I don't know how she knew, but after months of no eggs, today Ava laid an absolutely beautiful egg. Perhaps when I was washing her the other day she felt the evil intent in my hands and took the hint? We'll never know, 'cos she'll never tell [sigh]. The egg was a good size and the shell was almost the right thickness, though I did find a thin spot and ended up accidentally cracking it. I have given all the chickens extra supplements to build their shell-making nutrients, but her eggs are always thin. It's frustrating, but I don't know what else to do.
So this week I've ended up with more eggs than I know what to do with. This is a lovely position to be in, so earlier I did an 'egg drop' to some of my neighbours. There's Alva, the old man down the road who found me George the Rooster, so he was a happy recipient of a few eggs along with a bit of local gossip and tales of his cockerels conquests; and another neighbour, Jo and Brian, who were incredibly helpful when I got into sick chicken difficulties last year. People love being given free range eggs from chickens they know and it's a nice way for me to thank them for their support.
I've never charged for my eggs as I prefer to share the rewards with the people who've helped me along the way. I know some people put up a sign and sell their excess eggs, then put the cash into a pot to pay for their chickens' food and various supplements. I only have three hens and, barring Grace, they are sporadic layers so don't produce many eggs. Frankly, after the first eighteen months when I had three hens and only got, maybe, 50 eggs in the entire time - I'm delighted to be able to give a few away; confident that more will replace them.
I started off with three bantam hens from the local Fur and Feather Market and named them Kentucky, Fry and Chicken. The first day they laid one egg, then made me wait weeks until another egg arrived. Each day I would go to the nesting box and tentatively lift the lid, hoping that today would be different and a miraculous egg would appear, but no. It took weeks. When it happens, it's ruddy fabulous. It's like the hens have finally decided that you're OK, and, yes, you can have an egg as a reward for all that food and mucking out their poo.
It's nice to think that they react to us in such a human manner, but consider the size of a chickens head. It's about the size of a large sprout, but the brain doesn't fill it. As much as I love the little peckers, they are not the most intelligent creatures on the planet. However, they are one of the most successful species. They're descended from dinosaurs, after all - hence the scaly legs. They're a beautifully simple species, and if you get a bunch of well bred, healthy chickens, they will lay eggs and live for years; just don't expect them to build a particle accelerator behind their favourite bush!
Getting to the regular egg stage is easier said than done. Of the three hens I started with, I only have one left. One important point to make here is that they were all bantams. Bantams are notorious for being characters and also skittish. People think that because they're small, they'll be easier to deal with. Erm..... no. They're argumentative, difficult to catch and I would never let a child hold one as they peck and scream until released. If you want to give a child a phobia of birds? Give then a bantam to hold.
Fry was taken by a neighbour's dog and Chicken was so scared by the attack that she ran into the field and refused to come back into the safety of the coop. I caught her once and brought her back, but the next day I let her out and she went back to the fields. That's the way with free-range - they choose to live in your coop, and if they suffer a scare and take against it, they won't come back. There's nothing you can do. You don't 'own' free-range hens and you have to accept that you will lose some along the way; regardless of whether you keep them in a run or let them run wild.
However, every loss is an opportunity to learn from your experiences and rebuild with new chickens and maybe, remember why you started poultry-keeping and get back to fulfilling your aim. I treated my first three hens like free-range pets - but what I really wanted was a minimum of an egg a day.
So I had one hen left, Ken. Depressed at the loss of her gang; moulting everywhere and at the start of a cold winter. The only thing I could do was to care for her the best way I could, so she was brought into the house; much to the bemusement of the cat.
For six wintry weeks Ken lived in a small animal A-frame cage on the kitchen floor. She had food, water and warmth, and she even had our company. I am in and out of the kitchen all day long, so she had plenty to keep her occupied and I spoke to her every time I saw her. Eventually she started to eat more and even came out of the cage and walked around under the kitchen table. Anya kept her distance (they fought once and Ken won) and Ken gradually got back to her old self. Her feathers grew back and in January the weather finally started looking up. Ken was ready to go back outside, but she wasn't going to be alone.
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