Hard Lessons

What I have learned about chickens:

• chickens poo everywhere, they are not discreet about it like a cat might be
  
• chickens poo A LOT
• chickens prefer to be free-range, not left in an enclosed/fenced in area
• free range chickens will ruin your garden with all their pecking, scratching and pooing
• once chickens have experienced the joy of being free-range, they will make every attempt to escape from their fenced in area and back into your garden

It's really all my fault. You see, I had this notion (call it a chicken fantasy) of having my hens pecking and scratching away happily in my garden while the sunlight dappled their feathers through the leaves on the trees. My hens would stroll around through the grass contented and clucking happily, coming up to gently peck bird seed from my hand.

Yeah. Sure. The reality has been a little different.
It is true that the chickens do look charming in my garden. But the garden (which has been big enough to withstand their scratching and pecking), is starting to look a little worse for wear around the edges. Also, the chickens have been dumping poo not just in the grass but all over the pavement which means walking in the garden has become something of an obstacle course.

JM got fed up very quickly and considered the situation to be unhygienic. I felt guilty because I was sure the chickens would be happier if they were allowed to roam free. JM pointed out that they were just chickens after all and would be reasonably content in the fenced-off area. We decided to compromise and agreed the chickens could be let out into the garden once a week. So back they went behind the fence. But we hadn't considered the chickens' opinions on the matter.

This leads to my final point:

Sam aka Number Six (for those you who would appreciate the reference to The Prisoner), has decided her mission in life is to find as many ways of escaping from the fenced-off area as possible.
As soon as we learn of one escape route and block it off, she discovers/creates another one. Once she's out, the other three follow her lead. Before you know it, they are all back out in the garden. This has been going on for a week now. We leave home every morning with all our hens clucking away innocently inside their nice, chicken friendly area. We come home in the afternoon to find them running free in our garden.

Now you may be thinking to yourself 'Come on, chickens are not that bright. How hard can it be to keep four chickens fenced in?' We've been asking ourselves the same question. In our defence, we only devote a few minutes each day to blocking their escape, they have all day to think up another way out. I've been considering buying a portable run which is over 1.8m in height. This may stop Pie, Camomile-Mae and Ludwig from trying to fly over it, but probably not Sam/Number Six. She is one determined hen.

Eggs, glorious eggs!

This is a photo of Theo displaying the first egg laid by one of our hens (Camomile-Mae we think). It was a very exciting moment when we found this little brown egg laying on the ground in the middle of our chicken run. Because the hens are new to this, we forgave them for not using the nesting area.

Over the next few days, more eggs were laid. We learned that each hen will lay an egg that is unique to them. So the paler of the three eggs shown below was laid by Ludwig. We are so proud. We always knew she had it in her.

To date, we have had seven eggs which have quickly been made into omelets and other tasty dishes. In theory, we should be expecting each chicken to lay one egg a day. But so far Pie seems more interested in pecking the other hens thereby establishing her top position in the coop, and Sam has been focusing on escaping (three times so far) into the main garden. We will discuss more about their emerging personalities another time.