It’s way past my bedtime and I have been making respite homes for poults – young chickens - in the dark. To be honest chickens, especially when they get to that rather ugly teenage stage, aren’t that attractive or even endearing to look at, but for some unknown reason over the last eight or so years I have become rather fond of them.
It took me ages to even touch one and now I am making dens for them in the middle of the night so that they are safe and feel protected and I am not sure that that is really what I should be doing. But let’s just say that when you see six young chickens all covwering in a corner without any shelter because two fat old hens won’t let them in the hut there is only one thing to do…
You know this chicken keeping lark well it just happened. When we came up here in 2001 we just inherited them, a bunch of wild chickens and over time we sort of became attached. We renovated a Victorian chicken hut and they sort of moved in. we introduced some fancy cockerels and they sort of well bred and then we got serious without ever meaning to. Now we have Fat Boys, ones we intend to kill and eat. We have the girls, those we keep for eggs and then we get waifs and strays and I cannot say no even though I know I should. For heaven sake I even had to register with DEFRA as my flock grew to over 50.
I dread to think how much money I have spent on them I probably eat THE most expensive eggs in the country but there is one thing I can say they do taste delicious and I am not the only person who says so – egg connoisseurs from as far afield as Yorkshire and London agree. Even a few individuals from across the pond…
So perhaps I am not as bonkers as I think I am….
6 comments:
Nah, not bonkers - TLC + $ = delicious breakfast treats. Yum :) It is kinda funny that you ended up with >50 - having a special relationship with DEFRA makes it sound serious!
I can just about manage 4! last night, fox and I think cub were prancing around property at 2am, making a hell of a racket, and I got up to switch lights on to scare the buggers away from my girls. The things we do for our feathered friends...
Saffy - I know I didn't mean to get so many but they dio entertain me so much and some of them are such characters! DEFRA is serious but cross fingers if we have H1N5 in the area then my little flock will be protected as they are mostly rare breeds so in a general cull they will only be kileld if they are actually diagniosed with H1N5. There is method in my madness!
Mother Hen - Keep an eye on those foxy fowlers. Get hubbie and any other random males to piddle round the hen hut. Foxes hate that and hopefully will keep away!
TW, do they have names? ;)
Hmmm...does the piddling keep dogs off flower beds I wonder?
I used to keep around 20 hens and the eggs were amazing!Sadly Mr fox came along one night and...
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