They're Here!

The girls are here! My three hens arrived on April 5th and have settled in (I'm a little late with this post....). I've been getting two to three eggs a day, which is a lot of eggs for a family of three. Friends, neighbours and people who I want to be friends with have all received our delicious eggs. I've also learned that fresh eggs are a great bartering tool (got myself a few pounds of beeswax in exchange for some eggs).
The Eglu is working out great. We move it to a fresh spot once a week or so and I love watching the girls scratch around the new grass. Recently, however, we've started letting them out of the run, and have full access to our yard when were home. I have to admit, I was terrified at first. My biggest fear was not that they would be eaten by a neighbour's dog or taken by a flying-by hawk (although...that would be awful), but that they would awkwardly fly (jump...really) into one of our 7 neighbour's yards. I am not prepared to chase a chicken. These hens are not used to being manhandled. They don't climb into my lap or wait to be pet...they are 'chicken' chickens. So I could just imagine trying to wrangle one back onto our property without officially being called the 'crazy chicken lady'. It would not be good for my image!
So, Pecker, Choke and Cooper (not very feminine names) love free-ranging in the backyard and I have to admit, I love watching them. Now, whenever I come into the backyard, they run towards me and follow me wherever I go. I like to think that this behaviour stems from their respect for me as their 'keeper' but I think it has to do with the food scraps I give them...

The Eglu

The nesting box (now full of straw) is on the left and the roosting racks on the left.

This is when they first arrived. It was freezing.



My first 'homegrown' egg