I’d like to introduce you to the ladies…

This is Dorris, but we call her Dory. She’s fluffy and feathery

And has hairy feet. She’s a Black Cochin, an Asian/Indian breed that’s descended from jungle fowl. She won’t ever be much of a layer, maybe averaging 2 eggs a week, but she’s pretty and sweet. And I like her hairy toes.

And this is Maybelle, named for Maybelle Carter because she croons and sings. She’s a Bantam chicken,  meaning a miniature chicken. She is of the Brahma breed, and buff in color. She’s related to the Cochin in that she also has hairy feet! She’ll lay between 160-220 eggs a year, and they’ll be miniature eggs.

This is Alice. She’s an Amber Star, also known as an Amber Sex Link. Sex Link chickens are bred so that one sex is a certain color and the other sex is another… making it unmistakable to sex them at birth. Amber Stars are crosses between Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. She’s mostly white, with red/brown specks on her breast and wings that will darken as she ages. Her breed can lay over 300 eggs a year, and some have been known to crank out 360 or so in 365 days!

This is LeMerle, the sneezy one. Here she is in isolation from the others. I ended up getting medicine for everyone, just to be safe, and giving her extra doses via a syringe to her beak. She’s already doing much better and so is back in the coop with the other’s.

LeMerle is a Black Australorp. It’s the national bird of Australia, and it’s decended from Black Orpingtons that were taken from England to the great Down Under. She’s the most docile one  of the four and very affectionate. This picture doesn’t really flatter her— her feathers have a magical beetle-green shine to them. She will also be a mighty layer, about one egg a day.

This is a peak inside the coop we built. Each girl has their own nesting box…… but they will probably not care where they lay their eggs. Chickens don’t just go into the coop to lay eggs, they also go into the coop at night for safety— chickens naturally want to be in an enclosed space off the ground when they sleep.

And this is the coop from the outside! The girls have a 4ft X 8ft run that attaches to a 4 ft X 3 ft coop that they can go under and in. They have just now learned to go up and down the ramp to get into the coop all by themselves! The back wall of the coop is on hinges and can swing completely away for easy cleaning, but there’s also a little hatch-door through which we can reach the nest boxes for eggs or just peak in on things.

All the girls are considered "pullets"… or hens that have not yet begun to lay eggs. They range from 3 months old to about 6 months. Maybelle could begin to lay any day now. But no eggs yet.

Right now all the girls are tucked in for the night. It’s been a crazy few days with coop building, chicken fetching, and chicken doctoring. But I think things are finally settling down. Banjo Boy just checked in on them and reports that they are all trying to fit into one nesting box to cuddle.

Night night my precious biddies, my sweet chooks.