mini hen and baby making
i really love these two photos of our bantom chicken mini hen. she actually stole the eggs off one of our other bantoms and took on the mother role, which is fine because she is such a good mum. jamie is really good with the chickens and has made them a big hutch to live in until the chicks are a bit bigger, and safe from foxes (which have come out VERY early, we see them lurking around at the moment). we are pretty lucky that we only ever have 1 or 2 die from each lot that hatches, usually they drown or something really basic, unless they are male in which case we do have to get rid of them.
if you are keen to get some baby chickens on the way, i definitely recommend the bantoms. they produce the cutest little chicks that are friendly and easy to tame, and the hens are very good at sitting on the eggs for the entire period. the other way to go is isa browns which are really easy to look after and are very talkative and friendly. the only catch is that they are bad mothers and hate sitting on eggs so you'll need to incubate them, which in itself is extremely difficult as we have learnt. and remember that you will also need a rooster which in suburban areas can be irritating for neighbours. always get permission and check with the council before you buy one. they are protective, territorial and very noisy. at the moment our roosters maximus and zeus have a routine of crowing at mid night, and again at 5am until sun up.