[Fleecewife]

This post is apropos nothing, just to say how much I love my hens.  We got some very nice new ones yesterday which brings our total up to ten, plus the cock.  We are slowly reducing the sheep side of things, and the veg garden size as we get older, but I realise that I never want to be without my hens.  They are so calming and self sufficient, purring and chatting amongst themselves.  I notice that many people start off their smallholding leanings with keeping hens.  I think [member=1]Dan[/member] that we need a chicken-    emoji 


We have a variety of breeds/hybrids chosen to be hardy but not too feisty, as they free range in a decidedly icy, wet, windy place.  We have whittled out the breeds which don't do well here, and sadly that means no more blue egg laying Crested Cream Legbars, amongst others.


Do you love your hens, or are they just egg producers on legs?

[Dan]

Just for you Juliet:

 

[chrismahon]

We love our old hens and cocks- 26 of them total in 9 coops. The eggs are just a bonus for us and saves us buying any sometimes. Any rare (now) extras are first frozen then given away as strict French law prohibits sale unless you are a properly registered business. We've been checked out twice by French asking to buy eggs- both occasions we gave them some and never saw them again.

[Bionic]

I did love my hens but the fox got the last of them late last year:-(


Planning on getting some more this spring but may get some that are a bit interesting rather than just egg layers

[Fleecewife]

Just for you Juliet:

 

Thank you thank you Dan 

[Perris]

I feel the same way, though have a lot less experience than you FW. I am about to pick up two new girls today, Araucanas, and hope they will fit my circumstances better than did the Legbars; they are supposed to produce blue eggs with relatively big yolks, and apparently are the original bearers of the blue gene. Quarantine and integration are new challenges I look forward to 

[landroverroy]

Araucanas are great! You'll love them.

[DavidandCollette]

I have 20+ lovely ladies who free range. When I go to feed the goats in the morning there Is a queue in the barn of girls who want to lay there. I love the little noise they make they also lay enough eggs for us to sell the excess so they pay for themselves and we eat lovely fresh eggs

[Fleecewife]

One of my very favourite films is Chicken Run - I could watch it every day.  They have captured hen behaviour and character to a 'T'. 


We have a sheep shelter which I can see from the kitchen window and every morning at the same time, a little stream of hens can be seen running up there with their hilarious, bustling gait, to be first to the best sunbathing site 
When the sheep are fed in the winter, there are always hens in amongst them, shoving for their place at the trough.


Our new girls are just venturing a few steps outside for the first time ever, but I'm sure they'll be off with the rest in a couple of days.
For a while when I was a child, my father kept battery hens - aaagh, poor girls - so I love that mine are free range and live the life they want   

[Part time dabbler]

We started with four, took three Ex-cons but then lost one of the originals to a fox. Friends were giving up their girls so we took on another 7. We "sell" half dozen eggs for £1 which is more a donation to feed then anything else. However that has become so popular that we don't have any eggs for ourselves so yesterday we signed up for another 7 ex-cons.

Each has its own personality and boy do they love free ranging in the garden but I will have to build some fencing for my veg area.

As we lost one to a fox we have decided to get three alpaca's as we understand they scare off foxes and boy they are cute like chickens. Thankfully we have 2.5 acres to put them all in

[Marches Farmer]

We found Orpingtons just didn't suit our windy hilltop - they hated being blown around.  Legbar crossed with Welsummer produced a robust hen laying olive green eggs, although the cockerels were feisty and didn't stay long.  We've enjoyed keeping a number of different varieties over the years:  Campines and Andalusians were too flighty; Polands and Salmon Faverolles were poor layers; RIR's too aggressive towards other breeds.  We now have L/F Blue, Gold and Buff Laced Wyandottes, Speckled Sussex and Silver Grey Dorkings.  We'll stick with them for a while as we've bred very selectively and now have robust birds that lay well, have a good temperament and win at shows.

[NigelsLiveoutLover]

Wouldn’t do the hard labour especially in the winter if we didn’t care for them. All our poultry are loved , especially by grandchildren. Each one has a character but we love them to lay eggs too.
Our peafowl are pure luxury as is our ageing Drake.

[cambee]

We started with 3 in an eglu. Now on our new smallholding we have 10 and a cockerel free ranging in the hen field with shed for nighttime and then a mix of silkies and bantams in the ‘pet pen’ which is a fenced off lawn with eglus that our holiday let overlooks. Our guests and their children love to watch them. Our whole flock includes white leghorns who literally lay everyday, welsummers, legbarns, hybrids and our cockerel is a gorgeous silver laced Wyandotte given to us by someone who bought him as a hen! We’ve hatched eggs under our silkie broody but have now invested in an incubator and having successfully experimented and hatched 2 out of 4 eggs (leghorn/Wyandotte cross, not sure what sex yet) we have just bought some hatching eggs of various breeds and are going to give those a go. We also sell excess eggs at the gate for £1 per half dozen and can’t meet demand as people love the different coloured shells. Chickens are a delight. Wouldn’t be without them now.

[Clarebelle]

I love my hens, love the noises they make and love watching them pottering about. I have 8 hens and a cockerel who free range and come and go as they please. Because there are no foxes or rats on the island I don't shut them in they are happy as larry!

[Bionic]

I love my hens, love the noises they make and love watching them pottering about. I have 8 hens and a cockerel who free range and come and go as they please. Because there are no foxes or rats on the island I don't shut them in they are happy as larry!

No foxes..... I'm moving to Orkney