Author Archives: vickieclarkebrown

Our neighbours also have hens, 7 really beautiful girls, all raised together from eggs and bought at point of lay. They live in a huge stable and free range from dawn until dusk on 5 acres of the most verdant grass I have ever seen. They’re also a very neighbourly flock who tend to visitContinue reading “The Grass isn’t always Greener.”

So, the day finally dawned, and the girls moved into their new coop and run. It’s 4 times the size of the old one, has no red mites and is full of interesting things to explore. They were in the new coop overnight, so I raced out at dawn this morning to see how theyContinue reading “Change can be tough….”

Oh, it’s cold this morning, I wish I had an inbuilt feather duvet / coat on days like this! So all the girls have a similar diet, mainly chicken feed, plus daily treats with additional calcium to aid shell production. All the girls spend a similar length of time out of the run, free rangingContinue reading “Good enough is good enough”

At the moment the girls are all laying an egg a day, they each take turns to have some time in the nest boxes, mostly individually but sometimes in pairs. The most distinctive “tell” that an egg is being laid is the egg song. Each girl chirrups away as an egg is being laid. SweetpeaContinue reading “Be a Cheerleader!”

Commercial hens don’t have the best start in life. Hatched in industrial sized incubators they are quickly carried by conveyor belt to a sexing room. The female chicks have a beak trim then off to a rearing facility for 16 weeks until they mature sufficiently to lay. Commercial hens can be kept in a varietyContinue reading “Don’t let a bad start hold you back”

Today we are clearing space in the woods for a much bigger chicken run. Removing shrubs and felling some of the smaller trees. The girls love it when we’re working out here, lots of extra space to dig around and piles of branches to explore. But it does have some challenges. It’s tricky for theContinue reading “Learn from the experience of others.”

So, I wasn’t feeling great this morning, kept awake by a storm overnight I knew that there would be nowhere dry to sit with the chickens. I dragged myself out of bed, downstairs, out and across to the chickens. As expected everything was drenched. The girls however, were screeching to be freed from their (franklyContinue reading “Making the Best of Everything”

We’re well into September now, Autumn is just round the corner and a chill is most definitely in the air. I was fully prepped for this morning, extra jumper, down-filled jacket and fleece lined boots. The chickens have their own version of preparing for the colder weather, and it’s very simple. They change the orientationContinue reading “Just Fluff up Those Feathers!”

The days are drawing in now, the chicken coop door is set to open at 6.30am, and I like to be there fairly soon after to let the girls out of their run. But it was actually still fairly dark at 6.35 when I came out this morning (full cloud cover over Yorkshire isn’t helpingContinue reading “Take your time, rest if you need to.”

Anyone who has animals will know that it’s rarely all plain sailing. This morning it was little Gloria who was down in the dumps. Unlike the hounds (who are, quite frankly, little drama queens), chickens will go out of their way to mask illness to avoid being rejected by the flock. So once an illnessContinue reading “A Friend in Need”