[New shoot]

... while you wait    Thought they had gone a bit quiet.  They were having a run round the garden while I cleaned them out and renewed the bark chip in their run.  It was an alpine Dianthus   

[Mrs Bee]

But they are sooooooooo beautiful you could forgive them anything.

The black and white one is an absolute beauty.

If we let our girls out of the run  we put up a tempory run made from baboo canes and netting, 'cos I love our girls but not enough to trust them with my plants!

[sunshineband]

What norty chooks 


but you love them really 

[Dawnuss]

What stunners  mine dug a pit in the rockery last week on cleaning day  the things we let them get away with.

[ANHBUC]

I am sure this should be a new chapter in http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=97250.0 

Pretty please.   

[New shoot]

I'd forgotten about that    I'll see what I can do   

[ANHBUC]

Yey, I look forward to the next installment.   

[nerdle]

Talk about beauty contest!  What sort are they?

[New shoot]

Talk about beauty contest!  What sort are they?

Foggy the boy, is a Serama.  The 3 clustered round with him are partridge wyandottes.  The black and white one is a silver laced wyandotte - 8 years old this spring.  The one making off stage right is a vorwark - 10 this spring 

[ANHBUC]

   Wow they are good ages for hens, is that normal for bantams?

[nerdle]

They don't look geriatric!  In love again now -- the Wyandotte........ :happy:

[splash101]

I love Wyandottes.
I hatched some for a friend last year and was quite taken with them (although not the hatch ratio of 7 cockerals to 4 hens) but they are lovely.

[ANHBUC]

They don't look geriatric!  In love again now -- the Wyandotte........ :happy:

My 2 are very broody so you need to bare that in mind nerdle.   

[New shoot]

The silver laced dottie has never been broody, but two out of the three partridge dotties do get broody 

I think pure breed bantams are pretty hardy.  The yokohama is the survivor out of the first 3 bantam hens I bought after I had hybrid birds for a year and decided they weren't for me. 

Thee silver laced dottie did have a sister, but she died a while back.   I bought 2 Yokohamas at the same time and again, one died a while back and the other a few months ago.  Luck of the draw I think that my two OAPs are still going 

The dottie is a grumpy old girl and faces up to Foggy every morning when he tries to boss her.  She often wins and chases him round the run 

[ANHBUC]

Yes my 2 broodies Dotty and Lotty are Partridge as well. 

When they have chicks if they are in the same area they would fight to the death.       I only know this as hubby said let them sort it out themselves last year.  He thought they would give up and ignore each other but oh no blood drawn, both at the point of collapse and neither would concede.  Sisters!!     Needless to say they are kept apart when either of them has a brood.