The things you do for love

For those who have recently tuned in... we keep losing chicken to a fox. My latest attempt, placing paving stones around the dome enclosure, has thus far worked. However a few weeks ago I was brushing my teeth ready for bed when I heard the girls screaming out to me. I rushed to the dining room window and witnessed the fox attempting to break in. From its short attempt I am please to say it did not, however I witnessed first hand how eager they are. The fox was running over the dome, around it, pulling at the wire with both its teeth and paws. If it had been able to keep  this up for longer, and even if still failed to get in,  the chooks were sure to die of fright. I then tapped on the window and once it realised it was being watched, jumped up onto the fence and looked at me like the neighbours cats do. That was until I went... Boo!

As a result I have gone back to escorting the two girls back to the hen house every night. Except for the last two nights. On Saturday we decided to be brave and get two more chooks. New chickens are a flight risk. It takes a few days before they call their new home, home, and contrary to popular belief chickens can damn well fly when they want to. So I didn't want to risk transporting them to and from the hen house. My decision was to keep them all, new and old, in the dome for a fer days. And if I was going to get any sleep I thought it best that I camp out in the dining room next to them and keep guard. Oh the things you do for love.

These new girls are both very young, no comb and no big fluffy butts. The older two are definitely giving them a rough initiation into the flock. So far they have had to sit on the perch all day long, not even allowed  down for food. At night it flips and they have to sleep on the ground, and definitely not in the nesting box.

The reason for getting more chickens is that two just are not enough to prepare our gardening beds at the rate we require, 1 bed in 2 weeks. Previously with four chickens this would have been close to nothing but beautiful soil. But look at it... I am going to have to finish it off.

And this is what happens if they don’t do a good enough job... grass sprouting everywhere in our newly planted bed.