It was strange and sad not hearing the quacking of ducks outside our living room window when we re-homed them a couple weeks ago. I realize that most people would find quacking outside the living room window incredibly odd, but that just became the new norm here. Our plan was to replace the ducks with more chickens, adding to our existing flock. I am happy to report the quacking has been replaced with the chirping of new pullets.
Cuckoo Maran pullet
Over the years, I have owned a lot of different chicken breeds and I always love the process of deciding on new girls. The first one I settled on is a Cuckoo Maran. She has dark feathers with white speckling – similar to a Plymouth Rock. Marans lay chocolate brown eggs, which should be a treat to have in the egg basket.
Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte pullet
The next lovely lady is a Blue-laced Red Wyandotte who will lay light brown eggs. Her feathers are red in the middle with a grey-blue edging. She is a bit smaller than the other girls and was getting bullied badly at the farm I bought her from. Poor girl is missing all of her tail feathers, which are thankfully growing back in.
Speckled Sussex pullet
I think the Speckled Sussex might win the beauty pageant though. She is a stunning mix of mahogany feathers with black and white-tipped feathers. This breed lays light brown eggs as well.
Belgium d’Uccles bantam hen
The final chicken is not actually a pullet, but a six month old bantam. Bantams are about half the size of a standard chicken and lay adorable, tiny eggs. This gal is a spunky rare breed called Belgium D’uccles. Her feathers are honey-yellow with white speckles. She is already laying tiny peach colored eggs that melt my heart. After only a couple weeks, she is confidently bossing around the younger pullets and enjoying her place on the top of the pecking order.
Chicken farmer
Juniper’s new favorite game is climbing our couch so she can watch the girls from the living room window. She got to feed them goodies today, which they enjoyed as much as she did. In a couple weeks we will combine them with our older chickens to make one big flock. For now, they can all see each other which will hopefully help the transition.
The only thing constant is change, right? Any shake ups on your homestead this season?
We have 4 hens and one rooster from last year and we bought eight more hens. Do you know when we can put them all together? Also Hank our rooster seems to pick at two of our hens what to do?? I am not sure if I should get rid of him.
I would introduce them when the new hens are close to fully grown, so they can hold their own better when the older flock picks on them. Introducing 4 hens to 8 hens should be easier though since they can spread the bullying among many chickens. It’s worse when you are trying to introduce one single chicken to another flock, since they’ll all pick on the sole new girl.
As for the rooster, if he is hurting them you might be think about rehoming him. Some are more aggressive than others. If there is actual blood and harm, I’d fine him a new home and maybe look for a less bullying male.