New Hens!

The hens we got a few weeks ago were used to being very free range. They were just about feral, had acres and acres to forage over, were of undeterminable age, had never had anything to do with humans at close quarters and didn't like being penned in one little bit. They were obviously very stressed, fought with each other, stopped laying and started moulting so we took them back to the farm. As soon as Mike opened the box they ran! As far away from us as they could get without a backwards glance! They'll be telling all their friends what a dreadful experience they've been through - poor things!

At the weekend we went and bought three new hens, young ones, ones we could tame, ones that were friendly and calm, might actually get to like us and, more importantly, lay eggs!

They are wonderful - they settled in straight away, they were eating out of my hand by the next day, and are very interested in everything - particularly anything shiny, watches and rings have to be pecked at and investigated! They don't mind being picked up and stroked either, although Ollie isn't very keen on that sort of behaviour! And they give us eggs, tiny pullet eggs, but very, very tasty!