Look what I brought home...

Today we are the proud owners of TWO Langshan hens! :D

Last week when I was in the Gympie Feedbarn they boys were trying to talk me into the four hens they had there. Two were blue, two were black.

...so, I obediently scurried home and begged Husband to let me get some more chookies (he's such a push-over/ lovely man!) He said yes *Hurray* so when I was next in town (today) I went back to the feedbarn and purchased the two black ones - because the blue ones had already sold. The feedbarn boys happily kept the two hens until I could come back later in the day. It was incredibly hot today so I didnt want to give my new hens heat stress from spending too long in the car.

At 1:30pm I went back and collected them and Dad promptly named one (the skinny-tailed one) Langshan *original* and the other (the fat-tailed one) Quondong. I think this is because it was the only Asian dish/name he knew! :) And the whole trip home, as the chooks were skidding across the bottom of their cardboard box (whilst Dad was taking the corners WAY too fast!) he was making jokes like: 'Quondong, get your toes out of my ear! You havent clipped your toe nails in some time and I can feel them scratching my little pea brain!' and "Langshan, you know you like it!" :D LOL!

Upon reaching home, Michael cleaned out the chook/calf pen and put in fresh hay whilst I minded little Pepper, who was FULL of beans by this stage of the afternoon! Then we took the box (containing two hens) into the pen and closed the gate behind us. They are small hens so we didnt want Hiram to be harrassing them (the super verile rooster that he is!) or Emily to be snorting at them while we were trying to get them established in their new home :) Pepper, of course, came in with us :)

These two chookies come from a chook breeder who shows Langshan chooks. Unfortunately, although these are very nice hens, they didnt quite make the cut to be show contenders :(
But they are super quite from being in a show home :)
I picked each hen up carefully and they must be used to sitting on roosts as they quickly curled their toes around my fingers :) then I sat each of them on the concrete of their pen, then moved them into their 'chook house' (explaining to them all the time that although they're new here they will be expected to lay one egg, each, per day but they can have the first week off to adjust to their surroundings...oh! And that although I didnt mention it previously, they will have house-mates etc) then I moved them across the pen, over to their water. By this stage Emily is frantic to get in because she thinks its dinner time, and Hiram is strutting his stuff, trying to get noticed by the new ladies...never mind the fact that Langshan is the size of ONE half of his breast meat!! And Quondong isnt much bigger! :)

Langshan and Quondong are the size of a large bantam or a small regular chook, just to give you an idea :)

This is what I found on the internet about my lovely new chookies:
Langshans, a rare, endangered breed from China, lays a pretty brown egg. The Croad line of Langshans once laid a dark brown egg, but this line is not available from hatcheries (and is even rare to find from breeders). The Langshan is a graceful, nicely-proportioned bird with feathered legs. They are good layers, but somewhat slow to mature to their full size and begin laying. And they are expected to lay 3 eggs per week.

So much for my egg/day theory!

Anyway, Im hoping that they will all just get along as they are a rare breed and Im particularly fond of them :) I love the feathers that go down the sides of their legs and feet :) They remind me so much of the Pekenese Bantams I once had when I lived in Victoria years ago.

*I shall include photos tomorrow as the silly internet is playing up (again!)*