- Jul 7, 2009
- 193
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Hi,
My chickens have been laying for just over 1 year now.
We have been keeping track of how many they lay.
They were hand reared and brought up free range in my back garden in the North on England.
Pecking Order
The pecking order is RIR--->Marrans--->Bantam Bochin
The RIR is top chicken, however any aggression is very rare...the odd hean pecking stuff goes on from time to time but maybe only once a week or so.
What is interesting is that we have 2 ducks who are simply not agressive in any way, shape or form....but....the top alpha RIR chicken bows down to the ducks, but the lower ranked Marrans and Cochin do hen peck the ducks from time to time. The cochin more so than the Marrans...but still not that often.
Food
They get fed mixed chicken corn. They refuse outright to even aknowledge that layered pellets are food.
The ducks get a bowl of dried dog food with water + veg in the morning and evening and the chickens are well aware of what "dinner time" means and all come over for a communal feast.
Note: Egg Laying Pattern 1110110 = egg, egg, egg, no egg, egg, egg, no egg
None of the chickens egg laying was affected by them moulting or the weather...sun, snow, frost...nothing stops them apart from when they are broody.
RIR
Name: Red
Born: May 20th 2009
Age we got her: 5 weeks
1st Egg: Sept 7th 2009
Egg Pattern: 11101101110110...same all year.
Eggs: medium-large normal colored eggs
Broody: Three Times. Feb and May for 4 weeks..and Sept. No eggs during this time. (UPDATE: She went broody again the morning I 1st posted this. That makes the total 3 times)
Friendlyness: 8/10. Loves being stroked...but sometimes runs away clucking.
Picture: (don't have a newer one)
Cleverness: 5/10...knows some commands.
Cuckoo Marrans
Name: Maggie (nickname Moo)
Born: May 25th 2009
Age we got her: 8 weeks
1st Egg: Aug 29rd 2009
Egg Pattern: 11101101110110...same all year
Eggs: Medium to large dark chocolate colored
Broody: Never.
Friendlyness: 6/10. Can be a bit timmid (probably because we got her at a much later age)...doesn't like being picked up too much...but does tolerate it if you can catch her. However...if it's on her own terms, ie she jumps on you...then she's docile and loves being stroked under her wing. She always wants to sit on the end of the sofa to watch TV and doesn't move from a 1 foot sqaure towel until you open the door in the morning.
Cleverness: 9/10. Very. Knows a few commands and her name. She knows how to open the back door to let herself in so she can sit on the end of the sofa. She worked out that if all the chickens were together outside the door on an evening then she never got let in. She takes herself to bed early at 8pm...when the other two chickens follow her at 9pm her waits until they are asleep, gets up and literally comes and knocks on the back door. She is also a deamon and stealth stealing from a BBQ.
Picture:
Bantam Cochin
Name: Hand Chicken
Born: June 2nd 2009
Age we got her: 1 week
1st Egg: Aug 29rd 2009
Egg Pattern: 11101101110110...same all year
Eggs: Small-Medium white-light pink color...although they look smaller than the other eggs my chickens lay the yokes are the same size. only a couple of mm of egg white in there.
Broody: Once. May 2010 for 4 weeks...she was a grumpy grumpy chicken during this time. VERY defensive of any eggs in the coup.
Friendliness: 9/10. VERY friendly. always jumping on you for strokes and loves the attention...except when she's broody...I am amazed how she can go from the friendliest pet every to a complete grump that attacks anything within a few cm of her.
Cleverness: 6/10. Knows a few commands and her name. You call her, only she comes running, and then jumps on you for strokes.
Picture:
What I did find interesting was the RIR was broody twice and the Cochin once.
I thought a RIR very rarely got broody since it's bred for it's egg laying abilities.
My best egg laying is my Marrans...5 dark chocolate eggs / week...every week for a year. Thats roughly 260 eggs / year.
The bantam cochin has produced just over 200 eggs / year
The RIR is just over 180 eggs / year
Woka
My chickens have been laying for just over 1 year now.
We have been keeping track of how many they lay.
They were hand reared and brought up free range in my back garden in the North on England.
Pecking Order
The pecking order is RIR--->Marrans--->Bantam Bochin
The RIR is top chicken, however any aggression is very rare...the odd hean pecking stuff goes on from time to time but maybe only once a week or so.
What is interesting is that we have 2 ducks who are simply not agressive in any way, shape or form....but....the top alpha RIR chicken bows down to the ducks, but the lower ranked Marrans and Cochin do hen peck the ducks from time to time. The cochin more so than the Marrans...but still not that often.
Food
They get fed mixed chicken corn. They refuse outright to even aknowledge that layered pellets are food.
The ducks get a bowl of dried dog food with water + veg in the morning and evening and the chickens are well aware of what "dinner time" means and all come over for a communal feast.
Note: Egg Laying Pattern 1110110 = egg, egg, egg, no egg, egg, egg, no egg
None of the chickens egg laying was affected by them moulting or the weather...sun, snow, frost...nothing stops them apart from when they are broody.
RIR
Name: Red
Born: May 20th 2009
Age we got her: 5 weeks
1st Egg: Sept 7th 2009
Egg Pattern: 11101101110110...same all year.
Eggs: medium-large normal colored eggs
Broody: Three Times. Feb and May for 4 weeks..and Sept. No eggs during this time. (UPDATE: She went broody again the morning I 1st posted this. That makes the total 3 times)
Friendlyness: 8/10. Loves being stroked...but sometimes runs away clucking.
Picture: (don't have a newer one)
Cleverness: 5/10...knows some commands.
Cuckoo Marrans
Name: Maggie (nickname Moo)
Born: May 25th 2009
Age we got her: 8 weeks
1st Egg: Aug 29rd 2009
Egg Pattern: 11101101110110...same all year
Eggs: Medium to large dark chocolate colored
Broody: Never.
Friendlyness: 6/10. Can be a bit timmid (probably because we got her at a much later age)...doesn't like being picked up too much...but does tolerate it if you can catch her. However...if it's on her own terms, ie she jumps on you...then she's docile and loves being stroked under her wing. She always wants to sit on the end of the sofa to watch TV and doesn't move from a 1 foot sqaure towel until you open the door in the morning.
Cleverness: 9/10. Very. Knows a few commands and her name. She knows how to open the back door to let herself in so she can sit on the end of the sofa. She worked out that if all the chickens were together outside the door on an evening then she never got let in. She takes herself to bed early at 8pm...when the other two chickens follow her at 9pm her waits until they are asleep, gets up and literally comes and knocks on the back door. She is also a deamon and stealth stealing from a BBQ.
Picture:
Bantam Cochin
Name: Hand Chicken
Born: June 2nd 2009
Age we got her: 1 week
1st Egg: Aug 29rd 2009
Egg Pattern: 11101101110110...same all year
Eggs: Small-Medium white-light pink color...although they look smaller than the other eggs my chickens lay the yokes are the same size. only a couple of mm of egg white in there.
Broody: Once. May 2010 for 4 weeks...she was a grumpy grumpy chicken during this time. VERY defensive of any eggs in the coup.
Friendliness: 9/10. VERY friendly. always jumping on you for strokes and loves the attention...except when she's broody...I am amazed how she can go from the friendliest pet every to a complete grump that attacks anything within a few cm of her.
Cleverness: 6/10. Knows a few commands and her name. You call her, only she comes running, and then jumps on you for strokes.
Picture:
What I did find interesting was the RIR was broody twice and the Cochin once.
I thought a RIR very rarely got broody since it's bred for it's egg laying abilities.
My best egg laying is my Marrans...5 dark chocolate eggs / week...every week for a year. Thats roughly 260 eggs / year.
The bantam cochin has produced just over 200 eggs / year
The RIR is just over 180 eggs / year
Woka
Last edited:
Thank you for posting this. Very detailed info. Good job. 
