Hi again Nigel
Unfortunately you can't attach a photo until you have posted a number of responses on the forum.... it might be 5 I think..... I should have spotted that you were probably too new, sorry! Hopefully we will be able to see them soon. Are they all red sex link hybrids or do you have some black or blue hybrids. I use to have some black rocks in a mixed flock I had years ago which I loved, but they gradually all got picked off one by one by a fox.
I currently have a red sex link hybrid(Molly) and a Blue Haze hybrid (Scranner Anna.... boy is she a trougher!) but she is a pretty consistent layer, so I forgive her, despite her total lack of table manners or etiquette. Then I have a Rhode Island Red(Henrietta), a pair of cream legbars (Harry and Lily) for blue eggs, some welsummers for terracotta coloured eggs(but they haven't started laying yet), some Black copper Marans that are just starting to show a bit of interest in the nest boxes, so I'm hoping I may get some dark chocolate coloured eggs from them this week and some exchequer (black and white checkered) leghorns which lay white eggs, plus my broodies (Tasha my araucana cross and Frances my cochin silkie cross) and a whole load of adolescent and younger chicks of the above breeds and farmyard mixes.
It's great that your child is being brought up with chickens. It's so important for children to have an awareness of where their food comes from and there is just something magical about collecting eggs, even for us adults, let alone watching and interacting with chickens. They call it chicken tv here. I remember how amazed I was when I first got them, that they all had their own little personalities. I love having a mixed flock and it's funny how I have one favourite one day and the next it is another.
Sadly today, Margo my exchequer leghorn has been in need of tlc. When I let them out this morning, she was splattered with blood down the side of her neck and it had run down her legs and she has clearly hurt her foot too. This must have happened last night in the coop because the roost where she sits was covered with blood and the floor below was well splattered with it too. I'm just relieved she didn't pass out and fall off as she insists on roosting in the rafters, but she is in the brooder tonight and not a happy chuck as a result, but I'm not taking any chances. There's no blood outside the hen house, so whether she has been fighting with another hen on the roost or somehow gashed herself on something in the hen house (which is actually an old stone stable) I really don't know. Anyway, as a result of being in the wars, she has been treated to all of her favourite foods today, in the hope of replenishing some of the nutrients that the blood loss will depleted. I hope she doesn't start making a habit of it, just to get spoiled..... Having said that, a night in the brooder is plenty punishment for her. She is a wild child and absolutely hates being fastened in.
So, that's been my chicken drama for the day. I can do without the extra work of bathing and dressing the wounds of an unwilling chicken every day though I can tell you!
Best wishes
Barbara
Unfortunately you can't attach a photo until you have posted a number of responses on the forum.... it might be 5 I think..... I should have spotted that you were probably too new, sorry! Hopefully we will be able to see them soon. Are they all red sex link hybrids or do you have some black or blue hybrids. I use to have some black rocks in a mixed flock I had years ago which I loved, but they gradually all got picked off one by one by a fox.
I currently have a red sex link hybrid(Molly) and a Blue Haze hybrid (Scranner Anna.... boy is she a trougher!) but she is a pretty consistent layer, so I forgive her, despite her total lack of table manners or etiquette. Then I have a Rhode Island Red(Henrietta), a pair of cream legbars (Harry and Lily) for blue eggs, some welsummers for terracotta coloured eggs(but they haven't started laying yet), some Black copper Marans that are just starting to show a bit of interest in the nest boxes, so I'm hoping I may get some dark chocolate coloured eggs from them this week and some exchequer (black and white checkered) leghorns which lay white eggs, plus my broodies (Tasha my araucana cross and Frances my cochin silkie cross) and a whole load of adolescent and younger chicks of the above breeds and farmyard mixes.
It's great that your child is being brought up with chickens. It's so important for children to have an awareness of where their food comes from and there is just something magical about collecting eggs, even for us adults, let alone watching and interacting with chickens. They call it chicken tv here. I remember how amazed I was when I first got them, that they all had their own little personalities. I love having a mixed flock and it's funny how I have one favourite one day and the next it is another.
Sadly today, Margo my exchequer leghorn has been in need of tlc. When I let them out this morning, she was splattered with blood down the side of her neck and it had run down her legs and she has clearly hurt her foot too. This must have happened last night in the coop because the roost where she sits was covered with blood and the floor below was well splattered with it too. I'm just relieved she didn't pass out and fall off as she insists on roosting in the rafters, but she is in the brooder tonight and not a happy chuck as a result, but I'm not taking any chances. There's no blood outside the hen house, so whether she has been fighting with another hen on the roost or somehow gashed herself on something in the hen house (which is actually an old stone stable) I really don't know. Anyway, as a result of being in the wars, she has been treated to all of her favourite foods today, in the hope of replenishing some of the nutrients that the blood loss will depleted. I hope she doesn't start making a habit of it, just to get spoiled..... Having said that, a night in the brooder is plenty punishment for her. She is a wild child and absolutely hates being fastened in.
So, that's been my chicken drama for the day. I can do without the extra work of bathing and dressing the wounds of an unwilling chicken every day though I can tell you!
Best wishes
Barbara
