The mother hen and two young ones have been established in the chookhouse since Christmas Day afternoon. The poor little roosters - three of them - had to go once they had been crowing for about a week.
At that point, the mother stopped being a mother, and Cas said I could keep her as well as the two young pullets, and so now there is a threesome, with a pecking order.
Around the time that the roosters left, and the mother stopped being a mother (about two weeks ago) a mystery developed. The usual sort of mystery you can get with chooks. The mother, now known as Henny Penny - Ada has named them - started to get out.
It took me some days to figure out where - a bit of loose wire near the door.
It took me several more days to find the eggs. Hidden under a strappy plant, a very nice nest for her. I've been leaving one egg there each day, to make sure she doesn't find another nest.
But yesterday everything changed again.
They all got out. Fair enough I thought, but then I came inside for some hours, and when I went out into the back garden again, they had all gone!
After a frantic search, I discovered them - in the front garden!
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(Having trouble with picture placement here....)
So I am going to keep them in for most of the time, and make a nice nesting place inside the run. They are of course most welcome to go into the front and give their chookly services of insect control etc there, but only under strict supervision from now on. After all, what would happen if they flew over the front fence?
