Yesterday Gwen arrived with a trio of Welsummers i.e. two lovely hens and a magnificent Cockerel . They are the foundation stock of our new flock, the old flock had dwindled and so had egg production, the remaining birds have been rehomed with Davina in the next field, still well feathered and laying a little. The Welsummer is a Dutch hen renowned for laying a mahogany egg with an orange yolk and the ones we took delivery of today are prize winning birds! At yesterday's Cricklade poultry show Kurt the Cockerel picked up 3rd place and Hilda , the lighter coloured hen, was the best Welsummer in show!!

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| Eleanor with Hilda & Andy with Kurt. |
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| Greta, the darker hen. |
So Kurt, Greta and Hilda are, hopefully, going to provide us with chicks, a longish term project; but in the meantime we will get a handful of eggs from Greta and Hilda and Kurt will be crowing, he's already started.
In addition we have put in an order with Oxford Poultry for some Fenton Rose (lays an olive or turquoise egg) and some Copper Black Marans (dark mahogany egg), which will come late summer. In the end we hope to have a varied flock that lays a mix of beautiful coloured eggs, ideal boiled for breakfast. It is not our intention to be the provider of all the hotel's eggs.
With Kurt's crowing it now seems that the vegetable garden sounds perfect.
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