Chickensssssss

They need a bit of a mention because hardly anyone really gets my fondness for chickens so here's a little story of all my favourite chooky wooks.

The white chickens are the sputnicks, all young cockerels in this picture, I have no idea why they were called that, but there you go. When they grew up a bit they were simply called 'next' as we and our neighbours enjoyed lots of roast chicken (it was a bit upsetting but necessary, you can't have loads of cockerels)

These are Cream Legbars, very poplular as they lay eggs with blue shells but they DO have a skittish nature so not the best for pets, that's my little sister with them

I LOVED THIS CHICKEN Sorry I know I must sound mad but this is Bill Flint, a Black maran and he had such a lovely nature and he was so beautiful and and and his loss is the reason I loathe foxes. Maran cockerels are really valuable because when crossbred the beautiful egg shell gene associated with Marans is inherited, and people will be more willing to buy eggs when they look beautiful and have a more reddish/brownish shade. I think it's because people consider them to look more organic and therefore more valuable.

This was Willow and he was a Dutch booted Bantam, I had a little obsession with this breed because they have very pretty fluffy feet and the hens make great pets, their feet make them ideal for people who like chickens and gardens because the feathered feet prevent serious damage to plants. However I think the cockerels get small man syndrome or something, Willow especially was a very nasty individual, he really was, used to fly up and attack anyone who came near.

this is my other Dutch Booted Bantam, Bryony. She was a bit scary and skittish so we kept her.

... But she made a really lovely mum.. this is her least successful hatch-only one chick and not even a pure breed! the chicks yellow legs give away that she is not a pure bred Light Sussex.

this is that chick all grown up:

She was friends with Bill Flint and his sister, these scraggy little things:

Then there was Cherry, a golden/buff silkie, everyone knows that silkies make wonderful mothers and are notorious for spending the majority of their lives trying to hatch chicks, she was our main hatcher:

And this is Catherine, who was my very first chicken and was a really weird shape:

Looked like she was wearing bloomers or something
um then there was some that just didn't make it..

But plentyyyyyyy who did

Aww heres Skinmaud, she was sweet, black bantam wyandotte

and the exchequer Leghorns, a breed I would not recommend to anyone, but a good experiment.

Oh and this is just a really weird egg that we found

So yes! I bet I sound like a right nutter now but there you have it, a little history of chickendom x