It’s been a while since I’ve posted about the ladies!
We recently moved them onto a bed of dedicated chook fodder. As we’re a bit behind with the garden, one of the beds wasn’t planted out after the last rotation. It was full of crops grown from the scattered grain mix the girls hadn’t eaten (millet, wheat, sunflower), as well as an assortment of green weeds.
The hens were in seventh heaven! They were skipping over the greenery – I’d never seen a chicken skip before – scampering over mountains of plants aided by their flapping wings.
They’re all doing very well – the sudden shortening of days means they’re laying less, and we’re now getting three to five eggs a day. I’m delighted about this – I don’t want them to wear themselves out, and we really don’t need that many eggs all the time.
I tried to take some updated portrait shots so you could see how big they’ve all grown. It took me a couple of days to get them all – the first lot were taken just after the dome rotation, and the second batch the following morning.
Francesca was doing a little dance…
Harriet is the fairest in colour, and sits right in the middle of the pecking order. She was busy contemplating what her next mouthful was going to be…
Our little Maggie, formerly the most pecked and persecuted member of the flock, has grown into the largest hen of all. When she was younger, she had all the feathers in her head pecked off by the others, which distressed me enormously. Now she’s huge and has risen in the social order, and everyone leaves her alone…
Lovely Rosemary sat on Pete’s lap and posed for a closeup. Hasn’t she grown up to be a big girl!
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The following morning I went out again with my camera. Bertie and Queenie had been moving too quickly to photograph the previous day, and I didn’t want to put up a post without them.
Don’t let the subdued morning light fool you – these two are tough, smart and seriously bossy. Queenie sits at the top of the pecking order and has since the very beginning; Bertie is her right hand hen.
Bertha rarely stands still, and it took nearly 30 photos to get two good shots of her. Our wild, crooked chicken is still ornery and cantankerous, but Pete loves her to death. She only lifted her head for a photo because he was calling to her…
As you can see, she still has her very distinctive crooked comb. Steve the vet once described her as matronly, and Steve the brother thinks she might have been stepped on as a chick, which would explain why she’s so lopsided…
Queenie was settled into the nesting box, making little purring noises in her throat. She continues to rule the roost with an iron claw…
And Harriet was playing ostrich, with her head almost fully buried as she tried to dig grubs out of the soil. Chickens really do have the fluffiest bottoms!
If you’d like to catch up on all our previous posts about the girls, please have a look at our chicken page, or at our Cheerful Chickens blog!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 