Light Sussex Hens for Sale - 14/4/11 - NO LONGER FOR SALE

NOTE: Ava has been destroying eggs, which is a recurrent behaviour that I thought was cured. I can't in good conscience sell her on to someone else and will be arranging for her to be dispatched as she's no use to me either. This means that I will keep Grace, or I may consider selling her on to someone who already has a hen or two.

ORIGINAL POST:
The time has come to admit that I have too many hens and I'm getting too many eggs. Therefore, Grace and Ava, the Light Sussex hens, are up for sale. I'll let them go for £10 - which is an absolute bargain for two proven healthy layers. Email me on tpoulson@hotmail.co.uk if you're interested - and they need to be picked up from just outside Melton Mowbray.

This is Grace - Ava has the same colouring.

Betsey lays first egg!

It's useless, of course, as it's half hard-shelled and half soft-shelled, but it's massive! I thought something was up this morning when my cockerel, who usually studiously ignores her, tried to shag her as soon as she came out of the coop - always a sign of a fertile hen. How the cockerel knows, I have no idea.

NOTE added 11/5/11: Well, obviously this was wrong as she turned out to be a ruddy cockerel!

Betsey - from chick to all grown-up

This is an amazing transformation. I don't rear many chicks as I don't have the room, but I had to see what a cross between George the Buff Orpington and Grace the Light Sussex would look like... and this is her!

Protecting my precious flowers!

I have the most amazing crop of Irises this year. Simply beautiful! My main issue is trying to stop the chickens from ruining them and stopping this amazing sight from continuing to bloom. I've put a little fence up around the flower bed, but some of the flowers are bound to overhang and get chewed. Thanks goodness for photography, eh? At least I can capture them prior to their mauling...

George having a dustbath

There's now a massive crater in the flower bed that George and all the girls use to have a dustbath. And those limp green stamped-on plants were Bluebells. Dammit! And the massive chicken in the background is Betsey the tiny chick...

Bread-addicts!

I thought it was just humans that got addicted to carbs! My chickens are getting fierce over getting hold of a few crumbs when I walk outside with a slice of bread. The whole brood are really integrated now. Big Betsey - the world's biggest chick - is back at the bottom of the pecking order, and my egg count is hitting the roof. Today I got 5 eggs from six hens - and Betsey is only a few weeks away from laying too now. Blimey. I'm going to have to start selling them!

Settling in new chickens

It's been a week since I brought Daryl and Hannah into the flock, and it's been an interesting week. When I first introduced the girls, every chicken in the flock had a go and Ken the hen went borderline psycho. She was flying at them, screaming, grabbing onto their combs and wattles, and even George was pecking them to let them know where they stood in the pecking order - low.

I love the Cochin breed. Even after all that antagonisation, they didn't once fight back. They literally just turned and tried to avoid it, or put their heads down and backed away in a very submissive way. They really are very sweet and good natured, and their tactics worked. It looks like the attacks have [almost] stopped and they are being left to potter around the garden together.

It helps that they've been laying eggs. That automatically gives them some credence in the flock, thank goodness. I'm delighted with them. Not only are their personalities as I expected, they've also been delivering eggs since they arrived.