Our first show of the year on the 11th February was hosted by the Northampton and District Poultry Club at the Bugbrooke Community Centre. This was our first visit to their Spring Show, having only attended their annual egg show in the past. It was a great venue with separate, spacious halls for the birds and eggs. The “egg room” also hosted a couple of stalls, the raffle and the delicious food and refreshments – a special mention must go out to the homemade shortbread.

There were about 50 plates of eggs entered across all the classes and incredibly, and against all our expectations, we won a number of them and walked away with Best in Show for a plate of 3 distinct coloured eggs.  We thought Princess Layer might have been in with a chance with her plate of 3 large brown eggs, the quality of her eggs has increased nicely since she came back from her winter moult, but it was a great team effort from Princess Layer, Henerys II and Miss Moneyhenny that did it, go girls!

Class	Name	Placing	Chicken
210	3 large white/cream	1st	Henerys II
211	3 large light brown	1st	Princess Layer
212	3 large any other colour	1st	Miss Moneyhenny
213	3 large distinct colours	1st	Princess Layer, Henerys II & Miss Moneyhenny
215	1 large white/cream	1st	Henerys II
216	1 large light brown	1st	Princess Layer
217	1 large any other colour	1st	Miss Moneyhenny
219	6 large any colour	1st	Miss Moneyhenny
224	Large contents	3rd	Miss Moneyhenny

As for the birds, John Messenger won Best in Show with his Oxford Old English Game beating some strong competition.

As ever it was lovely meeting and talking with like-minded people; the more we attend these events the more we tend to bump into the same nice people. Roll on next month for our home show, the Billington Poultry Cub Spring Show.

Those who follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or indeed those who know us personally, will know we have a love of maths and statistics.  The individuals who share this love of numbers with us will appreciate the beauty behind these figures, but we understand not everyone will share this point of view; it’s an acquired taste.

So not only will we continue to analyse data and share the results with you, but we thought it would be nice to create some art based on our egg data.  The objective of this art isn’t to give you the ability to draw conclusions from the data, although this will inevitably happen as we will see shortly, instead they should be standalone images (perhaps videos in the future) which can be appreciated as they are.

Our first effort, well our first effort that we’re happy enough to share with a wider audience, was inspired by some images produced by the Large Hadron Collider.  Yes, you are reading a blog post linking the LHC and eggs!  The images we found bore a passing resemblance to an eye so we thought we’d try and replicate it while at the same time really try to develop that imagery.

Here is the final result:

The image was generated according to the following rules:

1. Each line represents a single egg that’s been laid by one of the chickens (2356 eggs at the time of writing) and starts in the centre of the image
2. Each line ends at a point on the outer circle.  This point is defined by the day number in the year it was laid.  For example, January 5th is the 5th day of the year, July 27th is the 208th day of the year and so on.  There are 366 evenly spaced points around the circle, each representing a day of the year
3. The colour of each line reflects the chicken that laid it – by using a hashing algorithm
4. The curvature of each line is proportional to the mass of the egg.  The greater the mass of the egg, the more curved it becomes
5. The direction of the curve is based upon on the parity of the egg number.  That is to say, if the egg number is even, the line curves clockwise and if it’s odd, the line curves anti-clockwise

And that’s it.  We then overlaid the centre circle to give a more eye-like appearance.

We mentioned earlier that the objective of this art wasn’t to be able to derive conclusions from it, and this is clearly the case when looking at the image based on all eggs.  However, you can observe some interesting patterns if we generate the images based on individual chickens’ eggs.

If we look at Ella’s image, we can see lines on only about half the circle.  This shows she tends to lay for only 6 months a year barring 5 eggs represented by the lines at the top, a fact that is backed up if we look at her egg laying calendar.

If we look at the image produced from the data on Miss Moneyhenny’s eggs we can see quite a few highly curved lines, evidence of the unusually high number of large, double-yolk eggs she laid.  We can also see she’s only been laying for about 3 months.

Finally, we can look at a chart for Chilli which shows a good example of a chicken who has laid on most days of the year.

The images were generated using the p5 Javascript framework.

We hope you enjoy these images, please let us know what you think of them.  If there’s interest we’d be happy to share some of the code and the methodology used to generate the images.

Our last show of the year was also the closest to home; the Billington Poultry Club Autumn Show was quite literally only 5 minutes drive away.

It followed hot on the heels of the High Wycombe Show which was held only 7 days previously.  Being another relatively local show a lot of the same people were present, along with a few new faces.  Once again it was great to chat to so many likeminded people, and it was a strange sensation for so many people to be quite so interested in my comprehensive egg statistics – I am usually greeted by blank stares and raised eyebrows when I start to show charts of egg-laying histories and explain the significance of a low standard deviation when choosing eggs for shows.  But at poultry shows, the response is entirely different – people have a shared love of all things poultry and eggs.

We had another very successful day, once again exceeding any expectations we had before the show.  Henerys II again won Best in Show with a plate of 6 of her eggs.  I think she really has stolen the crown of Best Layer within our flock from Princess Layer.  Poor Princess Layer didn’t even place in the single light brown egg category.  She’ll continue to enter shows but I think she’s entered early retirement following her successes in the last couple of years.

Obviously, Henerys II’s Best in Show was our proudest moment of the day, but it’s also worth noting this was the first time we won the Contents category.  This is something we’ve been eager to do well in ever since we started showing eggs because when we give our eggs to friends and family, they are not too concerned about the shape, condition and similarity of the eggs, it’s always about what’s inside the shell!

Class	Name	Placing	Chicken
B	1 large light brown	Did not place	Princess Layer
C	1 large white	2nd	Henerys II
E	1 large blue	1st	Miss Moneyhenny
P	3 any colour large	1st	Henerys II
S	3 distinct colours	1st	Princess Layer, Henerys II & Miss Moneyhenny
T	6 any colour large	1st	Henerys II
V	Large contents	1st	Henerys II

The show saw a decent turnout in the egg categories; there were 65 entries made up of 54 egg plates, 10 contents plates and a single, very topical, decorated egg displaying a beautiful poppy.

Stunned! pic.twitter.com/2Ua5M6gOOe

— Leighton B Chickens (@LBchickens) November 12, 2017

The Best in Show bird was a beautiful Sebright pullet, entered by Robin Creighton.

All the girls of Leighton Buzzard Chickens can take a well-deserved rest now over the winter.  We’ve had a year of successes which we could never have imagined, and we don’t have any expectations that we will reach these heady heights again next year, but we eagerly await the 2018 shows.

 

Following a very enjoyable day out at the 2017 Henley Show in September, we decided to head along to the High Wycombe and District Poultry Society Open Show.  They ran a great poultry tent in Henley so we were keen to visit them in Hazlemere.

Maranda still isn’t laying after being with us for 71 days, so we didn’t have any Maran eggs to take.  Ella is in her 6-month hiatus following a heavy moult and Miss Moneyhenny is a little all over the place still, laying double yolkers for fun; her shells are also not always good enough for showing, with extra calcium deposits on most eggs while she gets into the rhythm of laying.

Thankfully Princess Layer, although not laying with the regularity and quality we are accustomed to, is still going strong and Henerys II is doing exceptionally well.  We were quietly confident she was going to place well in her categories.

We underwent the usual, prolonged deliberation the night before, sorting through the collected eggs, deciding which categories to enter.  Following our decision, the obligatory humourous tweet followed:

The “eggs factor” #xfactor #eggsfactor pic.twitter.com/899idkt3BG

— Leighton B Chickens (@LBchickens) November 4, 2017

I got to the hall on Sunday morning and laid out the eggs on the plates.  It was my first visit and I was offered a very warm welcome, as is always the case with folks in the poultry community.  There was a slight delay waiting for one of the judges, but it didn’t matter as the conversation and tea flowed nicely, helped along with a slice of delicious lemon drizzle cake!

By lunchtime, all the winners had been decided and unbelievably, Henerys II has won Best in Show with a plate of her six white eggs.  This was her first show, what a way to start her career in egg showing.  All in all, we had a very successful show winning three of the categories we entered and placing second in the other three.

Class	Name	Placing	Chicken
121	6 large or bantam	1st	Henerys II
122	3 dark brown large	2nd	Princess Layer
123	3 any other colour large	1st	Henerys II
124	2 distinct colours large	1st	Henerys II & Miss Moneyhenny
125	Single large egg	2nd	Princess Layer
132	Large contents	2nd	Henerys II

We are attending the Billington Autumn Show next Sunday, and as it’s relatively close to High Wycombe, we look forward to meeting up with some of the same people we met at Hazlemere.  Of course, we also hope for continued success at our last show of the year.  Look out for that report next week.

Amazing! So pleased with our results in the High Wycombe and District Show. Best eggs was very unexpected! pic.twitter.com/Umer3cGNr5

— Leighton B Chickens (@LBchickens) November 5, 2017

This year saw our first visit to a poultry show, rather than dedicated egg show.  Although none of the Leighton Buzzard chickens are show quality themselves, it was great to see some real quality birds at this event.

It was quite a long journey for us but it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.  As well as spending considerable time in the poultry tent, we also enjoyed viewing the various horse jumping events, the cattle and sheep parades, the craft stalls, the produce tent and of course sampling lots of delicious treats in the food tents.  We especially liked the chorizo thins!

Despite performing very well in previous shows, Princess Layer is starting to age a little and her egg quality is not as it once was.  Whereas we could choose from any of her eggs in the past, we are now forced to disregard 40-50% of them due to issues.  That’s not to say they are bad eggs, they still look good and taste delicious but they are not quite show quality.  With the limited selection available to us we decided to concentrate on the single and set of 3 eggs for her, which is reflected in the results.  Ella was moulting so we had no eggs from her, and we’d only got our new hens the week before, so we couldn’t enter too many categories.  However, we’re pleased with the results we got.

Class	Name	Placing	Chicken
117	6 large or bantam	-	Princess Layer
119	3 large any other colour	1st	Princess Layer
120	2 large distinct	3rd	Princess Layer & Henerys
121	1 large any colour	2nd	Princess Layer
128	Large egg contents	2nd	Princess Layer

We’d like to thank the High Wycombe and District Poultry Society for organising the poultry tent at the show, and we look forward to attending their Annual Open Show in November.  Hopefully we have a few more layers by then!

The 13th of May 2017 saw us visit Crick for our third egg show hosted by the Northampton and District Poultry Club.  Last year we were stunned to walk away with the coveted Best in Show award (thanks to Princess Layer’s entry in the 3 large light brown eggs category).  Both Princess Layer and Ella are another year older; their eggs are coming slightly less frequently and the quality was seemingly lower.  Accordingly, we went to the show with low expectations, we agreed we’d be quite content with a top 3 placing in any category we entered.  Then a couple of weeks before the egg show, Ella went on an uncharacteristic run of laying for 6 consecutive days and the eggs were some of the best she has laid.  We were then quietly confident of a first or second in the “single large egg – any other colour” category.

Saturday morning came and we sat around the dining table grouping eggs into their categories, a much trickier and more time-consuming task than you might imagine!  With eggs from both girls, we were able to get together entries for 6 categories.  Off we headed to Crick.

We arrived at the village hall, registered our entries and handed back the Best in Show trophy.  As usual, we had some lovely nibbles and tea, we enjoyed some chats with other attendees both old and new while the judge, Toddy Hamilton-Gould, deliberated over the 142 entries across all categories.

As the categories were assessed, the certificates started appearing beside the plates and to our surprise, we were placing well.  Alongside our plates of 3 eggs, we saw a first and a third, and the certificates kept on coming.

Class	Name	Placing	Chicken
211	3 large light brown	1st	Princess Layer
212	3 large any other colour	3rd	Ella
216	1 large light brown	1st	Princess Layer
217	1 large any other colour	1st	Ella
219	6 large any colour	1st	Princess Layer
224	Large contents	-	Princess Layer
230	A5 photo (poultry subject)	1st	N/A

Needless to say, we were delighted with these results however the biggest shock was yet to come.  We noticed our 6 large eggs had been taken away to be photographed with the trophy we had returned only an hour or so previously.  We (well I suppose Princess Layer) had won Best in Show for the second year running.  We headed to the event with genuinely low expectations so this was a complete shock to us.

This year the Egg Show was affiliated with the National Federation of Poultry Clubs, meaning as well as the Best in Show trophy and rosette from the N&D club, we also received a medal and rosette from The Federation along with a card we can take to their Annual Championship Show in December to collect a tankard.  We’re certainly looking forward to that.

Thank you to all those at the Northampton and District Poultry Club for hosting such a great event and welcoming us each year.

Neville and Jane

The first of April 2017 marked a historic day for the Leighton Buzzard Chickens.  As you might be aware our humans like to log details of all the eggs we lay including the date, egg mass and the chicken who laid the egg.  These ultimately get added to a database that feeds a number of pages on our website including:

• Mathemateggs data table
• Chicken-specific statisteggs

But before they enter the database they are logged in a physical notebook.

Our humans use Oxford notebooks, specifically the Signature 90x140mm 192 page book.  This was carefully chosen due to its physical size, plus the fact there are 20 lines per page; this serves their OCD nicely, apparently there’d be nothing worse than an odd number of lines per page, weirdos!

They only log eggs on one side of each page, the other is reserved for notes about the eggs or notable information such as egg show successes 🙂  It serves as a useful journal.

1900 eggs down, only another 1900 until the next notebook.

We need some help to determine why Ella lays the way she does.

Chicken owners will be well aware of the factors that might affect their pets’ laying behaviours, whether that be the time of year, age of the hen, breed, deficiencies in their diet or worst of all, a disease or ailment.  Usually it’s relatively easy to understand why a hen has stopped laying for a period if time, but we’re stumped with Ella.

To best understand our bemusement, take a look at the chart below:

Every coloured square indicates a day on which Ella laid an egg, the darker the colour the larger the egg.

Ignoring the single outlier on the 20th October last year, we think you’ll agree there is an astonishing regularity about when Ella starts and stops laying each year.

In 2014, her first year, her last egg was laid on the 8th August.  Her final eggs in subsequent years were laid on 29th July and 18th July.

Even more consistent are the dates of her first eggs of each year; the 4th, 5th and 9th February.

We initially thought that her regularity was related to sunrise times or sunlight hours, but there doesn’t appear to be a correlation here.  Sunrise times in Leighton Buzzard for the first and last egg laying dates vary from about 07:30 GMT at the beginning of February to about 04:30 GMT at the end of July.  Similarly sunlight hours vary from around 12 hours to 16.5 hours.  If either of these factors were to be the cause, we’d expect to see similar figures around the first and last egg dates.

There also appears to be no correlation with the weather.  Temperature and rainfall measurements don’t suggest anything of interest.

So we’d like to open this up to our poultry friends – does anyone have any suggestion about why Ella lays with this regularity?  Is it purely coincidental?  She is a Columbine – are there any other Columbine (or other Cream Legbar derivative) owners who have seen this in their flock?

We look forward to to any and all ideas!

P.S. For those that are interested, you can view up-to-date statistics for Ella.  Or you can see the mathemateggs data table.

The day has arrived for us to announce the results of a top secret project we’ve been working on.  If you’re reading this post clearly you’ve discovered the project is our lovely website!  We know we are just a small flock of chickens but as we love all things technological (webcams and weather stations) and geeky (obsessive egg logging) then we thought it was about time we cornered our own part of the world wide web.

Improvements will be coming in due course including, most excitingly, a comprehensive breakdown of all our egg statistics.  We don’t want to raise hopes too much but it might include some charts!

Expect the occasional blog post which will probably be announcing exciting egg-laying milestones and other general geekiness.

We’ve been on Twitter for some time now but we’ve coincided our website launch with the creation of an Instagram account, so why not follow us on there too?

Feel free to let us know what you think of the website by leaving a comment below or by contacting us on Twitter.  Drop us a message if you have any suggestions on additional content you’d like to see.

Thanks for taking the time to visit,

From all at www.lbchickens.co.uk