05:45 am - Hatching news update

Went down to check how things were progressing and cheeping could be heard quite easily. A quick peek revealed that Harriet had just hatched a blue silkie chick, Ruby had at least one chick as well which had hatched sometime early as it was dry and fluffy - not sure what that one was but could have been either a light Sussex or a buff Orpington. How exciting!
Needless to say a day at work is going to pass very slowly as I can't wait to get home to see what others have hatched.
No doubt further updates when we get home later today and photographs I would imagine :)

Wot a weekend

Well the suspense has been killing us! The girls have been sitting fastidiously for the past three weeks and have just been brilliant. Every evening at 6.30pm after we have managed to struggle home through the London rush hour (and thanks Bob Crowe for the Tube strike - idiot) we gently lift Harriet and Ruby off their respective nests and eggs. If we didn't I am convinced that they would go as far as they could sitting on their clutches of eggs without food, water or exercise. Anyway they love their 25 minutes incubation break. Food, water, the biggest and smelliest chicken poo ever, a quick preen, and if they can fit it in - a dust bath, another drink and then straight back on the nest for another 23 hours and 35 minutes. Bless them.........and we have just been waiting and waiting for chicks!

It's been a great weekend. Saturday we went to the South of England Show, a huge agricultural meet-up where you can buy everything from a combine harvester to a ferret harness. Watching the cattle and other domestic stock being shown was humbling. The pride that the farmers and owners had in their animals was evident and it was great seeing them being paraded. Saying that I nearly bust a gut laughing at the youngsters trying to steer pigs around a judging ring with a board and stick - some pigs will just NOT do what you want them too!

Glad we got to the Show early as it became too busy and too crowded. The chickens (which was one of the main reasons for going) were disappointing with far fewer breeds than I have seen at other shows and the quality wasn't exactly that good either and in fact without being that rude I think Harriet our silkie would have walked it with first prize and not even a buff Sussex bantam on show (so by default Ruby was a winner). Still, a very enjoyable morning and we picked up some lovely plants for the garden at bargain prices.

Today - main event of the day was seeing "The King and I" at the Royal Albert Hall - a very generous gift from my boss for my birthday. All geared up for seeing it at 7.30 in the evening we were mortified when we got the tickets out at 3.00 in the afternoon to find it was for the 2.30 show - OH BUGGER!

Anyway -we had a good afternoon at the allotment where a spate of burglaries has scandalised the site. The worst was a poor plotholder having their entire shed stolen! I'm never going to complain about the occasional golden courgette (zucchini) disappearing again. We had some very tasty freshly harvested radish for dinner along with lamb marinaded in our own home grown herbs.

So back to chickens - and the waiting and the waiting, however this afternoon as I was putting the girls out for their daily feed and preen I heard cheeping. And it was the chicks in the eggs cheeping as they started to hatch from the eggs. John was amazed as the calling of the chicks was so clear and loud. Didn't take long for Harriet and Ruby to do their business this evening - its hatching night so tomorrow evening check to see how we and the girls did (and like there is going to be any sleep tonight).

News in early June

After the week of sunshine and very respectable temperatures we are now back into the early summer run of sunshine and showers. I think our incubating girls prefer this weather as opposed to the very hot times. Saying that, with no mud to bathe in Harriet has returned to her most white and pristine loveliest.

They are creatures of habit are our hens, as indeed we are, and get lifted gently off the eggs once a day for a good feed, drink and a very big poo (which as previously mentioned is very smelly and getting smellier as the incubation goes on it seems!). Both revel in having a good flap about, a quick preen but they are normally back on their eggs within 15 - 20 minutes.

We are getting excited now as the eggs could hatch as soon as Friday (only 5 days time). I think that we have got everything ready for the arrival(s) and needless to say no doubt lots of photos on the way.

The blue tits did very well and although we are not sure how many left the nest the parent birds still have a minimum of 6 chicks with them. The entire family are now using the bird feeder in the garden so we see them on a regular basis. The female blue tit looks as scruffy as ever - I wonder if they will do another clutch? There also seems to have been a small explosion on long-tailed tits, lots of them in the trees at the end of the garden.

Allotment and although we were a bit late in getting it sorted this year the strawberry plants have given a wonderful harvest and we are now getting to crop radish and salad leaves. The little fruit trees that we put in three years ago are doing well with apples and cherries on the trees but the Victoria plum has never done anything like producing blossom or fruit.

Finally the garden. Obviously lots of chicken poo has worked wonders and with the girls now incubating there has been a flurry of plant activity and its looking lovely. The downside is that the slug and snail populations seems to be on the increase as there are no little poultry predators to polish them off.

Next update hopefully we'll have some exciting news.............

Spring has sprung (a leak)

Bank Holiday Monday, after a slightly cloudy start, was glorious. It started raining late last night and 10 hours later its still raining, however the bananas are loving it.

Had a major tidy in the garden, yesterday, it needed it. Interesting that plants are a little later in flowering this year and quite a few didn't make it through the winter however all is very verdant and the aphids are rampant along with the plant growth.

Ruby and Harriet are still happily broody so yesterday we gave them 6 hopefully fertile eggs to incubate and hatch (all being well)

Our future flock still in shell suits

A few facts relating to broody hens

• As they come off the nest just once a day for a flap, feed, drink and clean up they do produce the biggest and smelliest chicken poo ever!
• They have got some new calls and sit next to each other gently clucking away (hopefully in contentment at sitting on eggs)
• They are not nest fixed - whoever gets into the shed first always seems to go to the nestbox closest to the door

It's also being very odd being in the garden and no chickens helping you remove the border to the lawn, rushing around in the hope of mealworms and dust bathing right in front of the lawn mower. Still, twenty days to go

Happy hens on the eggs

Spring has sprung

Life has now settled down - it's quiet, in fact its very quiet. Ruby is getting more confident and will happily take food from your fingers but touching her? Oh not a chance. Harriet remains a big white fluff ball of poultry happiness.

Both were producing an egg a day, garden devastation down to a minimum and truth is it was all getting a little to easy - and then they both decided to go broody. Ruby first but in truth the sniff of a hint of broodiness and it triggered Harriet as well. Most improper that both insisted sitting in the same box even though they had no eggs!

Hmm......an opportunity we thought. We are looking to replace the chooks that have gone but not sure what we wanted. Several breeds came to mind, more silkies in perhaps different colours, bantam Orpingtons and of course another attempt at bantam Sussex. No chance of buying all of these however as we now had two broodies it seemed a good idea to get some eggs for incubation.

As we were visiting Mum up in Cheshire a quick internet search found Sue Feild in Chester offering a selection of the breeds we had already talked about. May 23rd saw us (Mother included)off to visit Sue and collect the eggs and into the bargain got a tour of not only all Sue's wonderful chickens and marvellous garden but some great ducks as well! We left very happy with 12 eggs but some trepidity in that there is no way we can keep 12 more chickens if they all hatch however boys will needless to say have to find a new home (noise factor alone I imagine though Sue did say that the cock silkies were quite quiet)

So what did we get egg wise? 2 x BOBS (buff Orpington bantam), 2 x black Orpington bantam, 2 x speckled Sussex bantam, 2 x light Sussex bantam, 2 x white silkie and 2 x blue silkie.

A gorgeous black Orpington bantam hen

Both lots of Orpington bantams were stunning, the blacks especially so. The speckled Sussex were bigger than Ruby however Sue's light Sussex bantams were smaller than Margot was. As for the silkies we did see red silkies, never seen them before but very impressed, unfortunately Sue had no eggs available. Also saw for the first time miniature (bantam) white silkies. Tiny and absolutely lovely!

So eggs in today, 25th May and we await with anticipation the 14th June - hatch date!

Silence IS Golden (as is Ruby!)

What a difference 4 days makes!

Still very much noticing the absence of Cybil (missing her tons!) and Margot, but oh how quiet it is with just Ruby and Harriet!!! It's lovely I tell thee, lovely! There have been a couple of "squawks" from Ruby but nothing at all to the level of decibels that Cybil was reaching.

The Girls (all 2 of them) and I have been home alone these past few days while our BA World Traveller jetted off to Athens (God help the Greek men!) for a conference....so we've had treats and quality time and peace and quiet (but we missed him tons, of course!!!!!)

Obviously, half the flock and you get half the eggs. I would have thought that the disappearance of Cybil and Margot would have meant that Ruby and Harriet would have slowed down a bit, but no I was wrong....still 2 eggs a day, bless their little bums!

And what news of Chez Tit I hear you scream??? Well, we have titlets!!!!! Yes, we have baby tits....we haven't seen them yet but Mum and Dad are racing around like little feathery mad things (a bit like the Girls really!!) picking caterpillars and the like....the titlets are well fed if nothing else!!!!

I shall leave you with a gratuitous picture of a Tit!

The Sound of Silence

I came home tonight feeling nervous, a small knot in my stomach, knowing that when I got home and opened the chicken house door to let the Girls out, there would be only two little faces looking up at me. Yes, today after much deliberation, soul searching and quite a lot of screeching, Cybil and Margot went to their new home in Bedfordshire. 

I'm sad they've gone and I'm happy they've gone. 

They are living out their (hopefully) long little lives in a wood in the countryside with other hens and a cockerel....oh what fun they will have.

The oddest thing is the silence. I've longed for peace and quiet for so long and now that it's here it's very strange. Cybil was definitely the character of our small flock, with her constant chirruping, squawking, screeching and always under your feet to see what you were doing and had you found something that she could eat. Margot is her trusty sidekick, her Lacey to Cybil's Cagney and she will also be missed but Cybil is noticeably absent.

Harriet and Ruby seem no different from yesterday when there were four of them, although I think we witnessed Ruby asserting her 'Queen Bee' status on Harriet earlier, which is funny when you consider that yesterday she was at the bottom of the ladder! What a difference 24 hours makes to the life of a little hen.

Anyway, we'll give it a little while and then introduce a couple of new quiet hens to the flock....probably another Silkie (Harriet is sooooo quiet and also needs another Silkie to communicate with) and we might get a bantam Orpington, we'll see how the future pans out.

Another chapter in the ever changing lives of Hens In The City....it's never dull here at Hen HQ!!!!

P.S. My partner did not want them to go...but then he's deaf so what would he know?!?!?!