I know the little black ones look like roosters, but I can assure you they are HENS. Those little hens lay huge white eggs. It is amazing!

This little girl follows me and squats when she wants me to pic her up and hold her. She is hoping I will dig up some yummy bugs to toss to her! See her tail sticking straight up high in anticipation? (lol)
She turned her head to keep an "eye" on me.

The black ones are egg layers (only), while the golden hens are for meat and egg production. (I do NOT allow them to be for meat).

If you look at the photos, you can see the rhythm in their walking, and I often sing a little song to match their rhythm. They seem to like it too.
In the words of my 11 yr. old grandson, "It's hysterical, Grannie!"
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My Caption:
"Pocahontas, meet Yellow Sand.
Yellow Sand, meet Pocahontas."

Yellow Sand bows to Pocahontas and says, "Well hello, and isn't this a lovely day.....".
But Pocahontas has not lost her focus on "The Mom", just because Yellow Sand has arrived.. She is still keeping her "eye" on me....It's hysterical!

Another of the little black hens. This little girl has a completely different tail structure...primarily because the other hens have not plucked her off...yet.

This is "Hatchet Woman".
Very beautiful, but a fierce female hunter warrior chicken.
She is VERY independent. The cats don't mess with her. No sir!
I was not certain about her gender for many moons.

In this picture, she was checking out the burn pile for anything that moved.

Taking a dirt bath in the cool shade of the cherry trees.

We were already experiencing triple digit temps. Keeping them cool and well hydrated is just as important to hens as it is to humans. I spray the roof of the henhouse and the big plum tree that shades the henhouse every morning and every evening to cool the air around it. They have a fan in the window that helps circulate the cooled air inside and the vents along the eaves allows the hot air to escape.
It works very well.
I do my best for my Girls. They do their best for me.

Oh my gosh Annie ! they are so adorable!! I love chickens and really hope to have some when we get property of our own. I plan on naming them after my favorite show , "the golden girls" .
I think the names you chose are so unique! I love them!

With my first flock, Rhode Island Reds (mixed), I named the hens after my paternal Grandmother and her sisters. They were dowdy old Aunts, always moaning and complaining and they sounded just like dowdy old hens. So, I named my Girls after them. Aunt Loretta, Aunt Nettie, Aunt Annis, Aunt Avis, Aunt Ida, and Aunt Hattie.
.
Then I got Plymouth Bar Rock chickens and loved them as even more than Rhodies.. They were sweet and good producers of dark brown eggs. Some of you may recall my two hens - "Honk and Bonk".

When I decided on trying Buff Orpington chickens this time around, I did some searching on line and found lots of websites about the breed - all positive.

I also decided to try the little Black Sex-linked hens. They are genetically created. They look like the old chickens, almost wild, and I believe could survive without feed if left to run loose. They are small enough and light enough that they are able to fly up into trees to roost. Mine sleep in the coop of course.

I originally had twelve certified hens: six Buffs and six Black Sex-link.

The Buff Orpington breed, originally from Orpington, ENG. is the largest of domestic breeds and also the most gentle. A great breed to get if you have children. Their immense size and heaviness also makes them an easy target for predators. Be sure to build a sound and secure house and pen for them. I do not let them run loose unless I am out with them. Even so, I had a hawk fly down one time and snatch one of my beautiful roosters that was only two feet from my feet. There was not a sound, nor a feather lost - nothing. One second he was there; the next he was gone. They do not put up a struggle or make any sound.
Another time a coyote came into the yard, ran right past me, grabbed a hen and continued on to the north garden in a slow trot, no particular hurry. I chased after him in hot pursuit, but that wily coyote KNEW I was an old crippled up woman and would never catch him. He just kept his steady pace, rounded a big shrub and POOF! Was gone. I couldn't believe it!
Most recently, the neighbor's Pit Bull pups (about 4-5 months old) came rushing across the road and up the canyon bank into my place to visit me. They were hysterical and so happy for some companionship. There were four of them. They were starved for attention and for love and also starved for food.. I saw how she fed them every day. A handful of food thrown on the ground for each dog. They weighed about 60-65 lbs. After a brief dance with me, they caught sight of the Girls and instantly recognized "food" and killed three hens in half a second, and I mean it happened so fast I couldn't believe it! Right there in front of me. They killed them quickly and ate them so fast that I was sure it couldn't have been but one hen, but nope. They got three!. Poor big silly pups were just starved that's all. They weren't vicious dogs in any way. It wasn't their fault. They just adored me and followed me everywhere and I was worried it might be my baby grandson next. After that, I kept the Girls up until the problem was resolved. It was not a happy ending for the pups. I hate people like that.

The Girls did not want to leave the safety of their own fenced run until just last week. There are just the six of them left now- half the flock taken by predators. Three Black Sex-Linked Hens, and three Buff Orpington Hens.
.
This is my "Buttercup".
Isn't she beautiful?
She was named after one of the hens on the website below.
My precocious granddaughter says, "Nuh uh, Grannie. She was named after Princess Buttercup in the movie, The Princess Bride"
I stand corrected!
I also 'borrowed' the name"Marigold" for one of my other hens. Too cute!.

Here is a link that might be useful: A delightful site to read about the Buff Orpington Breed

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Sat, Mar 23, 13 at 22:36

Another Buff beauty.

Jackie Cat and the Buff Hen.

Jack weighs over 20 pounds. He is a Maine Coon mix.
He is a HUGE cat.

I love ginger cats.

Oh they are so cute Annie! My father in law has 4 coops (he actually just got some more mail order chicks last week), but I love seeing yours roam free :)

Tammy

I am amazed you have hens AND grass!

We have a vintage rooster, a few retired hens and 6 younger gals. Grass does not last long with them on the hunt. They had a wonderful day on Tuesday when I emptied one of the sides of the compost bin to use as mulch on the roses, I think they ate their weight in sow bugs. Hard to shovel with that much help. Today they inspected the holes I was digging for my new citrus trees.

If only I had such a place to keep chickens and let them free range like that. Love the photos, such pretty hens.

I WANT A CHICKEN TRACTOR

The older brother of my Local nurseryman builds Chicken Tractors.
They are so awesome. I've wanted one since 1975!!!
Isn't that silly? Pining over a thing called "the Chicken Tractor" for 38 years??? Still, I would love to have one and my Girls would love one too.

I will only use it during the growing season when there are weeds, grass and bugs for the hens to get. In the Fall, they would go back into their permanent hen house with their heater and protection from the bitter cold North winds (and when I go out of town on trips or band gigs.)

They can't be left unprotected. Raccoons are out and about now - they are the most VICIOUS and wasteful of all chicken predators. I will spare you the gory details of what they do to chickens, but believe me - after seeing that, I stopped feeling sorry for them.

We have a nice coop to lock them in safe from raccoons and coyotes at night.

They have a run should it rain or we want to keep them in.

But ours free range all day in the lower garden area (they are fenced out of our veggie garden) You can hear the thundering of them racing down the hill side should they see you out with a shovel. Worms!!!!

You're 'girls' are beautiful Annie! I loved having chickens but when we moved to this large acreage I felt it would be risky to have them as there are so many eagles, hawks, and owls so we gave them to a friend. We would have had to use netting over their run and couldn't have let them free-range. On our previous small acreage they were safer and I never lost one to predators even tho I let them free range in the daytime in the warm seasons. They were relatively safe as we had dogs, sheep, horses, and cattle nearby as guards. They had a fenced run but I liked to let them out so the grass would grow back in their run and they could dig through the manure and compost piles for bugs and eat the slugs and bugs in my garden.

They had their dust baths and afternoon naps in the back of my perennial beds near the house so I didn't plant anything in that space. They did leave their droppings on the patio but that was easy to 'wash' into the beds daily as extra fertilizer!

Mine were Buff Orpington/Bantam crosses altho were still a decent size and laid good size eggs.

Hens can become quite tame and make good pets. My daughter used to carry one around and the hen 'cuddled' up to her!

I miss having chickens and also their eggs!

Jack is a lovely boy! Does he chirp? My tabby Maine Coon hardly ever does anymore altho did when he first came to us. He seldom ever even meows anymore, guess he gets what he wants/needs without! When he first arrived here to adopt us I didn't know much about Maine Coons and found his voice and chirping strange. The Grands love to pet him and he adores them - he's a 'cuddle' cat. He's 16 pounds altho looks bigger as he has such long fur and needs frequent combing or gets mats. I also have a ginger tabby who is not as big being only 12 pounds, currently using my leg as a pillow!

Beautiful hens that colour is attractive,..i uses to have hens and ducks where i last lived,.. 24 hens and 24 duck,..it was always interesting watching the antics and the various personalities,..of course with so many egg layers i had to sell the eggs and that was a great joy,..free range eggs were always in demand,..you are lucky to have an area for your hens and good egg layers as well.

Philip

I have always been a chicken-lady. Few things in life are as adorable as seeing fat chicken butts all up in the air as they peck the ground...reminds me of me when I'm bent over weeding.

As a kid I had a black austrolorp (sp?) rooster pet. He did not want to be with the other chickens, but insisted on following me around like a dog instead. He would wait for me by the porch every day until I got home from school. No matter where I roamed, far or wide, Clyde, was at my heels. For the giggles of it my father had me put him in the county fair. He only won second place but he got his picture in the paper and a big write up, because he followed me all round the fairgrounds, sitting on my lap for pictures and letting small children feed him their popcorn...(wasn't that kind of him.) He was an important childhood friend but he died of lonliness the year I graduated and went off to the Navy.

I haven't been here in a little while. Thank you so much Annie for these great great pics of your 'Girls'!!! I so want a chicken coop this year but don't know if it will happen. Your pics could be out of book that's how nice they are.
I've been reading a lot on hens and I had a guy over the other day for an estimate on something and he was looking at my property and said..'You need a barn or at least a chicken coop here'. I'd love a barn and a chicken coop. He told me about Basque Hens, how friendly and chatty they are, they follow you everywhere, are good layers and are very good for our climate here...Nova Scotia and where I live I'm in zone 5a.
Again thank you for all those nice pics and writing on them.

Anicee

Annie- Your girls and your kitty are adorable! I love ginger cats, too :)

Yesterday, I got a book from Lowe's all about gardening for and around chickens! LOL I know a lot of people like having chickens in their yard, so why not plan a garden that is chicken-friendly?

Sad news - my sweet Jackie cat was poisoned last week,
He died.. By the time I figured out why he was acting so peculiar, it was too late to do anything about it and the dad-gummed vet's office was closed that day, for crying out loud!

We buried him out by Miss Bitty and Little brother who were poisoned last summer. Little Brother was Jackie's actual little brother and best friend. Jackie was the seventh cat we have lost to poisoning within the past 8 months.

It's illegal to do, of course, but some of the douche-bag farmers or ranchers around here, put out poisoned bait to kill coyotes. And some are actually targeting cats.

Gone are:
Jackie Cat, Miss Bitty, Lil' Brother, Abou, Blue Skye, Cloud Lee, and Binx .- all poisoned.

In addition, my sweet little black cat and best friend, Demon "Deemie", (the Deemster) passed away due to old age. He had lived a good and long life. He was 18 years old. and would have soon been 19. He was my son's cat and the last living pet that had been my Charlie's - so losing Deemie was extra hard for many reasons.

Just wanted to let you know.

So sad to hear this news. 7 of your cats poisoned, such a horrific death for them. I don't know what to say...maybe the best thing would be to make an outside enclosure for them in the future. I'm having one built this summer because there's a lot of wildlife and hunters where I live and don't want to take any chance.
Take care Annie,

Anicee