Matt and Dave cleaned out the old kennel/chicken run last weekend and on Tuesday, Dave and I headed out to Lincoln, WAY out to the northern edge of Lincoln, to Fortin Farm to pick up 4 pullets . Pullets are young hens prior to the start of lay. There are two American Easter Eggers (a hybrid breed based on Americuana and Aruacana) that are 2 months old, and two Jubilee Orpington that are 3 months old. The Orpington tend to be a bigger, heavier breed so they will actually mature about the same time. The Easter Eggers vary a lot since they are a hybrid “breed” and our two look very different. These are essentially teenaged chickens and they look it – long legs and necks, full sized giant looking chicken feet, halfway feathered (very few saddle, tail or fluff feathers), no combs or wattles etc. They seem very healthy and active. Since the start of laying is based on maturity and day length we expect them to possibly start laying late January if we put up lights or more likely February! I am having a blast with these guys so far.
The Orpington are a mixed use breed (eggs and meat) so they tend to be a heavier bird. They are typically friendly and have a large fluff (butt feathers) – think Corgi dog butt! They lay brown eggs and a decent quantity but not all year. The Easter Eggers, being hybrid, are more egg layers than meat chickens. So they are lighter weight and have a wide range of colors. And produce eggs longer than the Orpington. They tend to be friendly birds also. Blue/green coloration of the eggs is most common but they can lay brown, and occasionally whitish, eggs. We shall see. We picked the breeds based on availability and the fact that they are friendly!
Since Dave and I are still not living in the ADU, Matt has the primary care of the birds. He and Dave are also working on getting them a larger yard but we have to wait until they aren’t trying to fly when spooked! The littlest Egger definitely tries to fly when startled! I went today to sit with them a while and the two Orpington came up to me to peck at my boots. They are pretty curious but still a little anxious. Their previous owner just walked into the coop and netted them quickly, so I can’t blame them. They were pretty quiet on the 1 1/2 hour drive to Wilton, only squawking when Dave had to brake quickly or make a quick turn.
The ladies do tend to stick pretty close together but as I sat still they came out to the food and water by my feet. They eventually became a bit curious about me but spooked if I moved with any speed! We are thinking about giving them female literary character names so I must figure out their personalities! Must!
We are learning as we go, chickens are not just little turkeys(!), so we will adjust as they mature. I will continue to try to tame them down. They went into the coop on their own the last 3 nights so all Matt had to do was lock the door. They all cram into one nest box so hopefully as they get more feathers they will spread out. They were in outdoor pens at Fortin, but there were at least 30 birds per pen to stay warm. They are eating well and drink fine so it will be fun watching as they develop all their feathers and combs etc. It looks like the pin feathers are a bit itchy as they come in but they showed normal preening behaviors most of the time, just occasional spastic itchy preening.
I will continue to update as we go. Just happy to have healthy and happy little hens now. Happier when we start getting fresh eggs, but little pet Hens are fun too!