.Previous year she was't as broody and finished her production in September.
 
That's intereseting, Tygrysek.
So how many eggs did each of your girls lay over the year, broody spells notwithstanding?
 
Icemaiden
I had got it total from my hens 677 eggs last year.My best hen was Green Legged Partridge Fowl (164),her daughter(cross with Silver Grey Dorking)the hen which was broody so many times 150,Cream Legbar(113),2 Marans hens(103 and 102)Silver Grey Dorking (45),she died during summer.
 
Oh Lucylou,I write down who laid,how much it weighted and when. :lol: Nobody can't touch the eggs until signed inn :lol:
 
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