Taj Mahal for chickens

Well, we have taken the plunge and have added 3 feathered girls to 

our family. Meet Sophie, Matilda and Gracie.

We have taken an area at the back of our garden that is very shaded - nothing 

has ever grown there - and have turned it into a chicken run.

They have plenty of room to roam and peck and whatever else they like

to do - and when they need a bit of down time they have some

nesting boxes and a lovely bespoke timber ladder to roost on.

 boy wonder is of course beside himself and has been 

spending almost every waking moment with them

 there was a lot of indignant barking from the spotty dog

when they arrived in what she felt was HER garden

 I think she's worried about where she is now in the 

pecking order

Our three girls are Isa Browns. They are supposedly very hardy, don't mind all the

man-handling that is inevitable with children, and are profuse layers of eggs.

I say supposedly as so far we haven't seen any eggs. 

We got them from here - they were extremely helpful.

 I fell in love with these lovely little hens - they are 

Silver Spangled Hamburgs. I thought they would look good

with the spotty dog, and had to be *patiently* reminded

by the man of the house muttering under his breath

 that we were looking for chickens that would give us lots

of eggs rather than designer chickens....

Spring is well and truly here. It's been glorious these past few days.

I just wish we'd get a bit of rain as the garden needs it.

It has felt good though to open up the house and use the verandah fully again.

 Sunday was the first day since winter that we have 

fully opened up the bi-fold doors from the kitchen to

the verandah. The spotty dog looks so well behaved

in this photo - maybe she thinks she's been put on 

notice now that the chickens are here.

I had almost finished this post and then boy wonder called me out to the

garden as the chickens were squawking a lot. We ventured out to their coop

and found not three but only one chicken. Disaster! I had visions of a monster

snake having eaten them, or a cat having carried them off. We then found the

escapees - one of them had ended up on the fence between us and our

neighbours, and the other one was up the macadamia tree. The chicken run has

a fence that is 6 feet high - not sure how that happened. We need to add a roof asap.

 escapee one

escapee two

After all this late night drama and chicken rescue, I need a glass of red.

xx