molliedogspabottom
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- Nov 1, 2009
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Hi everyone,I have had a great evening reading all your postings,its so much easier to learn from actual poultry keepers than from books. I have twelve hens all with names and personalities and a cockerel called Colin, I also have 15 japanese quail ( hopefully there will still be 15 in the morning, more on that later).
About 7 months ago a lady brought some free range eggs to my quilting group to sell, I was so surprised when she opened the basket and there was a range of different coloured shells, I was hooked !!!!!!! I live on a farm which is mainly arable with some grassland to rent in the summer months and we have a large garden.I decided to make enquiries as to the supplier of the multi coloured eggs and purchased eleven chicks plus mum, first mistake,the chicks caused great interest amongst any visitors that called, mum was very attentive to their every need, completely distroying the fresh patch of lawn we moved them to every day and teaching them the same tricks !.
Days passed into weeks and one or two (well eight to be precise) started to get quite long leggs, longs necks and a very strange call as they stood to attention.I hoped in vain but , yes you got it i was the proud owner of 8 cockerels and 3 hens plus mum who still catered to their every need. Sadly something had to be done, I did know that eggs came from hens and not cockerels although the future was to become a very steep learning curve where keeping hens was concerned, five were dispatched to the great chicken in the sky and I decided to keep Phillippe a very proud ,handsome moran,Charles a beautiful multi coloured , storybook farmyard cockerel and Colin a slighty smaller chap, a sort of lemony white plumage which definately shows the muck.About this time mum passed away and I thought she had simply worked herself into the ground (as so many mums do), I was quite upset as she was a lovely hen and my first loss. Now I had three hens and three cockerels, Phillippe was obviously the boss and Charles and Colin respected his authority and approached the hens with caution, however he was a very large bird and the hens much smaller,haveing watched the poor things being flatened into the mud several times a day, picked themselves up only to be flatened again I decided to find Phillippe a new home, a neighbouring farmers son had a collection of chickens and several morans, needless to say Phillippe now lives in the lap of luxury with his new harem.
Now there are two cockerels and three hens, will they be o.k, (so much to learn) Charles decides to take over as top dog( sorry cockerel) but all that pent up adolecence drove him mad and he literally became a sex maniac, it broke my heart but he too had to go. Then there was one,Colin and he still rules the roost , from the original twelve I now had Colin and three hens,big bird,blue and colleen , by now hens were definately going to be part of my life and I decided to increase the flock, but this time I would purchase point of lay. I still wanted the different coloured shells and a range of different hens,Christmas and Pudding came next these are speckled sussex, anyone who comes can see exactly how they got their names as they look like christmas puddings with their markings. Tuff Tuff and Lulu came next they are the cream legbars and lay the lovely blue eggs, henrietta a black leghorn has a wonderful rainbow of colours in her coat when the sun shines and Lavender who is a lavender leghorn both lay white eggs, star and crystal are light sussex and almost impossible to tell apart the last two are Little brown hen (who is just that) a cross between a light sussex and somthing else , she is a very consistant layer , the best I have and the smallest but lays a big egg.( She once got stuck on a sticky mouse pad in the dryer shed but thats a tale for another day I only wish my husband had taken a picture).Last but not least Bandy( who used to walk and stand on her own feet, hence the name) she came to a very sad ending after only a couple of months she had pushed out ,what I can only describe as her entire egg laying equipment, even my husband was shocked as to her condition. I now have Colin and my twelve girls ,
I cant believe how they have taken over in our household, they all have their own personalities and little ways, I often feel I could write a book about them but only those that keep hens would really understand. Time to go now its 1.20am thanks for reading my ramblings, if anyone is interested i will tell more tomorrow,believe me the saga goes on, I would love to hear how others started being chickoholics? Bye for now Heather
About 7 months ago a lady brought some free range eggs to my quilting group to sell, I was so surprised when she opened the basket and there was a range of different coloured shells, I was hooked !!!!!!! I live on a farm which is mainly arable with some grassland to rent in the summer months and we have a large garden.I decided to make enquiries as to the supplier of the multi coloured eggs and purchased eleven chicks plus mum, first mistake,the chicks caused great interest amongst any visitors that called, mum was very attentive to their every need, completely distroying the fresh patch of lawn we moved them to every day and teaching them the same tricks !.
Days passed into weeks and one or two (well eight to be precise) started to get quite long leggs, longs necks and a very strange call as they stood to attention.I hoped in vain but , yes you got it i was the proud owner of 8 cockerels and 3 hens plus mum who still catered to their every need. Sadly something had to be done, I did know that eggs came from hens and not cockerels although the future was to become a very steep learning curve where keeping hens was concerned, five were dispatched to the great chicken in the sky and I decided to keep Phillippe a very proud ,handsome moran,Charles a beautiful multi coloured , storybook farmyard cockerel and Colin a slighty smaller chap, a sort of lemony white plumage which definately shows the muck.About this time mum passed away and I thought she had simply worked herself into the ground (as so many mums do), I was quite upset as she was a lovely hen and my first loss. Now I had three hens and three cockerels, Phillippe was obviously the boss and Charles and Colin respected his authority and approached the hens with caution, however he was a very large bird and the hens much smaller,haveing watched the poor things being flatened into the mud several times a day, picked themselves up only to be flatened again I decided to find Phillippe a new home, a neighbouring farmers son had a collection of chickens and several morans, needless to say Phillippe now lives in the lap of luxury with his new harem.
Now there are two cockerels and three hens, will they be o.k, (so much to learn) Charles decides to take over as top dog( sorry cockerel) but all that pent up adolecence drove him mad and he literally became a sex maniac, it broke my heart but he too had to go. Then there was one,Colin and he still rules the roost , from the original twelve I now had Colin and three hens,big bird,blue and colleen , by now hens were definately going to be part of my life and I decided to increase the flock, but this time I would purchase point of lay. I still wanted the different coloured shells and a range of different hens,Christmas and Pudding came next these are speckled sussex, anyone who comes can see exactly how they got their names as they look like christmas puddings with their markings. Tuff Tuff and Lulu came next they are the cream legbars and lay the lovely blue eggs, henrietta a black leghorn has a wonderful rainbow of colours in her coat when the sun shines and Lavender who is a lavender leghorn both lay white eggs, star and crystal are light sussex and almost impossible to tell apart the last two are Little brown hen (who is just that) a cross between a light sussex and somthing else , she is a very consistant layer , the best I have and the smallest but lays a big egg.( She once got stuck on a sticky mouse pad in the dryer shed but thats a tale for another day I only wish my husband had taken a picture).Last but not least Bandy( who used to walk and stand on her own feet, hence the name) she came to a very sad ending after only a couple of months she had pushed out ,what I can only describe as her entire egg laying equipment, even my husband was shocked as to her condition. I now have Colin and my twelve girls ,
I cant believe how they have taken over in our household, they all have their own personalities and little ways, I often feel I could write a book about them but only those that keep hens would really understand. Time to go now its 1.20am thanks for reading my ramblings, if anyone is interested i will tell more tomorrow,believe me the saga goes on, I would love to hear how others started being chickoholics? Bye for now Heather
Sounds like you have a real mix there. Look forward to seeing you round the forum 
