Egg - cited!!

Today we had a second egg. When I went to check for eggs this afternoon it was being sat on by Valentine - who is the lovely brown chicken who nearly had her throat ripped out by NWD last week. The injury clearly hasn't done any long term damage - but I'm not going to set NWD on the other two chickens in any vain attempt to 'hurry them up' a bit. She obviously lays her eggs around lunchtime as it wasn't there first thing this morning.

Today's egg is slightly larger than yesterdays - so hopefully in a few more days they should have evolved to normal egg size.

If they all start laying soon we will have 21 eggs per week. I shall have to set up a mail order egg business!

Small, but perfectly formed!

Yesterday was a day of great excitement here at "Free Range Towers". I went out to muck out the chickens in the afternoon - and found our first egg!!! I was so excited!!! I have no way of knowing which of the girls laid the little miracle! I went rushing round next door to tell Lisa as I was so keen to share the news. Posselq was in a meeting and had his phone switched off - so I had to find somebody to tell!

I have duly cooked said egg for Posselq's breakfast this morning before he set off to work. So today - he's gone to work on an egg. I don't think he'll get very far as it was a small egg - (as you can see from the 'comparison with Tesco egg' picture) but it fried perfectly, and tasted delicious. The adjective used to describe the taste was 'Yellow'. It tasted very yellow. Hopefully it's the first of many.

Dogs and Chickens don't mix :(

Last night we took Millie into the garden to introduce her to the chickens. The lady at the chicken place had told me to hold the chicken above the dog's head and slowly bring her down to the dog's level - all the while keeping a strong hold on the dog. Apparently if the chicken comes at the dog from above - the dog is more likely to be wary. Great in theory. However - very naughty white dog (who was being held very firmly by Posselq) - quick as a flash - grabbed a big piece of the chicken's skin and ripped it straight off. It was awful. The poor chicken now has a completely skinless breast (I know - you can get a skinless chicken breast in Tesco), and is feeling quite sorry for herself. There was a tiny bit of blood - not much - but now the poor thing has literally no skin on an area of about 4 square inches. 

I felt soooo guilty. This morning I have got her out of the hen house (I thought she may well be dead by morning) and she is free-ranging with the other two. But she doesn't look happy. We shall have to wait and see how she gets on and if she makes a full recovery - which will involve re-growing the big piece of skin that is now missing.

Bad Dog !

Chicken update

After their initial 24 hour 'settling in' period the girls are now officially 'Free Range'. I am sitting here at the kitchen table watching them ferret round the garden - and Viola has just eaten a worm!!! Viola is the little white one - and I was told by the lady at the chicken shop that she was the most timid - yesterday that was true - but today she was first out into the big wide world that is our garden before the other two could shake a leg!!

Esmerelda (the black one) quickly followed her and then came Valentine - down the ramp and away. I let them roam for ten minutes then put Millie on the lead and took her for a little walk round the edge of the garden so she could see the girls and they could see her. Millie just wanted to play with the new friends but the girls were having none of it!!!

I can see that the chicken / dog integration thing is going to take a wee bit of time!

The girls are here!

I fetched them from the chicken shop this morning. Along with the 3 girls pictured here I also got two huge sacks of feed, a feeder, a waterer, some louse powder (!), a feed scoop and a book that should tell me all I need to know about having happy healthy chickens. I also got a china egg which you pop into the nesting box and apparently it encourages the girls to lay their eggs. Fab Fab Fab!!!

No names yet as that job is going to Posselq - he has the honour of naming them when he returns from his travels tomorrow.

The white one is apparently more 'flighty' and timid than the other two - and that seems about right as she disappeared into the hen house and hasn't come back out yet!!! Later on I have to introduce them to the dog!!! - according to the lady at the breeders they will peck the dog once and then she will know that the girls aren't to be messed with! Poor Millie :)

I had the honour of cutting their flight feathers before transporting them home. Once I was shown what to do it was just a case of 'snip, snip, snip'. The flight feathers will grow back but by that time the girls will have forgotten that they can fly!

They should start laying eggs in about 2 - 3 weeks...so then it will be omelettes and scrambled eggs at every mealtime.

Postscript.....have just taken Millie outside to say hello to the chickens. I now totally understand the phrase 'shit hitting the fan'. It flew everywhere!!!

Building the Hen House

This is the new hen house. Posselq built it on Saturday. As with all flat pack items the instructions were poor and we were left with a funny little fastener that we didn't know what to do with. Eventually we worked it out - and there wasn't that much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The entire build took about an hour and a half and he was ably assisted by moi. That in itself is enough to turn any grown man into a raging steaming neanderthal version of himself - but Posselq coped admirably with my comments and helpful suggestions.

Now all we need are some chickens to put in there!!!

Oasis

Last night we went to Wembley to see Oasis. They were good - I think - but that Gallagher bloke is so miserable and narky that I find it really hard to summon up any enthusiasm for their music - if he can't be bothered to be cheerful about it - then why should I?

It was however nice to meet some of Posselq's friends :)