I blame my friend Kate for this. When I visited her farm back in 2010 I was charmed by the range of egg colours her flock of chickens laid. Since then, I've had the thought at the back of my mind that it would be good to diversify our egg production - to get some hens that weren't Buff Orpingtons.
Today I collected my 20 new chicks. I went for five Barnevelders, five Welsummers (these both lay dark brown eggs) and ten Ameraucanas, which lay pale blue or green eggs. The weather is due to be cool over the next few days, so I've set them up in the spare bedroom for now, until they have a few feathers and are ready to move into the barn.
At this point, I can't tell the Barnevelders from the Welsummers - but the Ameraucanas are more readily identifiable, just because their legs are darker and their colouring more diverse - from one chick that's almost completely black to the blonde one you can see below.
They are such fun to watch.
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