At last...

[mattw]

I have now aquired some chooks, 6 'black comets' from Garden Poultry at Kingsley Cheshire which are some variant of the Black Rock hen. Lisa from GP told me that they were 36 weeks old.

I shut them in the chook house yesterday lunchtime and I will let them out into their new domain today. Within the first few hours they had layed 3 eggs between them I know that that will most likely stop now for a few days whilst they recover from the shock of being moved but fingers crossed they'll be firing on all cylinders soon.

I am chuffed to bits to finally get some birds and will probably add to the flock soon. I'm sure the blog will be updated soon probably at the weekend with loads of chook piccies.

Matt.

[Birdie Wife]

Congratulations! Hope they lay well for you. You'll find they don't lay much through the winter months though, and you may wonder why you are providing them with room and board with no 'rent' - but hang in there, come the spring and the days start to lengthen again, they'll be popping out like bullets! My three Sussex hybrids I got in the summer have recently stopped laying altogether, I was worried there might be something wrong but the couple who gave them to me said their hens had stopped laying about the same time.

A few of us here are can also be found at poultrychat.com, lots and lots of great hen-related advice there as well as here! All the best!

[Mrs Dobby]

Congrats on the new arrivals Matt! Hope they settle in quickly!

[annie trip]

Hi mattw they sound great, our egg production has about halved recently with the lack of light but its still lovely for you to have them over winter.

[Crazy Chickie]

Congarats Matt! But beware, chickens are highly addictive, I started with three about this time last year and now have 17 in total. Chooks are fantastic birds, great characters and so much fun to watch, the two dinner ladies at the school nxt door spend half their day laughing at my chooks. Oh, and the eggs are great too