Chickens

My long awaited ladies have arrived today. I was so excited and nervous all at the same time, I really was like a child at Christmas! They are housed in an eglu, which seems perfect for our garden, though I think we may have to find a permanent site for it as our garden is just way too slopey for me to be able to move it around at will, as was my original plan. So some garden design is now the call if the day!

We have 3 chickens. 2 are known as Miss Pepperpot's which are Rhode Island Red/Maran hybrids, and a gingernut ranger, another hybrid I think. The Miss Pepperpots are very different looking, one being black with irridescent green feathers, and the other black with lots of gold neck feathers. They are known as Betty and Hetty respectively. The other hen seems to have established the pecking order, and is ironically known as Little, as in Chicken Little (courtesy of the boys!) Little is a big brown hen, and certainly seems to be ruling the roost so far! However, when they went to roost this evening, there was gentle coo-ing coming from inside the eglu, so peace for now!

The boys were so excited when I picked them up from school, and raced through the house to the back garden where they spent ages watching them, asking questions, and imitating them. They were particularly intrigued with the pecking order scuffles! Some of the neighbourhood children came to look too, but didn't seem quite so excited, although one did suggest his brother kept one on his bedroom!

I am really looking forward to this new adventure for us as a family, especially as the days stay lighter, and we get to spend more time in the garden with our feathered friends.