Until last weekend, we had two hens. And while they're beautiful and friendly, they're very elderly ladies and only lay an egg once in a blue moon.
Until last weekend, we had two hens. And while they're beautiful and friendly, they're very elderly ladies and only lay an egg once in a blue moon. So last weekend we made a unanimous decision to buy more, and off we went in search of some happy hens.
Now, once again, we have plenty hens and plenty of eggs. The garden will soon benefit from larger quantities of well-rotted poultry manure and we should also see a decline in the numbers of slugs and snails.
I expected the kids to be happy - I've allowed each one to claim two hens as their own - but I was surprised at how pleased I was to see hens pecking around the garden again. It's an unusual looking collection; we have one Maran and one Black Rock (the two elderly originals), two gingery types, a Blue, a Speckledy, a Light Sussex, and a stunning and very friendly Magpie. There's been a little aggro as they've adjusted to their new home, and the Black Rock granny has not taken too kindly to the new, younger residents.
But on the whole the hens are very well behaved. The place we bought them from had obviously treated them well; they have little fear of us at all, a far cry from some of the neurotic and miserable critters we've housed before. Who needs a Nintendo Wii for the children when they've got a garden and some hens?
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