Hens showing off fine feathers

Our latest hens are out and about enjoying the sunshine today.  We’ve been incubating eggs recently and these are some of our successes.  It’s not the easiest thing to do, often the eggs don’t hatch.

When they do make it through 21 days of turning in the incubator, the chicks go into the brooder where they keep warm and eat chick crumbs.  Then they progress to a sheltered pen but without heat and then it’s outdoors in a hen hut.   Chickens grow quickly and the big beauties shown above are Light Sussex, they are only a few months old but quite tall.

The brown speckled hen in the background is a Blue Lace Wyandotte.  The Cream Legbar hens are somewhere around but are a bit shy.  They lay coloured eggs, cream, blue tinged and green – and yes a green egg does look a bit odd- looks the same inside though.

We also have some young ducklings and they are growing well and four of them are ready for new homes.  They are Indian Runners and will be good layers when they reach maturity.  Ducks can become very tame and make great pets if you can keep them safe from predators and that is the biggest problem.