The Class of 2016

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The Class of 2016

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Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 16 6:58 am Post subject: The Class of 2016

Introducing the class of 2016.
My brother and I were given a bantam hen each when we first moved into the Staffordshire Moorland village of Ridgeway, way back in 1962. They came already christened Peggy and Jenny and that was it, I was smitten with the poultry keeping bug. In my case, it was a condition that proved to be incurable. I was eight years old at the time and I've kept chickens ever since. How sad is that then, ?

These days, a new generation have taken up poultry keeping. It's become the 'in thing' to do, with all sorts of people taking up the hobby. Some parts of suburbia have become hotbeds for poultry keepers, with designer poultry sheds appearing everywhere.
I can fully understand why the nations love of chickens has seen such a resurgence. Keeping chickens, if its done properly can be a most rewarding and relaxing pass time.
On my little patch, I've always tried to keep the old fashioned utility breeds and I currently have two here, namely the Light Sussex and the Ancona.
These two and some other breeds, would have been a common sight seen scratching around in most farmyards fifty to sixty years ago. Unfortunately these days many old fashioned and once popular breeds of chickens have all but disappeared and are only ever seen in the show pen.
Please forgive me. This spiel of mine, is my rather long winded and convoluted way of getting round to showing you some pictures of the chickens that I've bred this summer. Just twelve this year, which according to Karen, is more than enough. Here we have eight Ancona pullets and four Light Sussex. Here you go, I hope you like them, I know that I do.

Keep on Crowing !

GrahamH

Joined: 23 May 2015
Posts: 523

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 16 7:22 am Post subject:
Nice background and great looking birds.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 16 8:28 am Post subject:
I need to start thinking of adding a few hens to our flock. The girls are getting on in years and 2 of them even have bit of grey (they are 7 years old).

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46235
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 16 10:39 am Post subject:
grand looking chooks, im not familiar with anconas but L S are ace birds and very little trouble compared to some breeds. have you ever tried the LS x RIR hybrid as a dual purpose bird?

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 16 12:08 pm Post subject:
Deepers the usual cross is the other way around. RIR x LS then the birds are sex linked and you can tell what you've got as soon as they hatch. The females are the brown chicks and the cocks are the white ones. It doesn't work the other way around. I did a posh cross and used a Welsummer on to my LS to produce what I called Welsex's, they were pretty good too.

chickenlady

Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Posts: 413
Location: Dorset

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 16 11:38 am Post subject:
Wonderful post and beautiful pictures. Thank you. I could talk "chook" all day - and sometimes I actually do.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46235
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 16 12:07 pm Post subject:
i didn�t know that the direction was the factor in early flagging for gender.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 16 1:08 pm Post subject:
To be honest, its only a few years ago that I found out that the cross doesn't work both ways. Here's a picture of one of the Welsex pullets that I bred and one of the eggs it went on to lay. The eggs from the W x LS are much darker and prettier than those that come from the more usual RIR x LS.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 16 1:23 pm Post subject:

chickenlady wrote:

Wonderful post and beautiful pictures. Thank you. I could talk "chook" all day - and sometimes I actually do.

Chickenlady,I'd be more than happy to chew the fat with you over chickens.

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