Yes, yes, I’m sorry, it’s a cheap pun. But they do lay eggs and do help in the garden – in their own way. (That’s the hens of course. Tracey is ever helpful, though she doesn’t lay eggs, to my knowledge…) The grey hen is top chicken – she takes the spot closest to whoever is tilling the soil and gets first pick of any grubs, bugs and seeds the fork turns up. She gets in so close that I sometimes have to slow down for fear of accidentally bringing the fork down on her inquisitive head.
At least, the grey is top chicken unless one of next door’s two cockerels are around, which they generally are, unsurprisingly really since our fine, plump, fertile hens are otherwise unattached. Left to their own devices, the hens find titbits for themselves quite happily. But the cockerels’ seduction technique consists of finding a worm or two, then proclaiming their discovery with much crowing and head-dipping. The girls come running all a-cluck, feigning appreciation for his petty discovery, and then serenely submit to a few seconds of pummelling as he gets his wicked way. It’s not hard to tell which ones have been got at – the muddy footprints on their backs are a bit of a giveaway….
We’re still getting 3 or four eggs a day, but I think they are slowing down for winter. There’s a lot of unproductive nest-making going on in the nest boxes.
Chicken news aside, we started the autumn clear up in earnest and got some of the tulips planted today, though I didn’t buy enough Angelique. Don’t know what got into me. I’ll have to try and pick some up from a Garden Centre tomorrow.
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