[moorlander]

Hi there
As well as my dozen hybrid rescue layers I have gone for a couple of pure breeds - one not as well distributed as it could be and the other even clser to the danger list.
I opted for 'monochrome' because there were so many coloured and decorative breeds I would not know where to stop, and I was looking for a hardy breed and a 'cause'.
So - I've got a little flock of six pullets and one cockerel - Scots Greys + another little flock of seven pullets and one cockerel - Norfolk Greys. Both flocks are very healthy at present.
The Scotties are lovely and friendly - one runs or flies to greet me every time. The Norfolks are a lot more timid and need more careful handling but I love them to bits. These 'black Marias' are very elegant in their own way.
They are all home hatched from different sources to hopefully increase viability.
This coming Spring I hope to breed and hatch from these and be able to provide hatching eggs and birds on a limited scale.
I would love to see these lovely breeds adopted more widely to ensure their future safety - they are both such remarkable fowls.
Are there any other poultryfolk out there who are also in love with - or simply keeping - these two breeds. Would be great to get in touch and swap notes.

[little blue]

  mis-read the title as "black & white Christmas!" .... thought you selling them as Christmas gifts!

I dont have these breeds, but am hoping to build up a little flock of Derbyshire Redcaps - we had 7 hatch, one hen died, one cockerel sold & too many boys still!  No wonder they are a rare breed....

[moorlander]

Hi Little Blue

Quite a coincidence. My very first hatch last year were Derbyshire Redcaps - 3f + 4m.
I was quite fond of them and my wife was over the moon with them. I grew them on and enjoyed them a lot. Unfortunately the cockerels - all four of them - had very strong voices!! I got homes for one - then two more. In the end Brian (remaining cockerel named after Brian Clough of equally loud voice) and his three girlfriends were taken back to the egg source to be re-homed - they were a truly handsome breeding quartet but I was set on my black and whites and did not have sufficient segregated housing to do them justice.
Lovely breed. Thankfully, because they are so decorative and impressive, their future is pretty well assured.
If you want a source of hatching eggs and/or good quality birds, contact Daniel at 'Moorlands Poultry Supplies' - they have a website - and tell him Paul at Waterhouses put you on to him. He is crackers on DRs and will surely help if you want to spread your genetic base with new blood.

[little blue]

thanks Moorlander.... I will, in the Spring 

I'm over the border to you.... smack in the middle of Derbyshire, by the way.   

[moorlander]

Won't hold it against you - you being in the 'other' Peak Coiunty and that!!?!

Best wishes across teh Dove

[manian]

hey moorlander
watch it!!!!!!!
i'm from there too!!
manian

[Fleecewife]

We keep and breed Scots Greys - wonderful independant little birds

[bigchicken]

I have Scots Grey bantams and if I had to chose my favorite breed then they would win hands down, Very little goes wrong with them and they lay very well for a bantam.

[jinglejoys]

I'm a Norfolk Grey fan (don't have any though)

[moorlander]

Hi Feleecewife - got to agree they are certainly plucky with oodles of character.

Hi jinglejoys, glad to find another fan of the Norfies. There are like Marmite - you prob either love or hate them - and I love Marmite! Keep in touch and who knows, in teh Spring, if my little crew 'do the business' there should be a few Norfies about. I'm a hobby poultryman so I'm not out to make a living.

[Birdie Wife]

I love black, white and black-and-white birds too... don't know what it is about them. I had the aim of a mixed flock, lots of nice colours, but gradually it just became monochrome!  My joint favourites at the moment are my black Scots Dumpies and Australorp bantams, but I've kept Croad Langshans, Minorcas and barred Plymouth Rocks, and they are all fabulous 

[moorlander]

Hi Birdie Wife

Know waht you mean about monochrome.
I love 'em. Yet I also know that once I got into 'coloureds' I would have that many - there are so many to choose from - that I'd not know when to stop!
Good luck with your lovely moxed monochrome flock.