OH said he would get me a few more hens. I have lost two since I got them a year ago so we thought three would be a good number. We had a discussion about breeds and I chose the ones I wanted. On Sunday we went to his friends to pick them up. This guy has a lot of hens and is involved in rescue/showing etc.
I've always wanted a Bluebell Ranger - meet Violet.
Liked the Speckledy too - meet Katie
Also wanted a hen that would lay a white egg - Meet 'The Cutty Sark' (long story about the name) she is a Whitestar
He was asking me how my older hens were so I was giving him an update about the chicks and losing Sheila and Doris. He then said he had some young Cream Legbars in if I was interested in 'replacing' Doris. OH and I had quick discuss and said OK.
Meet Grizzel
On the way back to the house for coffee he was telling us about a rescue he had been involved in a week earlier and was now looking to rehome about 45 young hens and 20 older ones. Now, I knew if I seen them I'd have to help so I just nodded and kept on walking. OH, of course, is made of much sterner stuff. He just wanted a look - no way would he be swayed by a sob story. Besides we only came for 3 and we now had four.
Meet OH's two rescues - Eva, an older hen who is a Silver Pencilled Hamburg bantam. She had been kept in a rabbit hutch with 4 other large hens and was bullied quite a bit - you can see the feather loss on her neck/face.
Meet Mildred, fairly sure she is a buff sussex around 18 weeks old. Again kept in cramped conditions she has some feather loss around her face and had lice.
So we came for 3 and left with six. All seem to be doing well.