so i have kept chickens for the best part of my 14 years but had never been that bothered with them just keeping enough to supply my granny and her friends with eggs. this only meant hatching out a few new hens each year when a hen went broody. but last year i had some nee surgery and my mother brought me a chicken breed book to look through. this sparked my interest. i spent my two bedridden weeks looking online for pure breeds and found that a birthday present my mother bought for me were actually quite valuable in terms of them being very rare and show quality. they were a pair of egyptian fayuoumis. but then i discovered that my cousin was actually quite a big chicken man when i went to is farm to pick up some new sheep. he gave me some faulty hens and an exbreeding frizzle cockeral from his show pen. they looked awefull but they were a start, this what buffy and welly looked like when i picked them up.
my auntie also donated two mixed breed bantams to my cause they were called titchy a wyandotte cross pekin and tilly a BO cross.
freddy was nearly bald when i was given him but he soon perked up and turned into a treading maniack
freddy replaced my very old roo geof who i moved to protect my layer flock from buzzards
during a trip to a farm park i picked up what I was told was a silkie pullet but who began to crow and fight with freddy at about 13 weeks
he was a brilliant rooster so when geof was taken by the fox he took over the role of protecter of the warrens.
sadly one day he disappeared leaving his one remaining hen to be moved to freddy's harem. where she lived out her remaining months. my plans for expansion began with the purchase of a new hen house in my winter grass pen
the white hen in the picture above is geof's last daughter and his only from his warren wives. all the hens apart from purebreeds I have mentioned are geof's children. my plan for expansion were slowed by an unexpected rabbit pregnancy. some of my cousins english rex rabbits had babies. who had to stay in the new house as they grew.
the rest of the year was quiet.
but this year everything was in place for my expansion. i managed to save up for a small chicken run in my garden which i got 3 silkie cross pekins for.
Yay they were perfect. Basicly the best broodies ever they were 22 weeks had laid for a few days and started going broody. I hatched 5 chicks under 2 from a local breeder and 3 from freddy. one welsumer Willie one tilly and one buffy.
Also a Barnevelder and a speckeled sussex.
Sadly titchy ate some rat poison and died but a friend hatched out her last egg for me and cupcake was hatched.
My granny also hatched out 3 of my eggs another sussex cross a silkie cross warren and a silverlaced wyandotte from a friends friend. so i now had 8 new chickens. here are the ones my granny hatched.
all was settled until the show season and I came home with two new pekins meet freckels and lindy who keep going broody.
I then bought my granny a present with some self interest a cream legbar hen
Well all was stable and chickens grew. Barnie is showing some promiss
as is speckels
Lindy with the chicks my granny hatched sussex cross behind here silkie in the back slw running away speckels scratching in the background.
Willie is looking rearly smart as she grows.
and cupcaked suprised everyone with an egg!
sadly freddy has become aggressive during breeding so to the pot he goes but i am very excited to introduce my new roo given to me by a friend and fellow byc er. may i introduce reggieson a wyandotte cross exbatery. so called as his father was called reggie and i had name block
This year I managed to hatch out all girls so I have planned to purchase some show quality brahmas and some blue laced wyandottes next year lets hope that nothing goes wrong this time.
my auntie also donated two mixed breed bantams to my cause they were called titchy a wyandotte cross pekin and tilly a BO cross.
freddy was nearly bald when i was given him but he soon perked up and turned into a treading maniack
freddy replaced my very old roo geof who i moved to protect my layer flock from buzzards
during a trip to a farm park i picked up what I was told was a silkie pullet but who began to crow and fight with freddy at about 13 weeks
he was a brilliant rooster so when geof was taken by the fox he took over the role of protecter of the warrens.
sadly one day he disappeared leaving his one remaining hen to be moved to freddy's harem. where she lived out her remaining months. my plans for expansion began with the purchase of a new hen house in my winter grass pen
the white hen in the picture above is geof's last daughter and his only from his warren wives. all the hens apart from purebreeds I have mentioned are geof's children. my plan for expansion were slowed by an unexpected rabbit pregnancy. some of my cousins english rex rabbits had babies. who had to stay in the new house as they grew.
the rest of the year was quiet.
but this year everything was in place for my expansion. i managed to save up for a small chicken run in my garden which i got 3 silkie cross pekins for.
Yay they were perfect. Basicly the best broodies ever they were 22 weeks had laid for a few days and started going broody. I hatched 5 chicks under 2 from a local breeder and 3 from freddy. one welsumer Willie one tilly and one buffy.
Also a Barnevelder and a speckeled sussex.
Sadly titchy ate some rat poison and died but a friend hatched out her last egg for me and cupcake was hatched.
My granny also hatched out 3 of my eggs another sussex cross a silkie cross warren and a silverlaced wyandotte from a friends friend. so i now had 8 new chickens. here are the ones my granny hatched.
all was settled until the show season and I came home with two new pekins meet freckels and lindy who keep going broody.
I then bought my granny a present with some self interest a cream legbar hen
Well all was stable and chickens grew. Barnie is showing some promiss
as is speckels
Lindy with the chicks my granny hatched sussex cross behind here silkie in the back slw running away speckels scratching in the background.
Willie is looking rearly smart as she grows.
and cupcaked suprised everyone with an egg!
sadly freddy has become aggressive during breeding so to the pot he goes but i am very excited to introduce my new roo given to me by a friend and fellow byc er. may i introduce reggieson a wyandotte cross exbatery. so called as his father was called reggie and i had name block
This year I managed to hatch out all girls so I have planned to purchase some show quality brahmas and some blue laced wyandottes next year lets hope that nothing goes wrong this time.