February 2009

1 One chick off to a good start for the month, but is it Salt or Pepper who's laid?
2 Chicks in the snowC'mon - what is this?  Where's all the grass gone?

Led by a brave Lacey, Salt & Pepper ventured out into the snow.

This is unusual, they normally won't walk on snow at all.  It wasn't long before they were back in the run though.
3 Chicks in the snow    Mmmm, Lacey says "I've found a nice little sheltered spot".
4 I think Lacey laid a egg yesterday.  She strutted about making quite a racket after I let them out, then I found the remains of an eggshell in the run, white and too small for Salt or Pepper.  I can only guess that she laid it from the perch, it broke and then they ate it.
5 Clover & Lacey have a guilty secret.  They sneaked up to the door alone and squawked.  I responded and gave them private sultanas.  They each came up to my hand and ever so gently took one sultana at a time, then stepped back to eat it, glancing watchfully around, then came for another.  It was almost as if they thought that this shouldn't really happen because when Salt & Pepper are around Clover & Lacey don't get near this treat.
6

Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin said eggs were actually a key part of a healthy diet, as they were particularly packed full of nutrients.   He said: "The ingrained misconception linking egg consumption to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected."
Here, here!

7 I've sent the above photo the Look East and The One Show - maybe my chicks will be on the tele!
8 Oh dear, chicks locked up all day as we went on a jaunt to London.
9 So, all very keen to get out and about this morning, even in the pouring rain.
10 I was born in the Chinese Year of the Rooster.  No wonder I love my chickens!
11 At last, it's been made official that eggs are good for you and that it's a load of bunkum that they unduly raise cholesterol levels.  In fact they're now quoted as "one of nature's most nutritionally dense foods".
12 A very noisy and prolonged announcement took me outside to find Lacey strutting her stuff, telling us she had laid an egg.
13 More snow but fortunately most of it had melted before we got back from the gym and let the chicks out.
14 Valentine's Day eggs from Lacey & Pepper.  Aggie, Clover & Tat aren't listening to me  - I've told them they're only supposed to "rest" between Bonfire Night and Valentine's Day.
15 Salt & pepper have been scratching around at the very edge of the pond, which they probably think is just a big puddle.  Must be good for insects around there at the moment.  I can't believe how close to the edge they are, sometimes with their feet in the water.  One step too far back in their scratchy dance and they'll get a shock!
16 Crow is convinced that Pepper has an invisibility cloak.  He returned from his run and all chicks were in the back garden.  As he approached the door, Lacey quietly followed him.  He thought he would give her a few sultanas and reached in but the bag was empty.  Giving her some corn instead, when he turned back Pepper was in the lobby and he doesn't know how she got there!
17 Tat's started to eat more at evening feeding time and her comb is quite red now, so perhaps she'll lay again soon.
18 We recycle some of our waste paper by shredding it for the nest and inevitably some strands escape and end up in the chicken run and on our gravel drive.  To my surprise, Salt found a strand of paper on the drive this morning and ate it as though it were a tasty worm.  I hope it does no harm...
19 Only one large egg today but it's rounded than normal and has a slight imperfection in the shell.  Has Tat laid it?  She's not acting any differently, so I'm not sure.
20 I may have previously mentioned a plastic plant pot full of sand that is used outdoors for cigarette butts, because Lacey has been in it a couple of times.  Well, I laughed out loud when I found Pepper in that pot this afternoon.  Just able to fit into it, she shuffled around and around digging and sitting in the sand, turfing quite a bit of it out in the process, whilst Lacey looked on as if to say "that's my pot!"
21 Shhh... we've been to visit someone else's chickens today - a lovely Light Sussex, a beautiful Blue Maran and two very cute albeit semi-feathered ex-bats.  I took them a grape and sultana treat and got to cuddle one of the ex-bats.  Just how chicken-obsessed am I?
22 Pepper's in the pot again!
23 There's a marked difference between our layers and non-layers.  Three of them spend quite a while just standing or sitting around whilst the layers rush about foraging to support their laying habit.
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25 Crow's in the menage with his gaggle of ladies where he is raking the sand to try to deter some of the weeds.  Pepper is constantly under his feet!
26 Help! called Crow as he was besieged by three large hens in his lap and Lacey on the table, whilst he tried to eat a kit-kat.
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eggs this month
eggs this year