Chickens: My Large Fowl

Just thought I'd post some pics of my chickens. I have four large fowl/standard hens.
The first photo is my Light Sussex hen called Bonnie. She's often under your feet, and I've nearly stood on her before! She is happy to be held and stroked and will come running when she is called. For some reason she has never really taken to perching at night and seems to much prefer to sleep in the nestbox! In the second photo below she is being naughty and drinking out of a bucket for collecting rain water. A metre away is their actually drinker, but she seems to know what she is not meant to do... because she does it!! There'll be many more stories about her in other posts because it would take way too much space to write them all here now!

Teazle is anther of my first hens (as was Bonnie), but unlike Bonnie she not very tame, although once I've managed to catch her she will usually stay calm while you hold her. She is a Welsummer. She really doesn't like new people, so when my friends/family come to see the hens she gets quite upset! I find this very strange, but then she is quite a strange hen! She also doesn't like wind. Apart from these things, she lays well and the eggs are - mostly - a lovely dark brown. She is always looking after herself, despite having a growth problem with her beak. This  means she finds it slightly more difficult to eat, though she can do it. The upper mandible (top part of beak) hardly grows at all, and the end of it is a funny shape. Also the sides of her beak grow at an alarming rate and have to be clipped off regularly. On this photo it is difficult to see the beak problem because of the angle and also it has been clipped recently, making it look nearly normal.

My Welsummer, Teazel. 
Credit: birdbrain99 (Author)

Last April (2012) I got two more hens, not long before Dido, my other first Light Sussex and Bonnie's sister, died. I bought them from an auction which can be a little risky as you haven't much idea of who owns them, what conditions they have come from, etc. as often as not you also don't know how old the bird is and, occasionally, what breed it is.
 This was the case with Daffodil and Blackbird. They were obviously mixed breeds, but I had no idea what breeds they had in them then, or even if they were still laying. The only information I had was that they were being sold with the title: "two broodies". See this article for information on broodies. Well, I've never had anything of the sort from them! I have at last found out that Daffy (I hardly ever call her Daffodil) is a Cream Legbar crossed with a White Leghorn. 
She lays beautiful blue eggs and acts like a parrot (sits on your arm etc.), is quite bossy and will willingly peck the others if they are in the way! She is a skinny little thing and had to have an operation (*Update:* I've written about that here).  

My mix breed hen, Daffy.
Credit: birdbrain99 (Author).

My Leghor x Legbar mix, Daffodil, resting (which she hardly ever does..)
Credit: birdbrain99 (Author).

Birdie (short for Blackbird) is calm and  obviously quite an old bird. She loves to sleep and dustbathe and preen (keeps herself even tidier than Teazle!). I have found her many times sleeping on the roof of the coop (hen house) at night when she should be inside it! Strangely, she is my only hen which eats the suet pellets meant for thrushes (another reason I called her Blackbird). She can fly better than the others despite being a big bird. She is very unusual-looking and very beautiful.

My other mix breed hen,Birdie.
Credit: birdbrain99 (Author)