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Henrietta And Dodo |
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Henrietta arrived completely by accident. We found her wandering around in
the lane by our back gate. Being concerned for her welfare, we brought her
into the garden whilst we made inquiries. It seemed that some workmen working
down the road had hit a chicken on the road several miles away, thinking
they'd killed it they were most surprised when she shot out from underneath
the van when it stopped. She seemed none the worst for her strange journey
and laid an egg the very next morning. So started our venture into keeping
chickens. Henrietta took over the garden and the house. She would wander in
and eat the dog and cat food as well as settling down to sleep on the chairs.
She did once make it up the stairs but preferred the kitchen where she could
pick up tit-bits. |
Ollie and Stanley |
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Ollie with Morethan and Arthur |
We missed having Henrietta and Dodo as well as having free-range eggs, so along came Ollie and Stanley. This time we fenced off an area of the garden, having learnt how destructive poultry can be to plants and to make them a little more secure from other roaming animals. Ollie and Stanley were point-of-lay Black Rocks, hybrids who do nothing but lay eggs and don't go broody - or that was the theory. Ollie immediately went broody and as Emily was looking after someone elses chickens at the time, she brought back a few eggs to put under Ollie - just to see what happens...................... |
Morethan and Arthur |
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You know the joke about chickens not being able to
count................one, more than one.........and hence Morethan's
name. The other one should have been called One, but being a very small chick
we nick-named her half-a-chicken, which in turn stuck as Arthur. |
Tammy, Tick and Okay |
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This is Arthur with Tammy, the first of the brood to hatch out. Amongst the eggs on the left you may be able to see some strange markings ...a tick and an ok....so hence their names. Tick and Okay were hens but Tammy was a cockerel. He was an all black chick, so probably was one of Ollie's or Stanley's eggs. They all went to live with our friends up the road. Unfortunately Tammy didn't prove to be quite as tame as his father - he took protecting his hens very seriously , attacking everyone - and much to our distress ended up as Easter lunch for someone the following year. |
Miles, Egg and Ferdie |
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Last year we were a bit slow in turfing Arthur
off her eggs and, as Ollie (then six years old) had just died, we decided to
let her carry on and see whether the eggs were still fertile, Arthur and Morethan being six years old themselves. |
Seven Years Old and Still Laying..... |
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Ferdie came into lay earlier this year and had
(until recently) been providing an egg a day ever since. Arthur and Stanley
still layed twice a week, not bad for 7 year old
hens. We were not sure how long chickens lived for - supposedly the average
age for chickens is six and hybrids like Black Rocks stop laying after the
age of two - ours outlived and outlayed that, but
sadly in mid May, Arthur and Stanley died within a few days of each other,
from old age |
Shortly after Arthur and Stanley's deaths the chickens were attacked - by something small and agile but quite vicious, possibly mink. Egg had managed to keep out of it, but Ferdie had small bites on the back of her neck. Morethan was the one showing the most damage, presumably because he was fighting to protect his flock. Luckily we heard the noise in the very early hours of the morning and frightened off what ever it was before more damage was done. There was a lot of blood (not all of it Morethans) and feathers around and Morethan had the same small bites on the back of his neck as well as bites and scratches on his comb and wattles. Although he recovered from his injuries quite rapidly, it was as if he had mentally given up and handed over to his son Egg. He just wanted a quiet life and I think he really missed Arthur, he stopped crowing and would settle down in the corner to watch the other two. He died very peacefully and was buried next to his flock.
Egg and Ferdie were all that were left from our original hens, and they seemed a bit lonely, so we paid 50p each for three ex 'barn' hens (though they did look very much like ex battery hens) who are settled in well. Trouble is Ferdie has stopped laying and gone broody - just like her mother!
Visit Frank & Dannie's New and Improved Sad Mad Chukkie Site for lots of info on chickens
Links to Animal Welfare, Care and other sites
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