Meet the Breeds

Hello and welcome to a comprehensive and very scientific personality analysis of your favourite breeds at Chicken Corner.

Perfect Pekin

Hen: A caring yet scatty natured bird, she will try and hatch as many chicks as possible, and after failure, will try again and again. Her effort grades are consistent and her attainment is always improving!

Cockerel: I like to think that the Pekin cockerel suffers from the syndrome excellently put in “Devil Wears Prada” – “Small man, big ego”.. an arrogant little thing, he will take on any who dare challenge him, eve if they are double, even triple, in size.

Beautiful Buff Orpington

Have to say, they are my favourite breed, and it appears I like to cheer for the underdog as one book stated they have a tendency for being bullied, overweight and are ginger! However, they are perfectly docile and they add a lot of colour to a photograph. Broodies struggle, but let her loose at some babies and she’s an absolute professional.

Loveable Light Sussex

Hen: Fantastic maternal abilities as she is both caring and protective. She may not come across overly friendly around the yard, but she undergoes her duties to the highest of standards, and I for one will not challenge that. Her striking black and white feathering keep her looking squeaky clean in all weathers!

Cockerel: A natural born leader of the farmyard, he soars above the rest. I believe its because he is neither arrogant nor aggressive. With a calm and laid-back temperament, he enjoys life at the top of the hierarchy. What a guy!

Awesome Araucana

Three words - Attentive, Erratic and ‘nearly there’, as they slightly lack the grace required to sit at the top of the hierarchy. They are small and quick witted, sometimes having their heads too far in the clouds. But their best asset is producing a well-rounded chick from a rather beautiful blue egg!

Groovy Gold Silkie

They look sassy, possessing unique feathering and a bouffant of fluff on top of their rather unusual purple skin. They are prone to arguments; I mean what do you really expect when 2 divas come together! But underneath it all, they are very kind mothers and integrate well into the populous at Chicken Corner.

Until next time, chicks x

Soap Opera Style

Big big news, Chicken Corner fans, the duck population has gone through the roof. We have two new ducks! All very exciting as we transported them back to the farm and as I had suspected, their cackling quacks produced a less than relaxing journey home. I couldn’t wait for them to meet the drake .. unfortunately, my animal whispering abilities were not at peek capacity as I had judged his desires completely and utterly wrong.

So here’s what happened ….. I placed the girls into the pen and imagining a passionate embrace, in reality, they greeted each other with a cacophony of hissing and pecking, running and rioting. My fear that the drake might prefer chickens for company was confirmed when he flew out of the pen to join the frizzle Pekin and light Sussex. Perhaps he will never get over his first love, and in ten years time be one of the callers on the Jeremy Vine Radio 2 Show along with all the other 50 year olds, who, unbeknown to their current wives, still harbour a photograph of their first love in their wallet .. I hope he doesn’t follow this road, and his new girls patch up his broken heart.

So far, they don’t seem to be doing much needle-work, as they plop into the washing-up-bowl-pond re-enacting a truly animalistic Mean Girls interpretation of “you can’t sit with us”. Its been a couple of days now, and I know the act of courtship cannot be rushed but right now, I can confirm it’s a love-HATE relationship!

Bye chicks x

A Designer's Tale

Chickens and animals in general have always been a main inspiration throughout my artistic career. For my Art Scholarship project, I focused on chickens, now I have piles of black bind-books in my cupboard. Happy to say, like the trooper I am, I was awarded the scholarship!

My creativity route continued until it ‘slightly shifted’ when my Mother suggested “we already have one artist in the family, Cecily”. Thus I embarked on an Archaeology & History of Art degree, and have to add that its actually great, (please note: I have reflected on this during my holiday, with no coursework casting shadows .. ) I genuinely wouldn’t want to study anything else, it is fab!

But I had missed art so I started a sketchbook in my first year in halls. I drew the silhouette of an Indian Elephant, then after seeking guidance from my favourite designer (obviously apart from IzziRainey) Wiliam Morris, the pattern took shape and a vibrant orange filled in the gaps. Like a jig-saw, all the pieces fitted together and produced ‘Elephas maximus’, one of my most popular greetings cards.

Now entering my 3rd and final year at The University of Nottingham, Cecily May Rose has been thriving for a whole year, thanks to the help of the IzziRainey team – they are such a great outlet with the cards on their website and Not On The Highstreet AND a little Post Office in Guist. I like to think I pay them back through my interesting humour and ‘good attitude’ [– quote Izzi], this summer. As you can see the whole enterprise has gone global and like Zayne from One Direction, I was uncertain of being able to handle the public domain and demands of the press .. but .. I think I’m fine so far! So please, join the frenzy! And check them out online and follow my Instagram: cecily_mayrose.

Until next time chicks x