Companihens chickens

[Companihen]

I've wanted to start this for ages... mainly as a track record for myself and my chickens but got very delayed in doing so!

I'll introduce my hens in age order.

Grey - or sometimes called grumpy grey. She is a lavender bantam of some sort, shes the eldest chicken here and very much the boss. She is approximately 6 years old and wasnt hatched here. The other two bantams, a pekin and a polish who came with her died several years ago. Ive had her 4 years. She's a regular broody but I've only let sit once. Fiesty character, doesn't like pple contact and fits into both the groups we have here, probably because she is hatch mum of Armand the junior cockerel, pictured as a chick here.

Greedy and Black - my two copper marans. They also came 4 years ago but were not hatched here. Greedy has more copper on her neck and the larger of the two. Greedy is very friendly and docile and second in command amongst the hens. Black is more shy. They are approx 5 years old and lay irregularly now. I miss their dark brown eggs. We had one more copper maran hen but she passed away last autumn, when she was molting she became very unwell with some nasty discharge out her vent. She didn't pick up and passed one night. These hens are both in Percy Blakeny aka scarlet pimpernels group.

Percy Blakeney - aka the scarlet pimpernel. He hatched here in from purchased incubated eggs. He hatched end of May 2024 and has stayed ever since. Lovely cockerel, has always accepted my presence but would always go for my 2 little boys and my husband or father in law who tends them when we are away. He tidbits his hens, mates respectfully and has been a good cockerel for us. A good strong crow which he likes to share with the universe. Last autumn after he went through the molt he seemed to develop some strange condition where he wobbled his neck all the time and occasionally fell over in the coop. He would always get up again and it didn't seem to bother him too much but he definitely lost his spark a bit after this and isn't so active and seems to let his son Armand take main role. I hope he is ok. He has a true lady love in his little hatch mate Cleopatra, he never leavers her side and has ensured Armand know she will never be his hen.

Cleopatra - a beautiful tiny little straw colored bantam with emerald ears and dark comb, we incubated here. Such a friendly hen, always by your side and never stops talking. If you're sitting reading in the sun she's soon up on your shoulder cheeping away. A lovely hen. She would love to be broody some day but Grey would never allow it. She hatched May 2024 too, so she will be 2 this spring

Esmerelda - our black and white frizzle, bought her as a 6 week old chick. She is the same age as Percy and Cleopatra, they had a frizzle cockerel in their hatch batch but unfortunately he was killed in a fox attack that Percy and cleopatra survived. She's a fiesty little frizzle, like to think she is boss and doesn't let any wild birds share the garden with them! Not very friendly with pple. She had a terrible molt last autumn and looked really bad for a while but thankfully all her fluff soon returned she's in Percy group and his second favorite. Although she does risk his wrath sometimes and joins Armand

XXX to be continued XXX

 

[thecatumbrella]

What a motley crew! I've definitely made posts here for my own future reference, and they've absolutely come in handy.

By the way, I love the arborvitae you have planted against the run! Were those already there, or did you plant them intentionally as a wind/weather block?

 

[Companihen]

What a motley crew! I've definitely made posts here for my own future reference, and they've absolutely come in handy.

By the way, I love the arborvitae you have planted against the run! Were those already there, or did you plant them intentionally as a wind/weather block?

Ah thanks for checking in! I need to update about all the rest... I have 14 in total. I'll pop back on tmw morning to fill in about the rest of the team and add more images. I haven't worked out how to place the image next to the text so that I can name each chicken in the picture.

Yes I planted those intentionally and they have grown up so much! I may plant some in the run too along the side which runs along the garden. Would get plenty of sun and some rain in from the run side too. Gets damp in that end of the run and they would give a bit more shelter too... in the spring maybe

 

[thecatumbrella]

I haven't worked out how to place the image next to the text so that I can name each chicken in the picture.

If you use the "insert image" button that along the top (vs the "attach files" button at the bottom), that will place your pictures inline with the cursor.

Looking forward to meeting the rest of the flock!

 

[Companihen]

If you use the "insert image" button that along the top (vs the "attach files" button at the bottom), that will place your pictures inline with the cursor.

Looking forward to meeting the rest of the flock!

Great! Thank you. Looking forward to writing about them tbh. They're great

 

[Companihen]

Continuing the meet the group here instead of on the first msg. We've got up the the 2025 additions now. In the spring I incubated 16 eggs, 8 from cleopatra and esmereldas eggs with Percy and 8 from my mums hens, a chamois polish pair and a black polish mix bantam. 14 chicks hatched, we had 7 hens and 7 cockerels. I tried to sell the cockerels for a while but then had to cull them as no takers and I couldn't keep 8 crowers. My mum had 3 hens and I kept 4, Pepin and Pinch the white polish mix girls and Polka and Prue the 2 brown frizzles. Images and info on them below. Later in the summer I purchased 6 copper maran eggs and 6 cream legbar eggs online to incubate in the hopes of bringing some more hens in to lay large eggs and also was open minded about keeping one cockerel. Unfortunately only 1 egg hatched?! Even more unfortunately when this chick was 5 weeks old I used to let it in the garden in a metal cat carrier cage with its heat lamp etc so it could interact with the other chickens in the garden a bit, it got attached by a rat that got in between the metal bars. I felt terrible. Such a needless death. The same time I had these eggs in the incubator Grey went broody. She sat on a clutch of eggs from Cleopatra and Esmerelda... only 1 hatched, and it was Armand. He has stayed as at present he doesn't fight Percy and there seems an accepted truce between the 2 of them. Seen as my big hen incubation was unsuccessful I bought 3 pullets from a local breeder, 2 speckled sussex, Estella and Minnie and one goldline, Toenails. This was new ground for me to buy pullets. Armand immediately seized the opportunity to take these girls as his own and keep out the way of percy and the other hens. So despite being only a third of their size and definitely the most junior of all the current chickens he fiercely guarded the eglu introduction run we have and wing danced through the run to the new girls. I'd never seen him do that before. And so 3 days after the new girls arrived I let Armand join the new girls in the eglu. He promptly mated each in turn and so our new group emerged!
1 Week after the new girls arrived I let all chickens out in the garden together and Percy and his hens kept together and Armand took the new girls round. That night he slept in the Eglu with the new girls. He slept with them for about a week and then he returned to the main coop and the new girls came with him. Obviously some squabbling and Grey and Esmerelda in particularly were nit at all happy to have the news sleep with them but it didn't take too long to sort out. When estella, Minnie and toenails started to lay eeggs Armand escorted them to the eglu house and guarded them until they were done.

Egg laying locations through the autumn typically were Polka and Prue behind the wheelbarrow wheel in the run, Minnie, Estella and toenails in the eglu house and others lay in 1 out of 7 available egg boxes in the main coop. Grey would choose between the eggbox or eglu depending on how much trouble she felt like causing

 

[Companihen]

And now the best bit, image uploads of the 2025 additions

Polka and Prue - you can't get much sweeter than this little pair. Polka has slightly more white dots in her feathering, but since the autumn molt Prue has become whiter and they're harder to tell apart on their own. So friendly, curious and soft. Always together. Belong in Percy's group. They have never slept in the main coop, they went from the eglu to choosing to sleep on the dead plum tree stump in the run. The 2 of them sleep up there every night, I must take a picture of this actually! And also they have never laid in an eggbox, they lay behind the wheel of an old wheelbarrow that is in the corner of the run.

Pepin and Pinch - the two Polish mix hens. A crazy pair! And like the polka and prue they also fit the birds of a feather stick together rule. Pepin and punch are also good friends and follow each other around. Curious, flightly and always on the go. Lay a lovely white egg. They're in Percys group but i wouldn't be sure their eggs were fertile as they rarely still long enough for him to mount them when Pinch hatched she had terrible splay legs which we had to tape together for a few days to help straighten out. Hence the name Pinch as her legs were pinched together for a while! Pinch has the black comb and legs. Pepin has a red comb and slightly more splashes of gold and black in her feathering.

 

[Companihen]

And of course Armand. Percy and Cleopatra's son, but Grey was his broody mum. He's the only true broody raised chicken we have here and it was a wonderful experience letting grey sit and introduce chicks to the flock. Or chick in this case. I'm unsure why only 1 hatched, I was confident that the eggs were fertile
and she was a very diligent sitter. I candles the eggs day 17 and 6 out of 8 looked good. I removed the too which hadn't developed at all. Day 22 came and there were no pips and no cheeps. I listened each morning and decided I'd wait till day 24 to remove all eggs. Tempted grey off the nest with scrambled egg enriched with lots of hidden goodies. While she gobbled I went to take the eggs but I heard cheeping! Promptly left the est and didn't check her again until the next morning. She hopped off the nest as soon as she saw me. And there on day 25 was teeny tiny Armand. No more cheeping so on day 26 I removed the other eggs. I didn't open them.
Grey was a very fierce mother! She had a section of the main run seperated off for her nest and could see the other chickens all the time. On day 3 after hatch I opened her chicken wire out and she matched little Armand out amongst the rest of the birds. Percy took an immediate dislike to him but grey fought him off everything he came near. That afternoon she marched little Armand up the ramp into the main coop and insisted they slept up there from then on. So they did
Armand is a great little cockerel, healthy and thriving, he always kept out the way of Percy and I've never seen the two hackle flare each other or fight at all, which puzzled me tbh. He always struck close to Grey but was a bit of an outcast really as he never dared try his chances with the hens, once tried to mate Grey who took serious offense and fought him all the remaining day and after that Armand was a bit of a loose end. No one like him. So he was absolutely overjoyed when he saw Minnie, Estella and toenails arrive in the eglu run one day

Father and son

 

[Companihen]

And then the new girls as we still call them. Bought as pullets last year and immediately guarded by Armand who despite being only a bantam and much smaller than them he tidbits, guards, egg supervises, mates and generally sticks by them through everything. They've laid faithfully all winter and have been the only eggs we've received from our 12 hens

Minnie and Estella - 2 speckled Sussex, friendly but not over confident near us. Good friends with each other, and love free ranging. (Minnie and Toenails were the only chickens to brave last weeks snow and ranged the garden and begged for treats at the back door still. Armand patiently pacing up and down waiting dor them to return!) Minnie is more speckled and slightly larger, Estella has striking white eyebrows and less speckles. I don't have many pictures of Estella, she is shyer than Minnie and often turns away.

Toenails - terrible name I know. She was goung to be Hemp but she just didn't suit that. And with her obsession with toenails being something edible when she first arrived here we'd always call out beware toenails she's about it soon became her name! I tried to rename her autumn but it was too late, toenails had stuck! She's a goldline, very friendly and first up for treats or out of the run to range the garden. Lovely hen.

Minnie and Toenails

Minnie

Estella