I hear you knocking...

Another delay in writing due to my busy travel schedule for which I do apologise chicken fans...

The girls have been a bit naughty recently and have been eating an egg a day, we weren't sure which chicken was the bad one until the gorgeous one caught Mabel and Omelette in the act this morning! It has meant that we have only had one egg for the last few days but today we have had two whole ones and one partially eaten one. so at least they have all laid today and I can stop threatening them with the pot for one day at least.

I do wish they'd stop knocking at the cat flap as well, it does worry my already super-stressy cat and no matter how many times they knock, I'm not going to let them in!

Omelette has, once more, re-ignited her love for the barbecue and specifically the shelf underneath the cover, she surprised Mabel the other day by appearing from under the cover (I don't think Mabel realised she was there). Perhaps it was all on purpose and the chicken version of SURPRISE!, or maybe it was hide and seek? Who knows how these chickens amuse themselves (actually I do, they amuse themselves by destroying my nice garden)?!?

Speaking of which, Yoko has been digging a nice big hole in the gravel and discovering that it is REALLY dirty underneath the gravel and so she is now filthy. They all have dirty feet but she has dirty feet, a dirty beak. a dirty belly and dirty wings(see picture above). I'd bath her but as you know readers, chickens aren't waterproof are they? Don't ask the girls that cos they think they are...

Living in a Box

Yesterday we had some new furniture delivered, it came in massive great big cardboard boxes with polystyrene inserts to protect my lovely new table and chairs. Once the furniture was out of the boxes, the gorgeous one put the boxes in the garden until the weekend when we could get rid of them. Well, guess which 3 stupid chickens think that cardboard boxes and polystyrene would be a great addition to their crumb diet?

we have had to put the boxes on top of the garden swing chair and some on top of the table to get it off the floor because despite telling them that it wasn't good for them, they didn't listen (do they ever?) and decided to peck through the cardboard anyway. Now we have moved them out of harms (or chickens) way, the girls look completely lost, like a kid that's had its new toy taken away from it! I did try to tell them that it's for their own good but they're just looking at me as if I'm a complete killjoy.

On another note, two eggs today, both a little bit odd looking. One with a very pointy end and one with a very, very creased shell. The one with the pointy end, I picked up this morning from the perching (!) area, it was just by the door out to the run and was there as if it just plopped out when one of them was on their way out!

Due to the rain yesterday, the ground has been quite damp so on venturing out this morning, Omelette found a great big worm which she ran off with to scoff by herself which she had done by the time the other two realised that she had something interesting. Greedy guts.

Red Alert

The house is on full on red alert today. Yesterday, the gorgeous one worked from home and saw an enormous fox sunning himself in next door's garden. He was just laying there grooming himself with our girls running around in the garden not more than 10 feet from him. He did run away when the gorgeous one knocked on the window and gave him a Paddington Bear hard stare... well who wouldn't?

Today I have had two lovely eggs from Yoko and Mabel, I know it was them as I was trying to clean out the house and both of them made me leave them alone for some "private" time and when I went back, lovely warm eggs from them. Normal shape, normal size, nice colour, lovely shells. Definitely Omelette that lays the stupid ones.

Omelette and I had a cuddle earlier - I know! She normally runs a mile before you can get anywhere near her but I snuck up behind her and picked her up for a lovely stroke and cuddle. I do think I enjoyed it much more than she did!

I have also been out and taken some video of the girls in the garden, we played a little game of chase, which Yoko didn't quite have the hang of and we looked for eggs. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the video off so there is a bit at the end where I am walking back to the house and talking to them, this is how I talk to them when I think no-one is listening. Sorry if the end makes you feel a bit sea sick I didn't know how to edit this bit out....

Happy chicken watching x

Tiny Alien

Just a quick one today chicken fans, wanted to make sure I posted the egg pictures as promised, the egg on the right is the normal size...

Rockin' Robin

Aah, today, the chickens mate, the robin, brought his mate round to see them. We now have a pair of robins who are totally into the girls, perhaps for the lovely sharing of food more than for the stimulating company though. It seems like they are quite friendly and one even sat on the shed door whilst the gorgeous one was cleaning out the girls house. They don't seem too afraid which is nice and have stayed quite close to the food source!

The girls are getting a good clean out today (as usual for the weekend) and we went and got them a special treat of their particular favourites - mealworms. I was feeding them to them and trying to make sure that they all got an equal share of them but Mabel and Omelette seemed to think that my fingers were also mealworms. All I can say to that is OUCH!!! Yoko walked off with hers and was clucking rather loudly, almost like she was talking to it before she ate it.

We've been going through a 3 egg phase recently, not everyday we get three, but on a few occasions recently we've had one egg per chicken, which is nice. Although the gorgeous one has discovered that one of the girls is laying their egg in the perching area of the nesting box and then burying them underneath the straw. Luckily today the egg was found but the other day the gorgeous one put his trowel (that he uses to pick up the poo) straight through it as it buried so well. Today is a 3 egg day. The eggs were very cold as the temperature seems to have dropped somewhat in the last couple of days so we have made them some warm porridge from their crumb, some of the mineral to help them produce strong shells and a few porridge oats on the top. Pour in hot water and there you have it a lovely warm treat for them. I think it absolutely stinks and looks like mud, but the girls seem to enjoy it, so no accounting for taste is there?

We did have another weird egg the other day, which I did take pictures of and will post them to the blog shortly. We think that somehow a Quail got in and laid an egg in their nest....

Let 'em in

Happy New Year chicken fans!

Now the snow is gone the chickens are once again enjoying (destroying) the garden, although after all the rain we've had they're wading around a little at the minute! On Thursday I worked from home and it rained like mad all day, we had let them out in the garden when it wasn't raining too hard and the girls were enjoying being out and about but then even when the rain started to pour they still thought they could wander around as usual - d'oh. Eventually we had to shut them in their run as they were all saturated. How many times do I have to tell them that they are NOT waterproof!?!

Omelette is absolutely lovely looking now (and is huge!)but has sprouted white feathers on her head making her very distinctive looking! She is also concerning the gorgeous one as her comb has gone a bit pale which can mean they are under the weather, but it can also mean that they are a bit broody. It will be interesting if she is broody because she's not laying proper eggs so I'm not sure how she would try and hatch and egg with a hole in it or an egg with a jelly shell!

Yoko is now the scruffy one, but has got new feather growth on her wings, lovely white fluffyness coming through under her other feathers. She seemed to be getting a bit bullied by the other two and she was wandering around by herself a lot when the other two went off together. However, now she seems to be back in the fold, I hope they're not picking on her because she's not as pretty as the others.

Mabel continues to be the mother hen, laying lovely eggs and looking like the beautiful Warren chicken she was born to be! She is the one who sleeps by herself now in the nesting box while the other two sleep together in the perching (ha) area.

Anyway, bessie mate (OH) suggested that I upload some video of them doing stupid things (normal day then) so I'll work on that and get some uploaded as soon as I can. We Skyped yesterday and she got to see them all lined up against the patio doors, it's common picture these days, they even knock on the windows!

A few nights ago the gorgeous one and I were sitting in the dining room and it was all dark. We'd let the girls put themselves to bed as usual when we heard a tapping at the window. One of the girls had come and was banging at us - funny, we thought. As they all should have been in bed, the gorgeous one went to check on them and to shut them in for the night. When he got to the house he saw a chicken under the house so we went to pick her up and put her in the house. That's when he realised that it wasn't just one chicken, it was three and where he'd cleaned out the girls earlier that day he'd shut their house up and not opened it again! I think that one of the girls came to say "Oi! You've shut us out!".

Slippery When Wet

The girls are happier now it's getting warmer, Omelette seems much more herself and the girls are out in the garden now they don't have to wade through 6 inches of snow. They have been enjoying the fact that we're off work as they get to run around in the garden all day.

They are getting so used to their morning porridge that this morning they were waiting outside the patio doors for the gorgeous one to put it out for them, but then they couldn't eat it as it was too hot for them! They circled it a few times before tentatively pecking at it. Now, it's much cooler and Mabel and Omelette are devouring it whilst their mate Robin scoffs their crumb from the decking.

The rain came and washed away lots of the ice, which the chickens are also liking as it's slippery stuff and the other day I did see one of them slip on the ice whilst chasing me up the garden which is a pretty amusing sight I can tell you!