Finally, with the fence complete, the coup finished and all kitted out we were ready for our new arrivals - 20 point of lay Lohmann chickens. The Lohmann Brown breed are an egg-laying breed of chicken which are a hybrid of New Hampshires and other brown egg laying breeds. They lay at about 18 weeks, old and lay about 1 egg per day and up to 300 brown eggs a year. Most Lohmann Browns have a caramel/brown shade of feathers, with white feathers in a pattern round their necks, and white feathers at the tips of their tail feathers. However most importantly for us they are a very inquisitive breed of chicken and extremely friendly. Our Lohmann supplier is based about 45 minutes drive in the town of Illminster, hens on order we set off on August bank holiday Monday to collect them - how exciting.
In basket and boxes we successfully arrived back with our 20 new birds, Melv carefully unwrapped them!!
Then there was the big release...
Their inquisitive nature meant they weren't shy at exploring and they were soon out and about, ready to see their new home.
The older birds we already had weren't too sure about the new recruits and they couldn't wait to establish the pecking order.
After a couple of days we couldn't resist letting them out, not sure whether they would bolt for freedom, but we needn't have worried, they stayed close to the barn in the early days, but then slowly started to find their feet.
Pecking order soon established, they now all live in harmony and are truly free range...
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