Kuikentje's little chickens

[sandy]

Hope it was you Alice, show your mummy you ain't a thickie

[Kuikentje]

My husband now lets the ladies out for a few minutes whenever he's playing in his shed, and even ticks me off for putting them in if he thinks they haven't been out long enough.

Yesterday he even made two observations "If you look immediately behind that red thing they have on their head, they've got a tiny bald spot," and "They do all look different."

Now that's progress!

[Scrambled]

[sandy]

He is coming around to chickenitus

[Kuikentje]

A five-egg day! Today is the first time every one of them has laid an egg. They were arranged in a little circle in the nest box, pointed ends inwards, so they looked like a flower. It was as though they had done it like that on purpose

[aishakali]

5 eggs! brill!! I've often wondered how they can lay several in the same nest and manage not to break any

[Kuikentje]

Some pictures from today

What's so interesting under the shed?


Alice and Ivy


Dot


Sarah


Lottie (possibly)






I can't tell who's who on these photographs without looking at their rings, prizes for anybody who can spot the difference. Lottie has the biggest comb, I think.

[KarenE]

They are such beautiful girls! I love the pic of them all lined up looking under the shed. They look like they're at a trough

[sandy]

The line up certainly does look like donkeys at a trough They are such stunning ladies, I love the one of Alice and Ivy, they look as if they are sizing one another up for a duel

[Kuikentje]

Bbbrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

It has turned very cold. The girls obviously are all in bed by the time I get home and my husband never shuts them in. I'll have to get him doing this before it gets any colder. But he has begun to throw them a bit of mixed corn before they go into the coop, which they are doing very early now, so that's a start. They are still laying quite well, too. I took three eggs to work yesterday and scrambled them in the microwave for lunch. It scrambles eggs perfectly because it's so slow, just as well because the toaster is pretty darned slow, too.

[sandy]

It certainly is cold, hate it when they are abed when I come home, never mind just a few months to go

[ChickenCarol]

I too love them all lined up looking under the shed! They are beautiful, all chest and tail. Lovely photos.

[Kuikentje]

Well, not put anything in my diary for a while - everything ticking over smoothly - I have got a project for my husband when the weather's better, the one everybody does after their first winter with a low-rise chicken run. Crawling round on hands and knees is ok in the summer, but at this time of year it's just too wet and I have to move around in a squatting position like somebody learning Russian cossack dancing. And if my head touches the netting all the rain comes down the back of my neck. So come spring (or sooner) we'll (he'll) raise the height of the run so I can stand up in it.
The other thing is we now have the obligatory rats, and have to find an effective but discreet way of dealing with them so the neighbours don't notice.
In the meantime the girls continue to be an utter delight. My husband lets them out when I'm at work so they at least get a bit of free-ranging during the day; they are usually in bed by the time I get home so I only get to see them when I go to tuck them in. Still laying well and we still have enough eggs for ourselves and to give a few away.

[sandy]

I think you need to invest in a russian hat to a, stop getting wet and b, so you actually look like a cossack Head height is the way to go definetely A few people on here seem to be having visits from those pesky rats the the moment

[aishakali]

We had a crawly in run when we first got ex batts.....nightmare..... especially when you have dodgy knees Didn't take long to replace with a lovely high one. You won't believe how much easier it will be. Hope you solve your rat problem soon. We had a rat, last year I think, OH put some rat pellets in a plastic bag near where we saw the rat emerging. The little ugger thought he was being clever pulling the bag into his nest, then he suddenly disappeared Not such a clever rat!