Introducing the Bantam Babes!

Ever since Amy asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year there was only one thing I really wanted. More chickens. Either Lesley or Geraldine are not laying, we don't know which one, but we are down to one egg per day, therefore an increase in egg production is imporant.

We wanted to get something a bit more unusual than a few more hybrids and after much contemplation we decided that Bantams were certainly a good move.

We thought three would be a good number to have. They will have plenty of room in the eglu, they should lay well during the summer, and having three then if one goes broody we still have two lovely playful chooks about whilst the other potentially sits on some fertile eggs.

Well, let me introduce them then. Does anybody know where we got the names from?

On the left is Margot, she is an absolutely gorgeous blue partridge brahma. Seeing as we had already decided on the names we thought that the posh character's name should be attributed to the rare breed amongst them.

In the middle is, Mrs.Weaver, a black Pekin bantam. Mrs.Weaver was Margot's posh neighbour in the T.V series, one of our favourite moments from the Good life is when Barbara throws an egg at Mrs.Weaver on her first day living in the avenue...

On the right is... Barbara, a lovely light sussex. I always fancied some large fowl light sussex but seeing as we had decided on bantams it was great there is a bantam version of this beautiful breed. Seeing as light sussex are a bit more common than the other two breeds and are a bit more sturdy too, Barbara was a good choice of name.

We thought that Tom was too masculine for a hen's name, and we already have 'Geraldine' so we ruled out Jerry because they are too similar.

They are all point of lay. Margot and Mrs.W are about 16 weeks old and Barbara is a couple of weeks older. It might be a few more weeks before we get any eggs, but I'd rather have young healthy stock than one year old or older layers.

The lady we got them from was fantastic and highly commendable. Her whole set up was truly inspiring and her Buff Orpingtons were really world class. National winners in poultry shows. If anybody in and around the Midlands wants any chickens then let me know and I will pass her details on to you.

We will keep you updated with their progress. They have settled in well today and they have been free ranging this afternoon. They may be posh chickens but they still found the compost heap pretty quickly..

Have an absolutely fantastic day!

Martin