New Hens on the Block

No, it's not the name of some new female musical group...lol. The title refers to the hens we got in February.

I walked out to the chicken coop this morning with the intent to take photos of the new hens in our flock. The new hens joined our flock back in early February. A neighbor was moving away and she didn't want to move her chickens so she called to ask us if we wanted them. We added eight Barred Rock hens to the variety of birds we already have. The new girls had been picking at each other in their previous home and many of them were missing most of their back and tail feathers! They didn't look very pretty at all!

About the middle of February, I was reading blogs and came across Mandy's Rabbit Ranch. She had written a post about "chicken saddles." I had no clue what a chicken saddle was and was very intrigued by what I read. You should check out her blog to learn more on "chicken saddles." I could try to describe them, but would get it all wrong. They are basically a sturdy fabric "saddle" that fits over the back and under the wings of a hen to protect her from the rooster. Roosters tend to have "favorite" girls and this can lead to them pulling out the feathers of the hens they favor and leaving exposed areas on the backs of the hens which can get worse over time and look very unsightly. (Mandy makes and sells chicken saddles and wing protectors through her Etsy shop).

Anyhoo, my journey out to the coop this morning with camera in hand was to capture a few shots of the new girls as Mandy is hosting a contest and the prize is a "chicken saddle." As soon as I stepped into the pen this morning the new girls split! They hid under the houses and wouldn't come out. Our birds are very friendly and curious about the humans that come to their pen daily. The new girls...not so much. They tend to hide. A few of them are really in need of some saddles. In their previous home they picked at each other and pulled out not only back feathers, but tail and butt feathers too. I noticed today that most of them have new pin-feathers starting to come in, so hopefully their feathers will fill in and they will look as good as the rest of our birds.



This is Azul. She is a bantam Blue Cochin...and a very bossy hen!

She loves to bite people!

 Peanut is a Columbian Old English Game Bird cross.

He is a funny little guy with a unique personality. You can see the back half of Cricket our bantam Sebright hen. She wouldn't hold still so I could take her photo. She too is very unique and has a cute personality.

 These two beautiful Black Australorps are from our first batch of chickens that we got eight years ago.

Daisy and Pearl still provide us with eggs on a regular basis when they are laying.

If you look behind them, under the house you will see one of the new girls...her red featherless butt glaring at the camera!

 Two of the new girls in the flock. I had to be sneaky just to get this photo of these two.

You can see the bald spot on the one closest to the feeder.

 Another sneaky shot of a newbie. The wind was blowing and it blew her feathers over her bald area, but it is bigger than what you see in the photo. One of the newbies had no tail feathers at all when we got her. I noticed today that she has new tail feathers coming in.

I tried to get a few more shots...better ones, but the wind was getting gusty and the hens kept hiding under the houses. Every time I got on my knees to snap some shots Azul would sneak up behind me and peck at my back...well pinch my back is more like it. She is one sneaky hen!