When Straight-Comb-Bella hatched I whispered, “Be a Bella”, and she was!

Let’s celebrate the elders in our flock! Those chickens that keep on keeping on, you know the ones, they seem to have 9 lives but they’re not cats. Bella is such a chicken, turning 9 this year. Did you know that chickens can live up to 15 years? Perhaps you’ve got an older chicken too? 

When Bella hatched, I gently picked her up from under the soft warm feathers of her mum and whispered to her “Be a Bella, please be a Bella”.

Bella’s mum was also called Bella and she was very special to us in many ways. Sadly we had just lost her from complications she experienced after a fire. But we had been collecting her fertile eggs, which became, understandably, very precious.

Bella no 1. was a Silver-laced Wyandotte, but not your standard black and white feathered bird but a Blue-laced Silver Wyandotte. She was my last of this line and so this my final chance to breed more.

There was a lot of pressure on this chick, first to hatch successfully, then to thrive and then to have Blue-laced feathers. Anyway, she did it! There was a sting in her tail though, Bella was born with a straight-comb, which is considered a ‘major fault’ in the Silver-laced Wyandotte breed standard. And so, we could not breed from her (whilst we don’t show, we do breed to standard). So she got the last laugh.

She would reign supreme in our flock as the only VERY BEAUTIFUL Blue-laced Silver Wyandotte. A status that suits her fine!

Bella was born in 2013 in a spare bedroom in a previous house. I cannot recall why a group of brooding Pekin Bantams were in the third bedroom but I do remember it was fun. And, yes, bedlam. And perhaps a tad messy. Anyway, into creature comforts Bella and her siblings were hatched. Her start in life was good, Pekin Bantams make wonderful chook mothers, doating on their chicks. She was raised in a secure pen with the best food and learnt to scratch and explore her surrounds under the strict guidance of her mum from an early age. In essence she grew up safe and happy with strong family. That security has never left her. 

There are many reasons for Bella’s success and longevity:

• She is a high status chicken
• She is smart
• She is gregarious
• She is brave
• She is cheeky
• She has strong family 
• She is genetically robust
• She is well-cared for and finally,
• She knows ‘what side her bread is buttered on’ so to speak. 

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But in the end you have a hat full of chicks, which we call a swaddle of hope!

Pipping is when a chick breaks through the inner membrane of an egg and then through the outer egg too. You’ve waited 21 days for this to happen, wondered about the effects of the weather, the temperature, the humidity … trust me, hatching chicks can be stressful! And the pipping is only the start of it. Some chicks once pipped will ‘bounce’ out of the shell, whilst others take up to 24 hours. And did you know that the chick has a special ‘egg tooth’ which is a small sharp bump on the top of their beck that they use first to break and then to saw around the shell it to uncap it, so that they can kick their way free? Amazing adaptation. Of course the whole process is exhausting for them, which is why they need time to rest and fluff-up before tackling life. They won’t need water or food for at least 24 hours, so let them rest, don’t disturb them just yet …

Every year we ponder whether we will hatch this spring. But then the orders start coming in from folks so very excited to be beginning a flock or adding to their collection. And any musing we had about ‘having a year off’ fades to nought. Why? Because the excitement when people collect their pullets is contagious. I do remember also getting my own first chooks, so I know how special it is. It isn’t a simple operation though, for us breeding seasons starts weeks, sometimes months, before the first chick pips. First we need to choose what breeds we will go with each year, create separate housing and yards for our breeding groups and then separate them out. Then we wait 3 weeks before we start to collect eggs to hatch, that way ensuring that the lines are pure. After all of that preparation we can begin to hatch.

And so back to pipping! It’s a great moment. You can breathe knowing that the hatch is going to be OK. We will hatch every week for the next couple of months, waiting for the pipping will get to me every time! But in the end you have a hat full of chicks, which we call a swaddle of hope. Hope that they will all be strong, hope that they will all be girls and, most importantly, hope that they will all find caring and respectful homes. This year we are breeding Silver-laced Wyandotte, Barnvelder, Araucana, Australorp and Speckle Sussex. If you’d like to know more then take a look here https://www.schoolhousefarm.com.au/chickens/ for details.

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