We have one Silver Lakenvelder hen, Martha Washington. We got her as a day old chick from McMurray Hatchery. She is now 2 years old.
Very appropriately for her name, Martha was the very first in our flock to lay an egg.
She was 4 months and 18 days old when she laid her first white/pink tinted matte finish egg. Her first pullet egg was 4 1/4" diameter, 1 3/4" high, 1 1/2" wide. She laid 100 eggs her first year.
Lakenvelders are heat tolerant and not known for being broody. Martha has never gone broody for us.
She's only been in the infirmary once for a few days in April of 2007, so I consider her a very healthy hen.
This breed is said to be flighty. None of our birds are the same breed, so I cannot say whether this generalization is true or not. Martha has had her flighty moments. When she was near to starting to lay eggs, she would run from one nest box to the next, checking all 8 out. It was how I knew she would lay soon. Occasionally she will still go through this nest box jumping, before settling on one to finally lay in. Martha usually picks the one of 2 boxes to lay in, but always checks to see if another box may be better. She loudly voices her opinion when her favorite nest box or roosting spot is filled by another hen.
She isn't a lap-sitter but will sit next to one of us and chat, if she has something to say. She comes when called and will eat treats out of our hands. She is a great forager and loves to garden.
Martha is a slow molter. By that I mean she doesn't loose all her feathers at once and walk around naked for a month, like some of our ladies do. I don't know if this is a personal trait or a breed trait.
Here are some pics of Martha and the rest of our flock.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keljonma/
