Hasn't it been quiet?
I've been busy. Very busy. Imagine a busy sort of day, multiply it by 12, and that was my busy week. Well, that's my excuse for not posting recently.
The ladies, as I know you are clamouring to know, are very well! They have been producing eggs at a prodigious rate, and are out and about. They love the garden, and are currently working on removing all of my bark chips from the shrub border onto the lawn where it will look oh so much better. Everyone's a critic!
Egg-wise, these ladies are the business. We have only had one day without any eggs, and that was the first day they spent pretty much completely in the garden. I think they were thrown a little by the big old space, and the fact the sky wasn't falling. We let them out on the 5th as I already said, and they didn't like it one bit. The next day was a little better, with all three heading out for about an hour. We let them out about an hour before dusk, and they were nervous and darted in and out of the run all the time, and trouped back in when it started getting dark. That was great progress.
The next day, 7th, they spent a little longer, and then by 8th August, they were OUT!
As you can see they discovered that the garden walls are a little further apart than those in the run, and they went for it.
Everything proceeded apace, and they spent the best part of the afternoon out and about investigating. Razorbeak was very brave and investigated the patio and greenhouse. She seemed to find it all pretty exciting, as she spent about half an hour clucking about, and then whizzed back to her mates and dragged them all down there too.
Jigglypuff decided to investigate Dylan's boats and buckets, but couldn't decide just how to eat them, so Dylan managed to rescue his boat, and scolded the poor hen for her curiosity. He must have had a good 5 minute conversation about the evils of boat pecking, and Jigglypuff and he ended the dressing down with a handful of corn each.
Then someone let the rabbits out. Buddy (black and white) and Cloud (grey) are normally out for most of the day. However, with the hens' lack of confidence in the garden, we'd kept them in whilst the hens were out. Jack felt the grace period was now finished, and out came the bunnies. Then in went the bunnies! Apparently, in the pecking order of small animals, hens out peck rabbits, and our poor tufty-tails got chased up the garden at speed when the ladies saw them coming!
It took a while for the two rabbits to work out how to slip past the ladies, and finally they installed themselves under the sand table and kept a close eye on them. Gradually their curiosity got the better of them. First Buddy then Cloud crept closer. And closer. And closer.
And PECK!
The rabbits hightailed it again, only to find themselves flanked and outmanoeuvred. They managed to achieve a peace with the hens by mid-evening, but it is simple to work out that the hens are the top tier, trailed by the rabbits, with poor Millie Cat coming in a sad third.
In the last couple of days, all three hens have spent all day outside, with the rabbits staying about - together but apart. They get a little anxious when Jigglypuff decides to hide in their hutch and scope out their living arrangements - and she does it about 3 times a day. We have to shoo Jiggly out, and she gets quite indignant about it!
The chooks have realised that rabbits dig. And they follow them around, using the bunnies' excavating skills to score juicy worms and other icky things. Cloud spent an industrious 30 minutes digging her own version of the Chunnel, and then Betty kicked her out of the way, and wedged her head down there, chomping and clucking and pretty much shaking with delight.
Betty had developed a limp, but we rubbed some Arnica cream on her leg, and she's right as nine pence now. She also has a habit of trying to sleep under the flowering redcurrant at night. Robert has become a Betty expert and she is quite content for him to hunt her down in the evening and return her to her house.
I met some real hen experts and all round good eggs as well this week - but my fingers are tired and so are my eyes, so I am going to hit the hay, and add another post tomorrow.
The ladies, as I know you are clamouring to know, are very well! They have been producing eggs at a prodigious rate, and are out and about. They love the garden, and are currently working on removing all of my bark chips from the shrub border onto the lawn where it will look oh so much better. Everyone's a critic!
Egg-wise, these ladies are the business. We have only had one day without any eggs, and that was the first day they spent pretty much completely in the garden. I think they were thrown a little by the big old space, and the fact the sky wasn't falling. We let them out on the 5th as I already said, and they didn't like it one bit. The next day was a little better, with all three heading out for about an hour. We let them out about an hour before dusk, and they were nervous and darted in and out of the run all the time, and trouped back in when it started getting dark. That was great progress.
The next day, 7th, they spent a little longer, and then by 8th August, they were OUT!
As you can see they discovered that the garden walls are a little further apart than those in the run, and they went for it.
Everything proceeded apace, and they spent the best part of the afternoon out and about investigating. Razorbeak was very brave and investigated the patio and greenhouse. She seemed to find it all pretty exciting, as she spent about half an hour clucking about, and then whizzed back to her mates and dragged them all down there too.
Jigglypuff decided to investigate Dylan's boats and buckets, but couldn't decide just how to eat them, so Dylan managed to rescue his boat, and scolded the poor hen for her curiosity. He must have had a good 5 minute conversation about the evils of boat pecking, and Jigglypuff and he ended the dressing down with a handful of corn each.
Then someone let the rabbits out. Buddy (black and white) and Cloud (grey) are normally out for most of the day. However, with the hens' lack of confidence in the garden, we'd kept them in whilst the hens were out. Jack felt the grace period was now finished, and out came the bunnies. Then in went the bunnies! Apparently, in the pecking order of small animals, hens out peck rabbits, and our poor tufty-tails got chased up the garden at speed when the ladies saw them coming!
It took a while for the two rabbits to work out how to slip past the ladies, and finally they installed themselves under the sand table and kept a close eye on them. Gradually their curiosity got the better of them. First Buddy then Cloud crept closer. And closer. And closer.
And PECK!
The rabbits hightailed it again, only to find themselves flanked and outmanoeuvred. They managed to achieve a peace with the hens by mid-evening, but it is simple to work out that the hens are the top tier, trailed by the rabbits, with poor Millie Cat coming in a sad third.
In the last couple of days, all three hens have spent all day outside, with the rabbits staying about - together but apart. They get a little anxious when Jigglypuff decides to hide in their hutch and scope out their living arrangements - and she does it about 3 times a day. We have to shoo Jiggly out, and she gets quite indignant about it!
The chooks have realised that rabbits dig. And they follow them around, using the bunnies' excavating skills to score juicy worms and other icky things. Cloud spent an industrious 30 minutes digging her own version of the Chunnel, and then Betty kicked her out of the way, and wedged her head down there, chomping and clucking and pretty much shaking with delight.
Betty had developed a limp, but we rubbed some Arnica cream on her leg, and she's right as nine pence now. She also has a habit of trying to sleep under the flowering redcurrant at night. Robert has become a Betty expert and she is quite content for him to hunt her down in the evening and return her to her house.
I met some real hen experts and all round good eggs as well this week - but my fingers are tired and so are my eyes, so I am going to hit the hay, and add another post tomorrow.
posted by H | 02:09
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