The Chickens Arrive - and so begins my chicken obsession.

We decided to get Pure bred chickens rather than Hybrid, the reason was two fold, (1) There are only two of us so we didn't need chickens that were going to lay every day of the year and (2) we thought it would be a good idea to choose something which was on the Rare Breed Survival Trust at risk list, although we are don't intend to breed them it's nice to do your part in helping to keep a breed going.

We found a local supplier to us and she invited us to go to the farm and have a look around to see what we fancied. Ooooh too much choice and so many lovely chickens. Brenda and Allan have a wonderful farm where they breed their birds, nestled in the Cambrian Mountains. They do not run it as a business but keep chickens because they love them and want to keep some of the rarer breeds going but they do sell to anyone who wants them. Brenda has been a great help to me with my chickens and remains a good friend.

We came home that day with some Silver Dorkings, Ixworth, Old English Phesant Fowl and some Welsummers. The Welsummers aren't endangered but we couldn't resist them. They were all only 6-8 weeks old so it would be another 12 weeks or so before we would see an egg.