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Speckledies

Speckledies are £22 at point of lay. We have Speckledies in stock.

The Speckledy is a hybrid bird first breed in 1992 by Stonegate, one of the UK’s largest free range egg producers. Back in the early 1990’s Stonegate wanted to breed hens that were capable of laying organic eggs that would be accredited by the Soil Association. In order to go organic the company had to rethink completely how it produced eggs and free range hens were a pre-requisite. The problem for Stonegate was that they required hens suitable for commercial production and that meant ones that would be prolific layers, producing eggs that were of the highest grade in terms of shell quality, colour and size and all from a free range hen.

Chickens originate from the southern hemisphere where the weather is warm and daylight is a uniform 12 hours throughout the year. Although chickens have been around in the northern hemisphere for thousands of years, most pure breeds still prefer the warmth and daylight. Some of this can be simulated by keeping the birds indoors, but this would negate their free range origin. Stonegate’s solution was to use their cross breeding programme to produce a hybrid hen that could thrive in free-range conditions in the less-than-tropical climate of the UK. The birds needed good feather coverage to cope with our weather and they had to be happy foraging for food, and taking full advantage of their free-range conditions. Soil Association rules don't allow beak-tipping (clipping the sharp end off hens' beaks) so the new breed needed to be non-aggressive, too. The initial result was the Speckledy, a chicken which laid dark, shiny-shelled eggs.

A Speckledy Hen is a Rhode Island crossed with a Maran. It resembles a pure Maran in its feathering, but is a more prolific layer, producing dark brown eggs. It is a very docile bird and is easy to manage. Ideal for people looking for something a little bit special. Due to the nature of its origins it is really only suitable as a free range bird.

Due to its Maran heritage, the Speckledy is a large bird, body weight at 18 weeks is typically 1575g, and will therefore obviously eat more than other breeds. However, the Speckledy is proving ever more popular with small commercial flocks, who like to offer their customers a variety of different coloured eggs. The Speckledy is a dependable layer with a great temperament. A hen will often foster and adopt any orphans and outcasts as her own. They should produce 260+ eggs a year.

Speckledies are £22 at point of lay. We have Speckledies in stock.