Here are my new Pekin Bantam hens. They're about 10 weeks old :)

Marjorie - black & gold
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00957.jpg

Matilda - lavender
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00960.jpg

Gladys - black
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00959.jpg

Dorothy - buff
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00961.jpg

All our girls
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00962.jpg

What a grand lot of gals. Looks like they all know how to pose for the camera.:hihi::hihi:

They are gorgeous little girls and I am extremely jealous :love:
I particularly like the way that Gladys and Matilda seem to be smiling for the camera :hihi:

Ah they are gorgeous !!
I want some of these but think they are a little too small to get on with my ex batts. What size enclosure do you have for them?

Here are my new Pekin Bantam hens. They're about 10 weeks old :)

Marjorie - black & gold
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00957.jpg

Matilda - lavender
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00960.jpg

Gladys - black
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00959.jpg

Dorothy - buff
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00961.jpg

All our girls
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00962.jpg

I wonder why keeping hens has come back into fashion.? I know quite a few people who have started with them. I mean eggs are cheap enough to buy, so I wonder what the attraction is ? Are we going back to nature ?:)

For me - they are great pets with totally individual characters who are fun to watch - and they lay eggs, win win situation. My chickens are ex batts too so I wanted to give them a better life than they were used to and to educate my kids about treating animals well. Now I know my eggs come from hens that do def have a very happy life

Yes, we have them as pets first, and any eggs will be a bonus :)
This is our henhouse - it said it's large enough for 4 large birds or 6 bantams but we just have the 4. For now. hehehe

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00935.jpg

They are gorgeous, and they've got a posh house :)

Awwwwwwwww. They're fantastic.

I want some cluck clucks now (note to self: stop talking in baby voice whenever animals are involved).

aww great stuff, I used to have chickens when I was growing up, the eggs were yummy!

Yes, we have them as pets first, and any eggs will be a bonus :)
This is our henhouse - it said it's large enough for 4 large birds or 6 bantams but we just have the 4. For now. hehehe

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l281/SpeedDemon73/DSC00935.jpg

I've got this ame house I bought it for my rabbit but she never goes in it, so I suppose I could have a couple of chickens in it, do you have to let them out though, as dont know what the dogs would do.
Also can I ask where you got your chicks from and were they expensive

You don't HAVE to let them out. I'm hoping mine will be free range eventually, but I'm the same with the dogs. Not too worried about the GSD but the springer is taking rather too much interest in them for my liking.
I had real trouble getting chickens as i really wanted bantams, cos they're smaller and they have feather on their feet (i don't like "chickeny" feet lol)
After a LOT of looking around, i got them from a lovely lady called Karen, out near Buxton. Storrs Poultry farm would have been the better choice, but they had none available, apart from very young unsexed chicks and i needed to know they were hens n not cockrells lol. Karen's website is well worth a look, she also has ducks, miniature donkeys, guanaco, white cattle, pigs, and a rather large otter hound!
http://www.heathylee.co.uk/index.htm
Oh and they were 20 quid each, seems to be the normal price for sexed birds.

I have similar house and 4 hens, I let them out to free range once they were settled, I had a king charles and he was no problem at all with them, but a friends springer killed one of hers, so take care, you could move the house/pen around the garden but its great to see them pottering around the garden and finding a good spot to sunbathe, mine all head in at dusk and then I just close them up for the night. Maryjane

They're lovely - Matilda in particular is beautiful!!!

yeah i love lavender but the mother-in-law claimed her so i had to choose the other 3 lol. I wanted some that were all different colours so the kids can distinguish between them all. I really love Dorothy tho, she is the smallest and most timid, but soooo sweet.
Maryjane, thats what I'd like to do, but the springy dog is waaaaaaaay too excited by them at the moment.
The photos were taken only about an hour after we brought them home so they were very nervous. Hopefully will get some better ones as time goes on and they get used to us. The kids already love them, and just sit down the garden stroking them and watching them :D

Aww they are sooooooooooo cute!! love the names to !!

xxx

Where did you get your girls from cause I'm after some pekins too

we have 7 ex batt hens all now free range top end of garden to them selves we have 3 cats and a dog and belive me they dnt let them near them they attack them they allso have a big run for when we go out for the day and a massive hen house that will fit 14 birds if need be

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/43817/2637351010100660248S425x425Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2637351010100660248OKaIfA)

http://inlinethumb51.webshots.com/45106/2628308480100660248S425x425Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2628308480100660248dvDnaV)

http://inlinethumb48.webshots.com/22639/2140565700100660248S425x425Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2140565700100660248XzWMTr)

That looks great koikeeper! mlc1 I got my girls from http://www.heathylee.co.uk/ a farm out near Buxton. I had real problems getting hold of Pekins in this area