Chickens loving our new garden.

Here, Shakira prances off having not got any food from Luke. Note the colour of the scrambled eggs. We are convinced that the luminous orange/yellow shade is from all the grass tips they eat.



Since we have been in this house the chicks don't seem half as destructive as they did in our last garden. Granted, we had no grass there at all so all they could peck at and eat were my plants but now they seem to love scratching around underneath the bird feeders for some seeds that the messy sparrows have knocked out of the feeder before moving onto eating grass tips and borrowing in the shade of the Acer. What with dust baths, eating and sneaking into Jack's garden they have a busy day. They only come out if I'm in the garden too, such is my distrust of the fox but as yet we haven't ever seen one in the area though I feel like it's Russian Roulette everytime I let them out as I'm not sure I would be quick enough to get to the girls before a hungry fox did. However, this concern is tempered by the absolutely lovely time the hens have when they are allowed out of their run so for now I am risking it; taking as many safety precautions as I can. I shall not forgive myself if anything happens to them but will still let them out with me when I'm gardening.
If you are going to keep any animal you really need to research them throoughly first (I'm sure everyone knows this already). When something relies on you for their welfare and safekeeping you really need to take these obligations seriously. I've heard of people who have put anti-freeze in their chicken's drinking water when the cold weather sets in. I really hope this is an urban myth but it saddens me when people rush into chicken keeping without making sure their home is secure and they know what to look out for. So, it's out in the garden to keep a close eye on our hens for me.







Here I am having a break and reading whilst the hens peck around my feet in the vain hope I have left some crumbs for them.






















Bottoms up!





This is Buck Bucky trying to find different ways to get into the nesting box (although the door to the run and the house are both open). She is standing on the greenhouse staging, having already got herself stuck under a pile of logs which she had to be rescued from by me!
She's the top of the pecking order but really, she isn't the brightest of hens!