My Pretty Pekins
Songster
I've wondered about starting a flock thread for a while now, after seeing and enjoying many others. So, in the hopes that just perhaps it will entertain someone else, I'm taking the plunge. (I know. That was dramatic.)
We'll start from the start (how very logical, don't you think?) when my Dad announced we were getting chickens. All well and good. Prefab coop #1, designed for 8 hens (but I tell you, I would not put more than four in the thing!) arrived and so did our hens. We went to pick them out from a poultry farm as point of lay hens, each having scoured the offerings to try to make our decision. Having been warned that we could only have one each (myself and my two siblings), and not to ask for more than three, we took this very seriously and were ready to pick just one.
Because, as Mum firmly said, 'I don't like chickens'
Well, that was the plan. Now, before we go any further, I have to explain one thing. My Dad, my brother and I love animals. My sister could care less. But my Mum - oh, dear! I think the idea of hair and feathers just rankles with her neat and tidy self! So we got to the 'chicken place' as we referred to it as, and began the long and difficult narrowing down of just which hen to get.
My brother was first to make his choice (he actually went for the one I was eyeing up; but no worries!). He was about six at this point and told us he wanted a boy hen to lay him eggs. So he picked out the most 'boyish' of the lot. A pretty Bluebell, who was promptly named Fred.
Next was my sister. She picked a Black Copper Maran hen, and she went into a box along with Fred. The name was to be decided later.
I was crouched by the door and most of the birds (pretty skittish) ran off, but one came up and investigated (read: pecked) my finger. Some have disputed my logic (!) but I went for this one. A really adorable Light Sussex.
And then came the biggest surprise.
Mum was watching intently. "We still have room for one in the box, right?"
Dad replied in the affirmative.
"They're quite pretty, actually, aren't they,"
We all knew what she was getting at, and so Mum the chicken-hater had the honour of picking out a hen that was never meant to come home with us. Okay, so Dad helped too. But whatever.
On the journey home, we discussed chicken names. Everyone, that is, except my brother. He was too busy peeking at Fred through the holes in the box. Dad and Mum had noticed their hen - a Speckledy hybrid - rooting through last year's dead leaves and called her Autumn. It was to prove a very apt name. She had such an obsession with falling leaves; it was genuinely gorgeous. My sister's hen ended up as Mai, after much deliberation over whether it should be Mae with an 'e' or Mai with an 'i'. No prizes for guessing which it ended up as, seeing as I already told you.
Mine was called Pearlie, because of her pretty white feathers. We couldn't get home too soon, what with indignant cries that Fred was sitting on top of Mai and squashing her, and impatience to see them in their new run. So when we did, we each helped open the two boxes...
...to find...
...that Mai had laid. an. egg. On the way home! None of us could believe it; but sure enough, there was a dark brown speckled egg. So she promptly got the nickname of Princess Lay-a.
That was the beginning of our chicken journey. Now we have eleven hens and two cockerels, which is set to expand by up to six within the next week (yes, we have chicks on the way!). Their names are as follows...
5 Pekin bantams
- Rusty, a Millefleur cock. He's quite shy and very defensive of his girls
- Trista, a cuckoo hen. She's really sweet and placid, getting quite old now and we haven't had an egg from her since last spring
- Snowy, who (we think) is a silver partridge cock, son of Rusty and Trista. He's very affectionate when you can catch him. He just like running away!
- Maple, a partridge hen, daughter of Trista and Rusty. She's a little cutie, very talkative and loves cuddles.
- Ebony, a black hen, daughter of Rusty and Trista (technically, because my sister names EVERY black chick Ebony, she's Ebony VIII. But we never call her that, LOL!) She's a total cuddlebug and will come up and say hello at every chance she gets.
3 Light Sussex hens
- Starli, who's getting older now. She doesn't lay more than twice a week now, but is sweet and docile when you can hold her. She's pretty flighty, though
- Romy, who is the flightiest of all of them, and weighs a ton (all the Light Sussexs are heavy but she takes the biscuit!)
- Pearl, who is sweet and much gentler than Romy
1 Magpie Maran hen
- Twilight (my brother is getting a little better with names, I think), a mischievous favourite of the whole family.
1 Black Copper Maran hen
- Tansy, my little bundle of sass. Don't mess with this gal when she's laying, guys!
1 Golden Comet hen
- Goldie - such an imaginative name, I know. We actually got her and her sister Sunny as a sort of refund from someone who had given us 5 sexed hens, of which three were cockerels. Yeah, I couldn't make any sense of it either. But anyhow, we took them home and my siblings were promptly giving temporary name ideas for them. I put my foot down! They always say; we'll call it (x) until we know what it's going to be when it's older. And the name always sticks. At one point we had two lavender Pekins, who were the smallest in the hatch but the loudest. So they were (temporarily) named Squeak and Squawk. The names... stuck. So they ended up as Sunny and Goldie because we knew we'd keep those even as hens! Sunny died not long ago
2 Crested Cream Legbar hens
- Hazel, who absolutely adores Tansy (it's really cute)
- Pecan, who is incredibly tame and tends to stick her head in my welly boot. Don't ask me why. I think she's bonkers, to be honest!
I'll post some pictures of them all soon - and the chicks, when they hatch! We'll be hatching a lot this year, as we regularly rotate our flock and some of the girls are really getting on.
I hope some of you will stick around, watch the thread, and enjoy the hilarious tales each day will surely bring!
We'll start from the start (how very logical, don't you think?) when my Dad announced we were getting chickens. All well and good. Prefab coop #1, designed for 8 hens (but I tell you, I would not put more than four in the thing!) arrived and so did our hens. We went to pick them out from a poultry farm as point of lay hens, each having scoured the offerings to try to make our decision. Having been warned that we could only have one each (myself and my two siblings), and not to ask for more than three, we took this very seriously and were ready to pick just one.
Because, as Mum firmly said, 'I don't like chickens'
Well, that was the plan. Now, before we go any further, I have to explain one thing. My Dad, my brother and I love animals. My sister could care less. But my Mum - oh, dear! I think the idea of hair and feathers just rankles with her neat and tidy self! So we got to the 'chicken place' as we referred to it as, and began the long and difficult narrowing down of just which hen to get.
My brother was first to make his choice (he actually went for the one I was eyeing up; but no worries!). He was about six at this point and told us he wanted a boy hen to lay him eggs. So he picked out the most 'boyish' of the lot. A pretty Bluebell, who was promptly named Fred.
Next was my sister. She picked a Black Copper Maran hen, and she went into a box along with Fred. The name was to be decided later.
I was crouched by the door and most of the birds (pretty skittish) ran off, but one came up and investigated (read: pecked) my finger. Some have disputed my logic (!) but I went for this one. A really adorable Light Sussex.
And then came the biggest surprise.
Mum was watching intently. "We still have room for one in the box, right?"
Dad replied in the affirmative.
"They're quite pretty, actually, aren't they,"
We all knew what she was getting at, and so Mum the chicken-hater had the honour of picking out a hen that was never meant to come home with us. Okay, so Dad helped too. But whatever.
On the journey home, we discussed chicken names. Everyone, that is, except my brother. He was too busy peeking at Fred through the holes in the box. Dad and Mum had noticed their hen - a Speckledy hybrid - rooting through last year's dead leaves and called her Autumn. It was to prove a very apt name. She had such an obsession with falling leaves; it was genuinely gorgeous. My sister's hen ended up as Mai, after much deliberation over whether it should be Mae with an 'e' or Mai with an 'i'. No prizes for guessing which it ended up as, seeing as I already told you.
Mine was called Pearlie, because of her pretty white feathers. We couldn't get home too soon, what with indignant cries that Fred was sitting on top of Mai and squashing her, and impatience to see them in their new run. So when we did, we each helped open the two boxes...
...to find...
...that Mai had laid. an. egg. On the way home! None of us could believe it; but sure enough, there was a dark brown speckled egg. So she promptly got the nickname of Princess Lay-a.
That was the beginning of our chicken journey. Now we have eleven hens and two cockerels, which is set to expand by up to six within the next week (yes, we have chicks on the way!). Their names are as follows...
5 Pekin bantams
- Rusty, a Millefleur cock. He's quite shy and very defensive of his girls
- Trista, a cuckoo hen. She's really sweet and placid, getting quite old now and we haven't had an egg from her since last spring
- Snowy, who (we think) is a silver partridge cock, son of Rusty and Trista. He's very affectionate when you can catch him. He just like running away!
- Maple, a partridge hen, daughter of Trista and Rusty. She's a little cutie, very talkative and loves cuddles.
- Ebony, a black hen, daughter of Rusty and Trista (technically, because my sister names EVERY black chick Ebony, she's Ebony VIII. But we never call her that, LOL!) She's a total cuddlebug and will come up and say hello at every chance she gets.
3 Light Sussex hens
- Starli, who's getting older now. She doesn't lay more than twice a week now, but is sweet and docile when you can hold her. She's pretty flighty, though
- Romy, who is the flightiest of all of them, and weighs a ton (all the Light Sussexs are heavy but she takes the biscuit!)
- Pearl, who is sweet and much gentler than Romy
1 Magpie Maran hen
- Twilight (my brother is getting a little better with names, I think), a mischievous favourite of the whole family.
1 Black Copper Maran hen
- Tansy, my little bundle of sass. Don't mess with this gal when she's laying, guys!
1 Golden Comet hen
- Goldie - such an imaginative name, I know. We actually got her and her sister Sunny as a sort of refund from someone who had given us 5 sexed hens, of which three were cockerels. Yeah, I couldn't make any sense of it either. But anyhow, we took them home and my siblings were promptly giving temporary name ideas for them. I put my foot down! They always say; we'll call it (x) until we know what it's going to be when it's older. And the name always sticks. At one point we had two lavender Pekins, who were the smallest in the hatch but the loudest. So they were (temporarily) named Squeak and Squawk. The names... stuck. So they ended up as Sunny and Goldie because we knew we'd keep those even as hens! Sunny died not long ago
2 Crested Cream Legbar hens
- Hazel, who absolutely adores Tansy (it's really cute)
- Pecan, who is incredibly tame and tends to stick her head in my welly boot. Don't ask me why. I think she's bonkers, to be honest!
I'll post some pictures of them all soon - and the chicks, when they hatch! We'll be hatching a lot this year, as we regularly rotate our flock and some of the girls are really getting on.
I hope some of you will stick around, watch the thread, and enjoy the hilarious tales each day will surely bring!
)
