Hens

I haven't posted about my feathered friends recently. I have lost one and gained four so I have 19 at the moment. My youngest are the 6 Amberlinks and they took forever to start laying but are now laying reliably although there is rarely one from each of them in a day. I got them at the end of September 2019 at supposedly 16 weeks old but they did not start laying until Christmas. These type of hens start laying at 18 - 23 weeks...  Usually they take it in turns to have a day off. The next oldest are 2 1/2 years old and white. There were five of them but I lost some and was down to two. My farmer friend was about to despatch his remaining four white ones but gave them to me because they were still laying some in the winter and I was having trouble supplying my couple of regular customers. His white hens and mine were raised by him from day old chicks so I was happy that they decided that they could all live together in one house and run again. That makes my life easier because I didn't want another hen house in the garden. Of course, when they came to live with us, that was the impetus needed for the young Amberlinks to start laying so the extra white ones were not really needed... And then there are the 3 1/2 year old brown Warren types that have come back into laying after moulting late so I have gone from hardly any eggs to loads very quickly as they all decided that spring started at the end of January due to the mild winter.

I have two more hens, both old girls now. One is the remaining survivor of the previous Warren type flock and must be about five now. As she thinks it is spring, she is laying an egg every day but I don't suppose there will be many at all laid after Easter. And then there is chicken Nugget who was hatched in school in our very first hatching in June 2011. She laid two eggs a week all through last summer but has not laid any this year yet. She is a Buff Orpington so lays fewer eggs in a year than the other types of hen that I have but is expected to live longer. She is my pet and will follow me around the garden and I am very fond of her. I will be sad when she goes.