New chickens!

A few weeks ago, we saw an ad in our local newspaper for laying hens. Some of you may know that we have had six hens for about a year, and they have been laying since late Spring. We were getting about 3-4 eggs each day, and wanted to have more, so we wouldn't need to purchase any eggs. My hubby set up a time with the man to go and check them out, and we made it a family outing!

It was a fun afternoon, we went out for lunch with Daddy, which we don't do very often. We also bought some chicken feed that day, and went to the man's home. He had a bigger pen of chickens, some turkens (turkey chickens) that were interesting looking! He had a noisy rooster with a large comb on top of its head. There were also two small goats there that were making quite a racket. I told my 4 1/2 year old (at the time), that they were saying her name! Mah-mah-mah... kinda sounded like Mal-Mal-Mal! :-D

The man that sold them was older, and kinda resembled the baseball-capped chicken farmer in Napoleon Dynamite. My hubby told me later that's what he thought, and it made me giggle! We had fun picking out 4 new hens, and two of them were cochins. Here is what wikipedia says about them..." the most distinctive feature of the Cochin is the excessive plumage that covers leg and foot." 
Yes, they have feathers on their legs! I think it is kinda creepy, but my older daughter really likes them!


The kids named them immediately, and they have middle names too! Lol! Rebekah said, "How else am I supposed to scold them when they knock over the water?" (shaking head) Here are some pictures that Rebekah took of them:

Mia...

Cori

Belle (Cochin)

ANOTHER PIC OF BELLE (SORRY ITS DARK!)

Nelly (Cochin)

ANOTHER PIC OF NELLY

 Can you see the feathers on their feet? Fascinating how God made them, isn't it? And one of the new chickens lays a light blue egg... so now we get peach/brown eggs, light green and light blue!

At first, they didn't get along and they had to figure out the "pecking order." Two of them were fighting, and so my hubby held each of them by their feet for 3-5 minutes, and they calmed down. They knew he was the boss after that! They are getting along better know and seemed to have accepted each other. It's so nice when everyone gets along!