Sunday was fun in so many ways. We were expected at the chicken breeders place at 10am, so Kim, Pam, Ben and I left at about 0920. Just as we left it started to rain all the way to New Gisborne, which was a welcome sight.
We arrived on time and met Sue, who bred the hens. We picked out 3 ISA Brown hens that were just past point of lay, however two were not brown, but white with black flecks. Unusual, but nice and the other was marked just like our existing 3 girls, but a bit of a darker brown colour.
Just as we boxed up the three hens and put them in the boot of the car, Kim saw some Pekin Bantams and fell in love with them! We asked how much they were, expecting some exorbitant price, however Sue said that her eldest lad bred them as pocket-money and that they were only $20 each. This was a bargain, as I had heard that these cute little chicken go for as much as $60-70 at auction. Here some pictures of Pippa and Poppy. They have fluffy little pantaloons! So, $100 later and 2 hen more than we bargained for, we left for home. It was still raining.
Pippa is the grey and Poppy is the brown Pekin Bantam.
Cute little girls aren’t they. We think that Pippa laid an egg today which was so tiny, and Poppy is about 3 weeks away from point of lay because of the size of her comb.
The 3 larger birds were very flighty, and all escaped, and nearly left the property. Kim and I had to clip their wings so they couldn’t get airborne. Now that was a fun job I tell you.
We made sure that Pippa had a claw trim and that the two Bantams had Vaseline applied for scaly mites on their feet, which is not uncommon with their breed. Kim held the birds and I clipped Pippa’s claws, then we swapped and Kim put on the vas on their feet. Animal husbandry at its best.
The two white ISA’s are called Gracie and Esther, and the brown ISA brown is called Babs. Not too many photos just yet, but suffice to say Pam took quite a few photos and we filmed a 10 minute movie that I will post to YouTube tomorrow.
The new editions are so cute. I’m having a case of hen envy 🙂
they do look good gav.lucky the extensions was as big as we made it
Congrats on the new additions mate ! I only have 1 question , should I be knicknaming you GONZO ?
LOL
Wombat
Nice looking girls! Tina and Dareena arrived at our place two weeks ago — 18 week pullets.
Good looking chooks gavin.
Love those Pekins, they’re very cute and the other girls look nice too. Never heard of while Isa Browns.
You will have to start doing some egg recipe research.
@ Mia. Yes they are a pleasure to care for, and to think 3 years ago, I would not have seen myself with so many chooks!
@ Dad. Good job we did too. The 5 new one sleep on the very top perch in the extension and the old 3 roost in their normal spot in the old nesting box. Old habits die hard. Thanks for the help while you were here.
@ Phil, you are so not funny! But it did take me back to the Great Gonzo and his amazing chickens!
@ Rose, well done. I hope they are not far off laying. You will find them a joy to care for.
@ Olive. Thanks, Sue breeds them well on a big bush block in the foothills of the Mt Macedon ranges. You can tell by the way she talks about her girls that she cares for them very much. She even has an old caravan that she rears the chicks in. Very sweet!
@ Deb, we do plan to sell some, as we have had so many requests for fresh eggs from friends. I too had never heard of white ISA’s. Maybe Sue is pulling the wool over my eyes. They lay white eggs like I remember from the good old days when all eggs where white!
Gav