Philip Toogood Chickens Page

The latest edition to our menagerie are various breeds of good laying hens. At present we have 4 Wellsomers-Light Sussex cross (used to be 6), 4 Speckled (used to be 6) & 1 White Leghorn (used to be 4) to help us on our way to self-sufficiency. They live about as free range a life as is possible with a third of an acre within the garden walls and hundreds of acres of fields all around. However, they have all they need in the garden so they don't wander too much. This is fortunate as there is quite a population of foxes in the area and at least 12 Buzzards circling the skies. The only risk being to the imbecilic youth that live in the locality.

Early in 2001 we decided due to the increasing mortality rate at the hands of the public that we should look at breeding our remaining hens with a young Maran (speckled) cockerel. It certainly worked as within a month we had a steady hatching of 4-5 chicks per day until we decided to stop. By then we had hatched 51 chicks of various sizes & colours. We have also rescued a rare set of Blue Silkies after they were badly neglected in someone's small back garden in the vicinity.

	RIP Long Neck The Super Hen Spring 1999 to August 11th 2000
	On the evening of August 11th 2000 at around 7PM our favourite hen Long Neck was run over and left to die in agony outside our house by some idiot driving too fast in their car. She was by far our best layer with an extra large size egg laid every day with the occasional huge double if she missed a day. She was also the most amusing and inquisitive of all the hens as can be seen from the photo. She will greatly missed and impossible to replace.
Long Neck and some of her sisters at feeding time
Eulogy to Long Neck the Superhen Beneath the tree upon the hill Longneck's lying very still Her life did not get very far She was wiped out by some twat's car She woke up early in the morn And ate her little meal of corn She laid a fresh egg every day And pecked and clucked her chicken way Until that sad and fateful day An idiot took her life away And all I hope is when He's dead That Longneck's ghost shits on his head.
	R.I.P. Rocky The Rooster Easter 2000 - 6th October 2000. During the day of 6th October some idiots untrained dog was allowed to run unhindered over the common. During the entire day it was left to run around attacking sheep but at some point it decided that it couldn't catch any so it entered our garden and proceeded to attack our chickens. All the hens ran off and hid but our faithful pedigree White Leghorn Rocky stood his ground to protect the others. As a result he was quite literally ripped to shreds and left outside the gate to our garden. This dog was seen again later and was chased by the farmer with his shotgun but it managed to evade him. If I catch the dog, it will be less lucky and will ensure that it suffers as painful a death as poor Rocky did. If I identify the owner I will also ensure that they get a bill for the cost of a Pedigree White Leghorn and the costs of putting their dog to sleep. The photo on the left is of our remaining female Leghorn.
	Duncan Leadbelly is a Blue Silky. A particularly rare breed that my wife rescued from a grim existence in the restricted garden of town house. Along with his partner and only daughter he now lives a luxurious life in the hills. Unfortunately for him he has to put up with Clancy the huge Marans cockerel being the boss.
	Clancy is the boss above all the chickens and does his best to keep it that way.
	Some of the "girls" nosing around the front lawn.
	"Here Gertie, take a look at this huge worm !!"