Adelaide

In Brief

last updated 1.6.13

Hatched: 1st March 2012

Weight: 3.03 kg

Breed: Coronation Sussex

Current Status: moulting

Total number of eggs: 181
Biggest egg: 76 g
Smallest egg: 27 g
Average weight: 54.7 g

The Arrival

Adelaide was one of two Coronation Sussex chicks from Poppy’s Summer Septet. She was a wee ball of yellow fluff, and was fairly shy to begin with. But gradually she came to the same conclusion that her sister Olivia did: monkeys are good, cuddles are better, and armpits are the best places to be!

The Name

We had a couple of possibilities with this girl, selected from Shakespeare and (historical) royalty. As with Olivia, we gave her the chance to select her own name from three choices: Miranda, Charlotte, and  Adelaide. She took a few moments to decide what name she wanted, but then plucked the slip out of my hands and ran off with it. Adelaide it was!

Laying

Adelaide laid her first egg on August 3rd. She was a complete stealth-layer, and has continued to be so ever since. She lays lovely pale pink-ish eggs, and is surprisingly prolific. Her pullet-year tally is all the more impressive as she spent large chunks of the summer completely broody … although there is a disconcerting tendency to snap out if it the instant we move her to a broody house. Sigh! Never mind, we may persist. (If nothing else, she is wonderfully calm. Quite a contrast to her neurotic mother!)

And

Adelaide is another snuggle-bunny. Much quieter and gentler than Olivia, she is none the less even more determined to sit on my lap and/or burrow into my armpit whenever possible. She talks a little bit when trying to convince me to grant lap-access, but is otherwise a demure and peaceful creature. She’s not quite as impervious as her ginger sister to the pecks from other hens, but still manages to get what (and where) she wants by dint of undramatic persistence.

She’s handsome, rather than beautiful, and has developed a wholly unsuitable passion for muddy puddles. The good thing is that her white feathers don’t appear to retain stains for very long …