Our New Chickens

I've always wanted to keep chickens and we now have a garden large enough to do so. Last September I was given a days chicken care training at Middle Farm and it was fantastic. Lots of information and hands on experiences by two of the staff and other students, some of whom already had chickens and others, like me, were thinking about it. At Christmas I was given a book about keeping chickens in an urban environment which I read from cover to cover fascinated. I then found I had absorbed huge amounts of information and along with this a sense of fear.

I found myself with a dilemma. On the one hand there seemed to be so much to remember and so many things that could go wrong. On the other hand everyone I have ever known who has kept chickens always seemed so relaxed about it. I couldn't quite marry the two together and started voicing doubts about it within my family. I got ohs and that's a shame for some and then my mum said she had started her life with chickens (kept by her dad during the second world war when she was a child in London) and was hoping to end her life with chickens (mine, she meant). Well no pressure then!

I decided that the bottom line was would I be able to kill a chicken if I had to? I don't mean for food (that's another ongoing debate) but in case one got very ill or was attacked or some other horror that might lead to me having to put it out of some kind of misery. On the course I had learned the principal of killing a chicken and of course I had read about it to. We had been warned that often 'beginner' chicken killers would actually pull the chicken's head off in the fear that they would only half kill it. As you can imagine that didn't do a lot for my confidence. When I voiced this concern to various friends, family and our builder (who was transforming our house at the time) I got 4 volunteers signed up for 'killing duty' in case of need.

Ok I thought, no more excuses so my youngest daughter and I researched chicken coops and runs on the internet and chose the one we wanted, ordered it and it arrived during the first heavy snow before Christmas, and guess what, it was all flat packed. I was stunned! We then had Christmas, lots more snow, lots more building work, lots of rain and mud, lots of other things that needed doing before we could open these 4 boxes. They sat on our loggia (another tale) for weeks until some friends came to spend Easter with us.

There were eight of us in the house a mixture of kids, young adults and adults and we were planning our Easter weekend. Shopping trips and seaside fun was on the calendar for all but me and my friend. She said why don't we put up the coop as she wasn't good at doing nothing on holiday, like me really. So we did and it came together beautifully and we all got very excited.

I would have stopped there for another few weeks (panic building again)but the cry came out 'Let's go and get some chickens' and the kids got on the internet (bloody thing!) and found a farm in the country selling point of lay hens. After a stiff gin and tonic I got on the phone and arranged a visit for Easter Monday. We set off in 2 cars, all of us and my mum with 4 boxes. We drove for hours and got thoroughly lost and all got the giggles as we kept having to turn back or round or something.

Eventually we found this place which was awash with mud, thick, deep mud and lots of chickens and ducks. We bought 4 Warrens (Hybreds - a mixture of different breeds as I had read they are less tempremental, good layers and were less likely to try and fly away. We got home very quickly and put our chickens in their new home.

A few weeks down the line I feel pretty relaxed about having them. Touch wood nothing has gone wrong and although we are surrounded by urban foxes we haven't had any bother, probably because Queenie our dog is out with them most of the time and barks if she senses anything and of course they are locked tightly up at night.

The photos show:

our 4 chickens (May, Mrs Cockerchinska, Peckham and Elvis) let loose in the garden with Queenie for the first time

our first egg

our first fritatta with our own eggs (feeding 8) and cooked by our eldest daughter

Elvis exploring greater heights

I am sure there will be more tales ................... for the blog

and last but least Queenie pretending to be a chicken, or was she stuck in the coop as a chicken was near the entrance. Either way she was very pleased to see me and very happy to be let out the back door

Sorry the list is backwards but I think you get the gist!