Our laying chickens

The newest layers

Thelma and Louise hoping for a handout

Rita in the nesting box

We have five chickens at the Ashby garden. There are two Barred Rocks and a Rhode Island Red who reached maturity (6 months) and started laying New Year's day. The Barred Rocks are a breed developed in Plymouth Massachussetts. They are cold hardy, defend themselves well, and have engaging personalities. Katy named them Thelma and Louise. Jill named the Rhodie after Rita Hayworth to bring up her self esteem since she seemed a bit shy at first. That's over now--Rita is the first one to fly up and perch on the can when we come to feed her. Her feathers are lovely shades of reddish brown and black.

The babies of the flock are two Black Australorps, a breed developed in Australia from Black Orpington stock. They're a few months younger than the other three. We got these chickens because I had read that they are excellent layers--almost as heavy as Leghorns. They tend to be shy--I don't know if it's the breed, or just these two. The other three boss them around and peck at them, so they stick together. Just today I noticed a small cold egg (it was a cold night) in the back of the coop where they tend to hide out. I made them their own nesting box out of a blue milk crate, so they wouldn't have to fight their big sisters, or lay eggs on the cold ground. We'll see if they use it.

Chickens are fun to keep, and pretty easy if you have a coop that keeps out the predators. They do cost money to feed, but we try to supplement their feed with sprouted grains, old bread, kitchen scraps and collard or cabbage greens. If you hold a collard leaf in your hand, they'll come and break off pieces of it. And, their poop is excellent to add to the compost pile.