Chickens!

So I talked and talked about getting chickens, I was a bit worried that my blog would turn into 'The Hen Chronicles' then I got them, posted a pic of them and didn't mention them again!

Mildred, Snowy and Ruby are still here and they are laying two eggs a day, except for the weekend, when we only get one. Now you could thinking that is simply a coincidence or it could be because two small people and a larger male one are home more at the weekend and won't leave them alone. I wouldn't want to draw any conclusions .........

Mildred, so named because she was the grumpy, scary chicken when we got her has had an amazing character transformation and has taken to sitting on Ms shoulder and having hugs with Lou.


Snowy has become a lazy/broody hen. We are assuming that she is broody given that she sits on the nest all day and pinches eggs that the other hens lay. I've tried shutting her out of the nest box but she just nests wherever she is.

The last few days we've tried dunking her bum in cold water to shock her out of the broody-ness. When I read about it to start with, people were negative about it, saying that we should let nature run its course and that *eventually* Snowy would get over it, but, she has hardly been eating and is so much smaller than the other two now and since she has no fertile eggs under her, she is never going to hatch any eggs so surely it is better for her to get over it as quickly as possible before she starves herself?

Here she is today. I put her in the greenhouse to see if she would eat more without Ruby and Mildred being around but it didn't work. She did stand up for more than her usual 2mins though!


Here are Mildred and Ruby again. Ruby is an escape artist. When we open the nest box, she hops up and tries to get out while we are collecting eggs! She also hates going back to her house after she has been playing in the garden. M always has to get her because she doesn't like me....even though I am the one that provides her food :(


In honour of my hens, guess what fabric I got today ;)