Sunday Drivers Interupted

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Sunday Drivers broadcast to bring you an important development at Occidental Acres.

Please stay tuned for further updates throughout the day.

1915hrs

We're pleased to announce the arrival of our laying hens!

Our very knowledgeable neighbour has bred some heritage chicks for us. Although we're not yet sure of their sex, we have 10 new baby chicks now living in our other coop.  In the very unlikely event that all are hens, we'll have three Golden Laced Wyandotte/Black Australorp crosses, two Columbian Rock, two Buff Orpington, two Silver Laced Wyandotte and one Chantecler in the flock.

There is one GLW/BA hiding behind the Silver Laced Wyandotte, lower centre.  I've also spelled Wyandotte incorrectly... yeah, cuz I'm cool like that.

Our beautiful adult hens will look like the following birds:

Golden Laced Wyandotte (left) crossed with Black Australorp (right)

The first examples of the breed appeared in 1870s. Wyandottes are a docile, dual-purpose breed kept for their brown eggs and for meat. They appear in a wide variety of color patterns, and are popular show birds.

The Australorp is hardy, docile, and a good egg-layer, as well as a meat bird.  It is a large, soft-feathered bird, with white toenails, black legs and beak, and a moderately large and upright single comb, with five distinct points.

Columbian Rock

The Rock is a chicken breed that originated in the United States. The Plymouth Rock is a dual-purpose, cold-hardy bird and therefore makes a great breed for the small farm or backyard flock owner. "Columbian" refers to this specific colour pattern.

Buff Orpington

The Orpington is a breed of chicken named after Orpington, England, which was made famous in part by this breed. Belonging to the English class of chickens, it was bred to be an excellent layer with good meat quality. Their large size and soft appearance together with their rich color and gentle contours make them very attractive, and as such its popularity has grown as a show bird rather than a utility breed. They go broody very often, and make great mothers.

Silver Laced Wyandotte

See Wyandotte, above.

Chantecler

The Chantecler is a breed of chicken originating in Canada. The Chantecler was developed in the early 20th century, at the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac in Oka, Quebec. It is extremely cold-resistant, and is suitable for both egg and meat production.

 All descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia.

It will be interesting to see what the Golden Laced/Black Australorp crosses will look like as adults.  I'm also taking bets on the female to male ratio, if you want to get in on the fun!  Tomorrow I'll try to get photos of each individual chick, so we can track their maturation from week to week.

Of all the males, I'll only be keeping one to guard the flock, so the week-to-week will also help us chose not only the best shepherd of the flock, but also the best looking!

We've got a bunch of names collected, but we'd also like your help in naming the wee babbies.  So have a sit-down and put together some of your favourite chicken monikers and we'll unveil our favourite submissions tomorrow when we post their individual photos!

I'm off to tuck them in for the night!