Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Gigervamp

Picture of Maisie and Matilda. There are some more chickeny pics here.

Chickenopolis

They are lovely Gigervamp . I also love the hen foot prints in the snow, I was giggling at ours yesterday .

ionahenor2

They are just like my little Lettie, Giger. Do they have feathered legs too?

Which hen lays the dark chocolate coloured eggs?

RebekahR

Is it too much to want chickens at the same time as having a new born?! Am I absolutely barmy?

Gigervamp

ionahenor2 wrote: »

They are just like my little Lettie, Giger. Do they have feathered legs too?

Which hen lays the dark chocolate coloured eggs?

The new marans don't have feathered legs, but the pekins do and one of our older marans has a feather sticking out of her leg!

The older marans lay really dark brown eggs, but the egg that we got from the new marans just after they came here looked just like our speckledy hen's egg, darker brown than you'd buy in a shop, but not the dark brown that we were hoping for.

They're now mixing with the rest of the girls and have decided to sleep in the coop that the 4 warrens and 4 goth girls live in. Daisy, the speckledy has also decided to sleep in there too, so it's a bit cramped.

There's a bigger coop that they could go in that the other girls sleep in, but they seem to prefer to be really squashed up!


Oh, and today, I had a lucky (?) escape. Sweetpea, our bantam araucana who loves sitting on my head or shoulder, decided to use my face as a springboard to get up onto my head.

Her claw just missed my eye! I've got a bit of torn skin on the bit where my nose meets the inner corner of my eye.

So close!

ionahenor2

Gosh Giger you were lucky. Their claws are really sharp. I've been scratched a few times when they have flapped out of my arms. A smack in the mouth or on the nose by a wing is pretty painful too.

Mine have been helping my OH dig foundations out for a garage. He is on a small JCB and they move all the worms out of his way. :rotfl:
Digga the blackrock is fearless. She leads the way onto the ever growing mound of soil.

They are still enjoying their porridge in the morning. I stand well back otherwise I get covered in splashes of it when they shake their heads. Digga has had her chin wattles glued together by it for the last couple of days.

Gigervamp

Yep, I've been covered in porridge or yoghurt splatters too!

When I had the girls down in the garden, I gave up trying to dig it because it got too dangerous. There I'd be, arms and fork raised just about to slam it in the ground and a chicken would appear underneath it! Or one would stand on the fork when I was about to lift it up. :rotfl:

The little pekins are finally starting to feel comfortable with me. Up until recently, they would run away when I went near them, but I've now got one who will eat corn from my hand and the other one actually came up to me this morning and had a little chat.

RebekahR

Right think this is the most stupid thing ever and when this baby gets here i'm not convinced I'll be able to cope ... but ... we have enrolled on a chicken course for early May!

ionahenor2

Great Rebekah. You will be hooked in no time:rotfl:

diluvsdiscounts

RacyRed wrote: »

Did anyone see Alan Titchmarsh (I think it was) on TV saying that the hen jumpers are not much good in really cold weather and that the girls are best being brought indoors?

I'm getting very tempted to give mine the run of the utility room at night just now

My daughter might have because she said the other day "ha do you remember last year when I brought them in and put them in front of the fire" I swifly replied "er no" when she mumbled something about me being at work that day!!
They are obviously treated even better than I thought.:rotfl: