Basque Hen Aprons

Our Basque Hens were looking a bit shabby while molting.  Our Rooster also was giving them grief and not letting their feathers grow back on their backs and wings.  So I ordered them some aprons and dressed them up!  Don't they look cute?   

The aprons are working very well.  The feathers are growing back and soon I hope my hens will be back to their beautiful selves.  The Basque are a favorite flock of ours.  They are definitely the friendliest chickens we own and I adore the gentle nature of the rooster with my little girls.  However, they are not big layers.  They lay every other day and sometimes won't lay for 3-4 days in a row.  They do lay large eggs, pinkish in color.  I call the color a pretty "coral" because that was the color indicated on my paint chart. 

Our flock of 6 hens gives us only 1-2 dozen eggs a week.  Ok for a small family that doesn't bake all that much, yet I have noticed that most people who raise chickens do.  Mind you though that it is the middle of summer, it is hot, and the birds are molting a bit.  They did laid a little better in the spring and their personalities make them wonderful pets.

Cotton taking a mud bath.  Her apron does not get in the way of her favorite activities.

Gloria in her new apron.  Gloria has a small body compared to our other hens, yet she is our best layer!  Our larger birds don't lay as much.  We are guessing that as a duel breed, some hens are more suited for "meat" then for laying.  Instead of getting one bird that is good at both traits, the breed has genes for both and it is a surprise what you get. 

Here is Princess.  She is a big bird, perfect for meat quality. She is young and should of started laying 2 weeks ago, but has not yet.  I blame the heat.  It will be interesting to see how well she lays, having such a large body type.  Compare her to Gloria above and you can see the body difference is striking.

Here is the whole flock, minus Princess.  They enjoy picking though the cut grass for the bugs that hide there. 

I had a request to update you all on Poppy-Seed and Princess:  They were accepted into the flock by the end of the 2nd week.  Poppy Seed seems to be up in ranks with the other birds now yet Princess is still on the tail end of the pecking order.  She still doesn't roost with the flock and still wanders off on her own, but the other hens have at least stopped pecking her every time she approaches the feeder.  Yesterday I even saw her budding up with Cotton and hunting bugs on the opposite side of the field of the others, so at least Cotton views her as part of their flock now.  Princess is young, but I think she will outgrow all these older hens soon, so they better start being nice.  I can see Princess taking the top hen spot when she finally realizes her size.