We’ve some new arrivals here at Domestic Executive HQ. Three cheery little chickens to add to our home birds. It’s all part of the strategy to build up the numbers so that the rooster can spread himself around a little more.
I was given these chickens by Al, our beekeeper-chicken keeper friend. Not a bad exchange for some rhubarb cake. It was a bit of spur of the moment decision to take them but since they wanted rid of a few of theirs and we needed some more it seemed to make sense.
In the bundle to put them in the car I forgot to find out their breed. I’m sure they are cross breeds of something. I do know they are going to be much smaller than our Plymouth Barred Rock chickens who are like sumo wrestlers in comparisons.
I admit I was quite anxious about putting the new comers in the chicken pen. Having sorted out the pecking order this was going to upset things considerably. The early signs were good, not too much stalking and pecking. As you can imagine George the mad rooster was particularly put out. He paced around outside getting very annoyed he couldn’t get in to sort them out.
There is a beautiful white hen and two charming brown and black chickens. They were content to stick together. Safety in numbers.
Here they are together, the new girls on the block.
They are young birds so there is still plenty of growing to be done. I like them though. They are very attractive and look very sleek against the home birds who are moulting still.
I love their long tails and speckled feathers. The white one has particular grace about her.
Although this little brown one is a looker too.
All in all I’m very pleased with the new arrivals although they will I am sure be a constant worry over the coming days. I hope they settle in OK and there isn’t too much in-fighting to sort out the pecking hierarchy again.
When I peaked in after bedtime everyone was very settled on the roost. Admittedly there were two clear camps, the new hens on one end and the home birds on the other. Luckily we have a big hen house so there was plenty of room for people to keep their distance.
George however won’t be happy until he’s fully installed as leader of the birds again. It’s going to be a while before he’s trusted to mingle with the new comers though. He’d probably flattened them in one stroke. I fear that although George’s sentence has been extended he’s still within sight of the executioners gallows. If he creates as much trouble as he did before he’ll have to go off to a new home or the pot.
After daily rounds of aggravation with him I’m coming around to seeing the proper and correct end to a mad mad rooster. But we’ll see, after all boys will be boys!
They’re very pretty your new hens. Once in a while I’d go with my boys to Hatherleigh market on the day of the poultry auctions and usually come home with some interesting birds. Once I bought so many I forgot to collect one lot of silkies and when I phoned the market to tell them I’d be back they also asked me to take some other bantams away that had been left. My best buy at the auction was a bird I bought unseen for 50p. there were so masny entries that day it was one of the overflow ones still in cardboard boxes and described as a white leghorn which I always wanted. When I took it out of the box I thought I’d been had because it had 2″ spurs. But it was a hen, must have been crossed with a game bird. It was the best layer I’ve ever had !
The hens are settling in although we did lose one overnight in the bush. She flew out of the pen and couldn’t get back in to roost. I tried to get her back but I think I was just scaring her further into the undergrowth. She’s back now in the warm of the hen house! JT
Your hens are really good looking! I dont ever remember having such gorgeous hens when I was growing up – ours were just brown and normal hen looking, the feathers are so nice on these birds. I hope they settle in well, I cant wait to get some chickens, I am glad too that you will be able to help me too once we do, being the chicken expert you are now!! xx
Hi! Beautiful hens! Have you ever learned their breeds?
Hi Mike, they are Plymouth Barred Rock hens. A large and heavy breed excellent for not flying the coop and in danger from a basset hound.
Those are not Plymouth Barred Rocks. The rooster might be, but the beautiful brown-and-black hens and the white-speckled one are not PBR
Yeah, I’ve kept Barred Rocks for years and I’ve seen many others besides mine. Those are not them. The white one with black speckles is probably a Speckled Sussex. The gold and black? I dunno. But wow – they sure are beautiful!