Leave me alone!

Are you letting her keep these Karen......for new chicks?

Hmm, not exactly, Karen...
She's been broody for so long, and the last time I took all her eggs (her eggs? she's sitting on everybody's eggs!), they ALL stopped laying for about three weeks. So, I'm letting her play it out. There must be some sort of co-operative child-rearing going on there...

I don't think that she'll be successful in hatching the whole lot. At least, I hope not...here are 15 eggs there, altogether! She might not even hatch any...

...but, if she does...it'll be interesting...

...the girls are big, fat hens...and Daddy is a miniscule, little porcelain coloured, bantam Leghorn.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get the newly laid eggs, before she adds them to her collection! :)

Lol....the joys of the Good Life eh? :))

Oh, Yeah! Wouldn't change it...ever, Karen. I love it :))))

We're about to get some ducks to fatten for Xmas, on Friday...
...and, before you ask...
No! They will not have names, or come to the door...and I will never look into their beautiful blue eyes...

Marie Louise is going to do all that is required...

...and we're going to try to produce a natural foie gras, sans gavage (without forced feeding)...

Fook, that's a heavy answer.....

You have hens Karen? I didn't know..aw bless,she is such a good mother..:o)

Aw...let me introduce you, Sandra...

...this is Grey Girl (a Maran X),
then there's White Girl (a Sussex), Black Girl (a Maran), the two little red hens (I've forgotten what, Lohen-somethings) and a little white bantie Leghorn X (I used to have two of them-but one had a lump on its head and died).

The coq is a wee tiny, porcelain coloured bantam Leghorn X...and,

Heeee's the Daddy!!!

I don't give them names, any more...because, I've lost so many of my girls to foxes.
They're not pets, but, they come and roll over for a tickle...I love my girlies

Ah,now I have the full picture .:o)Coq the Casanova then? proving size doesn't matter ! Lol.

How does grey girl manage to steal the eggs of the other hens? I'm intrigued. Does she somehow roll them along after chasing the other hen off? Don't they have separate nest boxes. I would love to have room for a few hens. I know I would get very fond of them.

Yup! It would seem so, Bloomer!
But, maybe it's just wishful thinking on Grey Girl's part...we'll soon find out...lol :)
She'll either sit on them for three weeks and produce chicks...or sit for three weeks, then just get up and walk away...or just get up and walk away any time...

I'm kinda hoping that Cockamini is all crow...I really don't need a dozen more hens! lol! :)

I don't know how she does it, Feverfew...there is a partition between the boxes!
I know that she does, though, because there were eggs needing to be collected from the other box...and when I went back with my wee basket to get them, they were gone! I think she must roll them out, along the roost tray and into her nest.

They don't need all that much room. My step-daughter keeps two small ones in a home-made ark which is moved around the garden. They get really tame, then. :)

Lol Karen, that's one crafty hen! Have you ever seen the film 'Chicken run'?

I've only ever seen the beginning, Annie...are they like Grey Girl?

I've read the book, "The chicken gave it to me", though...and, once you've had hens, the characters are all quite believable...and hilarious! :)

You should see them running around stealing each other's tid-bits...or jumping up to peck at the apples on the little trees...

Cockamini doesn't sound like Mel Gibson!

Well... no... that's true, Annie...He can strut his stuff, tho' :)

...but, is Mel not a bit on the diminutive side too? I thought that was how he got the part of William Wallace... lol! ;)