Small Plot, Big Ideas

Sometimes you just need to believe the weather forecast – not always, just sometimes. Based on their recent predictions I decided that Saturday was going to be spring cleaning day for the chicken house and run.

I even got the jet washer out of retirement for the occasion although that needed a little encouragement before the work could start. Apparently they don’t like working when connected via a long length of hose wrapped around a reel. Connecting the jet wash directly to the tap via a short hose soon solved that problem.

At the same time as doing all this chicken house cleaning it made sense to do a complete change of wood chips in the run and also tidy up the compost bins when getting rid of the results. It may not last but even the compost bins look pretty good.

Luckily the weather was exactly as predicted and, after a short adventure rummaging through a flower bed, the chickens were soon back in their sparkling clean home.

So here it is in all it’s glory. Fully jet washed, powdered and reloaded with straw and wood shavings.

Looking so much better than before and I hope they appreciated the effort

I’m not sure where this one came from but it was completely unexpected and out of all proportion with the normal eggs we’ve been getting.

In fact I’m not even sure which one of the three dropped this on us and we discussed the likely suspects but when I checked afterwards none of the chickens were walking funny.

There are regularly 3 eggs by mid-morning each day but nothing on this scale – the moment just had to be preserved for posterity with a picture and a dedicated blog update.

Right now it’s still in the fridge for the moment as I think we’re all a little nervous about what may be inside!

I can’t quite decide whether our chickens are stupid or crazy but they’re definitely just a little bit bonkers. This makes for some entertaining times for us as relatively new chicken keepers but we’re still not completely sure what constitutes normal chicken behaviour sometimes.

The most likely explanation is obviously that this behaviour is not something unique to our chickens but as with most domestic pets (or even children perhaps?), it’s nice to think that yours have that something special, that distinctive feature or talent which makes them stand out from the crowd.

The mad rush out of the door in the morning is always good to raise a smile at 7am but I’m not sure whether I’d be rushing out just to peck wildly at some chicken feed or to scratch about in the grass. Of course, I could be underestimating the taste of chicken feed but I’m not curious enough yet to find that out for myself.

On the other hand, our chickens are obviously not completely stupid because they seem to have realised that when one of us comes down the garden there is a faint chance of a treat. That may possibly be just a few hours out to roam around the garden or maybe just a hand full of meal worms but it seems to cheer them up immensely.

However, they must be a little crazy because this weekend we witnessed a brief struggle between two of them over what we thought was a bit of twig or leaves. Closer inspection showed that it was actually a small frog with skinny legs (hence the twig mistake!). After resolving the dispute over ownership of the frog, we were very surprised to see that the winning chicken promptly pecked the hapless frog a few times (to subdue it maybe?) then apparently swallowed it whole.

I was quite sorry to see the little frog go although perhaps not as sorry as he was! I’m sure he was doing his best to keep my cabbages free of pests but it was a timely reminder that it’s a jungle out there and only the fittest will survive. In future I’ll keep on the good side of my chickens…

I suppose it was bound to happen really as I’m not there at the moment to witness the grand arrival of THE FIRST EGG personally.

It’s not entirely unexpected of course especially as the chickens were getting nicely settled and they are around the right age now at about 20 or 21 weeks.

However there is still a slight feeling of having missed a momentous event. I know it’s not on the same scale as the first steps of a child or the moment you take the stabilizers off their bicycle.

Despite that there is an irrational sense of pride – our first egg from our first chickens – even though all the effort was from the chicken and not us.

It may not look like much to others but to us this is something  special, a moment to savour. I’m sure we’ll get used to it soon enough and in the meantime No 3 daughter will be tucking into a nice egg in the morning!

With the use of some simple screws and a handy flat pack kit from Chicken Coops Direct, we are now the owners of a nice little chicken coop and run. The only additional work needed was a coat of wood stain/preserver because we didn’t like the colour of the coop as supplied.

Total assembly time was probably 30-40 minutes but that was followed by a few hours of slapping on the preserver, waiting for it to dry and then slapping on a second coat. It was delivered on Friday afternoon but was completed and in position by the end of Saturday ready for the new arrivals. After all that effort I think it looks very nice but then I’m a little biased.

Obviously all that effort would have been wasted without getting the residents in there so here is a run down on the new arrivals…

First up we have Amy which is an Amber (or should that be Amber Star?) that is apparently taking the lead role for the group.

She is certainly the bravest of the 3 and the happiest around us although still not entirely sure of things. We hadn’t originally planned to get a white bird but it does make for a nice contrast between the 3 of them.

Adele, a Bovan Goldline which according to the power of the internet is apparently a cross between a Rhode Island Red Cock / Light Sussex Hen.

This one is also fairly confident and started taking food from our hands within a day or two but is still not happy with us getting too close. If I’m honest the main reason for getting one of these was that I loved the alternate name that some people use – Ginger Nut Ranger

And finally, there is Aretha, a Rhode Rock which appears to be a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a Barred Plymouth Rock.

This one is the most skittish of the 3 and so far has kept away from the big scary humans. Beautiful plumage…