To add to the excitement of Little L's birthday yesterday we also acquired some new additions to the family. These cute tiny balls of fluff.
A bit of a family discussion had taken place not so long ago as to whether to have either goats or chickens in the garden. I personally have wanted some goats for years and goats did get more family votes but chickens won in the end as they seemed easier to look after and I know the children will soon lose interest and it will be left to me and hubbie to look after them.
Anyway a chicken coop was purchased then it was a phone call to my own chicken expert, my sis, for her advice on what kind of breed would be best for us. Jay recommended Pekin Bantams as they are very tame and also small enough for Little L pick up. I started looking at local breeders for Pekins which were already old enough to lay eggs but didn't find any for sale. Jay had a look around her neck of the woods then rang me to say she thought that they were expensive compared to what she pays for her chickens. My brother in law said that if I wouldn't mind having them from chicks that I could buy some hatching eggs instead and he would hatch them in one of his incubators ( he is incubating his pheasants eggs at the moment). We ended up with 4 chicks out of 12 eggs, which isn't very good and I hope that none of these are cockerels as we can only have hens here as it is a residential area ( my sis said she could take any cockerels ).
I really hope that this one is a hen as Little L has chosen it as hers already and named it Chicken Little.
