These are one of the breeds that we bought from the auction last September time. I was attracted to their stunning plumage, their upright and proud strut and general all-round handsomeness!
Just to remind you here's what mine look like -
Tom, with Barbara and Margo
Now Tom is a lively cockerel, loud with a look at me attitude, which is typical of the breed. He is my wake-up call at 5am, regular as clockwork, regardless of whether it's light or not!
The breed is reported to be a productive egg layer (although I haven't seen any signs of it yet, but the hens were quite young when they came to us last year), usually about five eggs laid per week, but not a meat breed, being quite light in body frame.
The cockerel has a large comb, as you can see from the photo above, and the females should flop over, this is normal. They are active birds, happy to roam about the paddock next to the house, and because of their light bodyweight can run at a fair speed!
Unfortunately having read up on them, they are not a maternal bird, so I shall have to invest in an incubator if breeding is going to be successful. They can also be quite aloof, as I've found out, often running away even when the red hens come running towards me. I do believe they have got friendlier over the months though.
I often catch myself watching them more than the other breeds, their feather patterns are mesmerising and they are such a proud show off, of a breed.
Apparently they are not a breed for the faint hearted, but I enjoy having this trio of show-offs around, they make the place feel special!
Look at that stunning plumage, the black shines irridesant green when the sun shines on it.
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