Backyard Chickens, Heritage Breeds

My Garden Treasures Heritage Chickens

I have been busy in my backyard for eight weeks now. I had an early batch of chickens. In July our hens started to lay. It is the first year we have had a rooster for a while. We hatched him ourselves from an egg less than 12 months ago.

Gold Penciled Plymouth Rock hen and chicks

He is now a very handsome Heritage breed rooster, a Dark Barred Plymouth Rock Bantam. These are very difficult to find. 

Dark Barred Plymouth Rock Rooster

He mated with a pen full of my other heritage breed hens - Rhode Island Reds, Gold Penciled Plymouth Rocks, and Columbian Wyandottes. All bantams. 

The hens and rooster just love hanging around the back door waiting for a handout

I had plenty of eggs so we put them in the incubator, and watched and waited. And out popped some little black chicks.

Eggs and chickens in the incubator

These little balls of fluff have all turned out identical except for their crest. The chicks from the Plymouth Rock and RIR hens have the normal zigzag crest, while those from the Wyandotte hens have the typical flat, broad crest, close to the head.

Very Dark Barred Plymouth Rock cross chicks

The chicks are growing well. Aren't they pretty? Chicks for sale.

I also have another batch by a young mum that hid herself out in the garden and hatched these five chicks. Again, all the same as the first lot. 

Columbian Wyandotte pullet and chicks

Anyone one want to buy some chickens?

This mother and her chicks are for sale too. 

We are in Australia, right down south.

Ostrich and Bantam Eggs

Eggs are all the same shape, no matter what the size or breed of bird. Have a look at some of the eggs that have passed through our household.

The large egg is just huge. It was laid by an ostrich on my brother's farm. It's shell is very thick and hard. These ostrich eggs are equivalent to at least twelve normal hen's eggs or more. 

The other eggs in the photo are from my bantams. There are some very tiny pullet eggs here and a couple of eggs a bit larger in the bottom row that are from eighteen month old hens. A normal hen egg is larger than the bantam eggs.

Ostrich and Bantam eggs

 

Wild birds lay eggs the same shape though they are smaller again. Emus are very large birds from Australia. They cannot fly. Their egg is very large also but a bit smaller than the ostrich eggs.

Birds are not the only creatures that lay eggs. Turtles also lay eggs. Their eggs are round and do not have a hard shell. 

A platypus, an Australian mammal that lives under water also lays eggs. 

Backyard Chickens

My Chickens are very happy in the backyard. They have their own new shed and their own scratch garden with plenty of shelter. They also get into my flower garden for three or four hours most days. They are great workers, turning over the topsoil, and keeping insects and weeds down.

Bantams, Chooks and Chickens

My chickens are bantams, that is, they are a small variety of the normal size chooks. Normal sized chooks are called standard. In days past chickens were always referred to as chooks. Chickens were their babies, those cute little fluffy balls that grow up too quickly. Today it is fashionable to refer to your chooks as chickens, no matter how old they are. 

Chickens or chooks belong to a group of domesticated egg laying birds called poultry. So it is more correct to say that you keep poultry. Other members of the poultry family are ducks, geese and turkeys.

Hens and Pullets

Adult female chooks are called hens. Young hens from six to twelve months are called pullets. Pullets start laying from six months old. Their eggs are much smaller that an egg from an adult hen.

Words for the Chook Shed

Male chooks are called roosters or cocks. Young roosters are called cockerels. So we have

• chickens
• pullets
• chooks
• hens
• poultry
• roosters
• cocks
• cockerels 
• bantams
• ducks
• geese
• turkeys

Whatever the name, they are fun to have in the garden. They are great to clean up your scraps of leftover food. They will thank you each time you give them old lettuce leaves. I often collect the leaves that are cut off the lettuce at the supermarket. The hens love these.  

 

Creatures of Habit

Hens are creatures of habit and in my observation they also seem to have a short memory.

My chicken shed has two doors, one for me and one for the chickens. They have never tried to go in or out of my door. This makes it a lot easier when you are going into their shed with your hands full and trying to stop the chickens from getting out with your feet at the same time. I know because I did this with their old pen for fifteen years. 

When I go to open their little shed door, they are lined up waiting to get out. They also know that they are only allowed into their garden at first. They are not allowed to rush out into my garden, otherwise I would have chickens all around my feet and they might trip me up.

After they have had a scratch in their garden for a couple of hours, then they are allowed into my garden to continue their work there. 

I have moved my hens to a few different sheds recently. I am always worried that they will go back to their old shed when I let them out. To avert this, I keep them locked in their new shed for a couple of weeks so they don't get into the garden. In the evening, they have always gone back to roost in their new shed. They only seem to have short term memories. 

Fertilizer

Chickens are a great source of fertilizer for the garden. They add this to the garden as they go about doing their work. The soil in their shed is also good to sprinkle over the vegetable garden or around the roses and flowers to add extra nutrients to the soil. The most concentrated source on manure is from under their night time perches. Once this is well dried it is a powerful nutrient for the soil.
 

Easter Baskets

Easter baskets ready to collect coloured Easter eggs

Easter

Easter is almost with us. It is the main Christian time of the year. It is a remembrance of the time when Jesus was crucified, giving up his life in support of us, taking the sins of the world on His shoulders. 

We remember Easter in different ways. Easter in the northern hemisphere comes in Spring time. This is a time of new growth in the fields, chickens starting to lay eggs again after their break over winter, and rabbits coming our of their burrows and leaving their foot prints in the snow.

Easter in the southern hemisphere comes during a time of lovely Autumn weather, blue skies, calm days and chilly nights.

Easter Eggs

Easter eggs and bunny rabbits are on the minds of all the children in the Western world. They are hoping that the Easter Bunny will hop on by their home and leave them lots of chocolate Easter eggs in brightly wrapped coloured foil. It is a time of fun and preparation.

Families gather together as at Christmas time for a celebration meal. It is a time of joy. 

Christian Religious Celebrations

Holy Week

Holy Week refers to the week before Easter. It is the busiest time for Christian Churches, especially the Catholic Church. There are Masses held on Holy Thursday evening (the Thursday before Easter Sunday) celebrating the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples and the Washing of the Feet when Jesus washed his apostles feet. Holy Thursday is also referred to as Maundy Thursday.

No Mass is held on Good Friday. There is a service commemorating the death of Jesus.

Holy Saturday evening is the Big Mass of the year. It starts out in darkness and with a bonfire outside the church to bring the new light of Jesus amongst the people. From there a procession wends its way into the Church where a joyous celebration takes place with lots of singing and bells ringing and sometimes, incense rising. 

The children go home to sleep and give Easter Bunny time to make his rounds. In the morning, on Easter Sunday, they are up bright and early to search for their Easter eggs. 


Happy Easter to everyone

Rose Petals, Strawberries, Grapes and Polystyrene

Bantam Hens Like...

What do these ingredients have in common?
They are all loved by my little bantam hens.

Each afternoon when my hens are let into my garden (which is different to their garden), they make a dash to a favourite rose bush in the garden. This rose, Mary Rose, flowers prolifically and as a result drops many petals. 

Fallen rose petals

Yet again, today when the hens got out, they rushed to the petals on the ground . One hen, a little buff Pekin who is eighteen months old and very low to the ground, ate more than a dozen petals. Later I saw her pecking with relish at some polystyrene pieces I had taken out of an old pot plant when I was repotting it. 

Here are some pullets eating a bowl full of rose petals

Now why do my hens love polystyrene? I have no idea. A few months ago when the pullets moved into their new back garden, a little garden just for the pullets, there was an old polystyrene vegetable box with some plants in it. Those hens attacked this box with gusto each day when they were let out until I finally removed it.

Food for Bantams

You may say, 'Well, why don't you feed your chickens decent food?' These purebred bantams have the best of every world. They have just had a beautiful new chicken shed built just for them. They have mixed grains available all day and they get lettuce leaves and yummy (for them) food scraps each day. 

These consist of fermented food, grapes, soaked bread - gluten free and yeast free, strawberries and tomatoes and sometimes some meat or fish. They are really spoilt and yet they eat polystyrene as if it were chocolate.

Here you can see the black Silkie protecting her rose petals

Chickens - With a Paintbrush in Hand

My paintbrush has been busy again lately. It feels good when the paint flows. From having a blank piece of paper, a blank canvas or a blank piece of wood (I do like painting on wood), you have the power to transform it into a cacophony or a kalidescope of colour. 

This can be pleasing to some and not to others, but so long as it is pleasing to you, then that is all that you need. 

This week I had some fun painting on some wood.

 

I'll probably hang these two paintings out in my chicken shed. I think the eggs sign will have to go above the nest just to remind the girls what to do and where to put them. 

My third project was a little different. More on that next time. 

Cheers

Bantams on the Move

Two Hens Leaving Home

We have had a rearranging of our bantams again. Some of them have moved house. 

New Chicken Keepers

Our youngest son has just converted a large playhouse in the backyard of his first home into a chicken house. He and his partner were anxious to start their chicken collection. So we thought we would help them along by giving them two hens - one of the pullets I hatched in an incubator this past year and one from the year before. The girls would need a friend. One hen would be pretty lonely on her own.

As she had never had anything to do with chickens, we didn't know if the young lady of the household would like standard sized hens or bantams. I prefer bantams. So we gave them one of each. 

Standard Orpington

 She's already made her decision and she is going with bantams.

Buff Pekin has gone to a new home. Little white Silkie has stayed with us.

 

Children Learning to Love Chickens

The young couple were so excited to get their hens. Three of our sons now have hens. They are teaching their children the joys of the chicken world. The children learn to look after the birds. They learn that they are all individuals with their own personalities. 

Whenever our grandchildren come for a visit, the first thing they do is go and visit my chickens.

Three Hens Moving House

While all this moving was going on with some of the girls moving house, we decided to move our older hens, all three of them, in with the four pullets we had left, into the new hen house. There has been a bit of scuffling going on and a rearranging of where everybody sleeps but generally they are all getting along pretty well.

Chickens in the Garden

What is a Pullet?

A pullet is a young hen in the first year of her life. She is a first time layer. When a pullet starts to lay her eggs are smaller than an adult hen's eggs.

Our young pullets have just turned twenty weeks old. Now the books tell us that they can start laying any time from now on. We will watch and wait. The pullets from last year were about ten months before they started to lay. 

First Big Afternoon in the Garden

A couple of days ago the pullets were allowed into the back garden for the first time. They have their own run and this was their first time out into the big garden. 

Plan of chicken house and run

I had planted silver beet plants around the outside of their house and they had to pass this to get into the garden. Yes, you're right. They didn't get too far into the garden. And yes, you are right again. There are no leaves left on my silver beet plants. However I had harvested most of the bigger leaves for ourselves first.

Today I let the little hens out again. They took a while to get out their gate but as there were no silver beet leaves left they moved on into the garden for the first time. 

Can the Pullets Find Their Way Home?

Expecting the pullets to find their own way back to their shed, we kept peeping out to see if they had gone in for the night. It was 8.15pm and almost dark when there were still two of these little creatures wandering about.

One of them was on the back doorstep. We could not understand this then realized that they could not find their way back to their house. Poor little creatures. They had been attracted to the light of our living room.

Chickens Cannot See in the Dark

Now, chickens cannot see in the dark. This is why they go to bed with the evening light. They are different to ducks and geese. 

We used to have geese who wandered freely. They were especially active at night on the full moon. They honked under our bedroom window all night long as they grazed on our front lawn. (We lived on a farm in those days.) 

Ducks can also see at night but not chickens. However chickens are 'up with the birds' in the morning. Remember how roosters wake everyone up at 5.30am?

Home at Last

We went out and guided the pullets back to their shed. They quickly jumped up into the box where they all sleep together and peace reigned.

Chickens in the Garden

Backyard Chickens

Some of my chicken are lucky enough to wander the yard most days, only being locked up at night. Sometimes we have neighbour's cats wandering into our yard through the night.

I have great blocks of flowers in the yard. I'm always putting cuttings in, just to see if they will grow. Nearly all my garden has been planted with cuttings, even the buddleia trees. The hens wander around in this throughout the day. They look gorgeous.

By three o'clock each afternoon they come up to the back door to hoping for a treat. They are back again at six o'clock for their evening meal.

The Ritz

Recently we had a new chicken house built. The builder called it The Ritz. Our new chicks for this season have had the privilege of being the first fowls to occupy the residence. They are very happy in there.

What to do with the Roosters?

The trouble with breeding chickens is that you are going to get some roosters and they just don't lay eggs. Many Councils prevent you from keeping roosters. Let's face it, they are noisy, especially at 5am, everyday. They just never take a break.

So when all our young cockerels have shown their colours, they will disappear from our garden. Until the next year, when we have some more.

At the moment I think I have five hens out of eleven chicks. There are at least three roosters and three are of an undecided sex at the moment.


I have homes ready for any excess hens we might have so there will always be room for next years chicks. It's all lots of fun.

Enjoy the video one of my sons made for me.

Five Good Reasons to Keep Chickens

This young boy just loves his chickens

1  To get fresh eggs from happy hens. You know that your hens are nor cramped in tiny cages but have room to flap their wings and perhaps roam in the garden.


2  You receive free manure to fertilize your veggies and flowers. Chicken manure is high in nitrogen so is especially good to make leaves grow. Try the manure on your green veggies or flower garden to get things growing.

Chicken manure is best left to dry before being put in the garden. However if the hens decide to deposit themselves it will save you the work. Thank them and move on.


3  Chickens will get working for free. They will catch nasty insect pests in your garden, cutting the number. They delight in catching any small flying insects, creepy crawly bug and even a worm or two after they have distributed the topsoil for you.

4  They will gladly eat your leftover food, and you will not have to throw it in the rubbish. Your hens will thank you with great excitement and see your leftover food and great delicacies. You could try them with your cooked veggies, rice, watermelon, soaked bread or anything else you have.


5  You teach the next generation how to care for animals and birds. You teach them that every creature is special. Children find that each hen has its own personality. You teach children that these birds depend on them for food and water.

Chicken's Day Out Part 1

I took a video of my chickens as they came out of their home for the first time. They were rather nervous stepping out into this strange new world. It took a while for all of them to come out. They have a little chicken-size door built just for them as the 'in' and 'out' of their house. I have a 'big' door, just for me.

The Pros and Cons of Keeping Chickens

Rhode Island Red Bantam Chick about six weeks old

 

Pros

 

Having had chickens in my life for many decades, naturally I am going to think of more pros than cons.

 

The obvious benefit of having chickens is that they will lay you eggs. Have you ever seen hens in laying cages by the thousand? Not a pretty site. The poor hens are so stressed out. They often have few feathers. They can barely move and are often pecked by the other stressed out hens in their tiny wire cage - wire floor as well. They cannot roost or sleep comfortably.

 

If you keep your own chickens you can really pamper them or just plain look after them. They will have a much better life than hens in commercial egg laying facilities and you are not subsidising caged birds by buying their eggs.

 

Chickens will provide you with fertilizer for your garden. They will also eat all your table scraps with relish.

 

Chickens will help control insects in your garden. They love to snap at flying insects, or peck up earwigs and bugs.

 

Chickens will help control weeds in the garden and willingly do lots of the digging for you. If you have a bed that needs turning over, just start it off and the chickens will bring it to a fine tilth. They are very good at that.

 

Chickens are also much better than dogs on New Year's eve. Many dogs can get very frightened by all the firecrackers going off and demand lots of attention inside the house. Chickens will sleep right through the noise.

 

These wonderful two legged creatures are happy to be outside. They don't 'need' company from humans. So long as all their needs are met they make no other demands.

 

And you don't need to take them for a walk.

 

My flock of chicks and hens provide me with lots of enjoyment - just standing watching them can put a smile on my face. They love to have a talk back also.

 

Today I heard one of my neighbours clucking and talking to the hens over the back fence and later in the day another four year old neighbour was calling out to the hens - 'Hey Rooster' over and over. He loves them too. He and his sister love to receive gifts of an egg occasionally or some feathers and a real treat is to come and visit the hens.

 

If you are going away for a week or so you can leave enough food and water for them. Just get a neighbour to collect the eggs every couple of days and everybody will be happy.

Cons

Well, I can't think of many.

 

Oh yes, those occasions when I have to clean out their cage.

 

And on the long summer evenings, I have to go out three or four times to locks the hens in because they just won't go to bed. They love the garden too much.

 

You do have to watch where you walk in the garden because they do leave little blobs of fertilizer around the place. If there are too many of these, just let them out for an hour or so in the evenings. You don't have to let them out at all if it doesn't suit.

 

Well, looking at the arguments set out above, it looks as though its a good idea to keep chickens.

 

I do have lots more pros tucked up my sleeve.

 

 

 

 



Visitors to My Back Door

There are some new flowers flowering in the garden at the moment as it's springtime here in Australia.

I try to keep a photographic record of all my flowers but sometimes miss a few. Here are my latest.

A fuchsia, lobelia and buddleia. They are all looking lovely at the moment.

Fuchsia

 

Lobelia

 

Buddleia

 

The butterflies like the buddleia. Each year we get more butterflies.

 

Visitors to My Back Door

Yesterday when I opened the back door a butterfly flew right in and in the evening as I came back from feeding the chickens I spied a sparrow flying out the back door. He must have been having a look around as I keep the daily food in there, all sealed. So he missed out on some easy tucker.  

 

Every afternoon my little bantam hens come visiting about four o'clock. They must be feeling a bit peckish. They get a handful each of corn or seeds then off they go for a couple of hours until it's time for their evening meal when they come back again.

Greedy Bullies

I have been having very anxious days recently. I am worried. I am very worried about my chickens.

In over forty years I have never had full size hens, I have always had bantam hens. Bantam hens are like miniature full size hens.

This year I had two lots of chickens, one bantam and the others will turn into full size hens. When the youngest chickens were five weeks old we placed the two lots of chickens together. The younger ones were as big if not bigger than the older ones.

Instantly they met the younger chicks started to bully the older chicks. I was flabbergasted. In my life I like everyone to get along. All the creatures in my yard MUST get on or I am unhappy.

Bantam chicks hiding in the corner
 

Two of the younger chicks, beautiful Wyandotte roosters are absolutely greedy bullies. When their food is put out three times a day I give some to each group of chickens. The young roosters immediately leave their full tray of food and go to steal the food from the bantam chicks. The bantam chicks end up retreating to their cave in the nesting box and going without food.

I really don't like it.

We had to leave for a couple days and let the chicks fend for themselves. There was plenty food and water left for them. I was really worried. What would I find when I came home?

I returned to find all food and water disappeared and all bowls upturned. All chicks had their fill of fresh food and water. Those naughty Wyandottes tried all the time to dart into the inner sanctum to steal the food of the smaller chicks. Why? when they have plenty of their own?

Tonight I crept out with a torch to see where they were all sleeping. Lo and behold those bully chicks had invaded the nesting box as well. There were two camps of chicks asleep, one in each corner!

I just hope that in another week, when I creep out to check on them again one night, I will find them all cuddled up together. Then I will have a good night too!

Chicken Merger

After having bantams hens for over forty years, this season we hatched out two lots of chicks, one set of bantams and one set of standard size chicks.

Early this week our oldest chickens reached seven weeks old. They still had their mother looking after them but she was anxious to get out into the garden as she really loved that freedom.

Each time I went into the shed to feed the chickens the young mother hen tried to escape out the door.

After a couple of days of the chicks being on their own we thought we would merge the two lots of chickens. We were worried that the younger chicks might be bullied by the older ones who were two weeks older.


Bantam chicks sheltering off the floor in the nest box


How wrong we were. As soon as we placed the younger chicks in the cage with their older cousins they started to chase the older and smaller chicks. The older chicks are bantams, that is small birds, much smaller than normal size hens.



Bantams get a short sprint into the outside pen

This is the largest of the younger chicks. She is a coloured Orpington and just huge.

Now the younger chicks rule the outside pen and will not let the smaller chicks out there. The bantam chicks have taken to spending all their time hiding in the nesting box which is up above floor level. They only come down to eat when I come into their shed.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks all the chicks will be one big happy family.

Creepy Crawlies, Slugs, Snails and Spiders

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

 

Slugs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

 

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

^{(with thanks to Wikipedia)}

Leopard slug

 

Leopard Slugs

Slugs and snails have been plentiful in my gardens over the years. The slug pictured above is called a Leopard slug because of the markings on its body and head. I first saw these slugs when they would visit the area where my little dog was fed each night. Ruby was a black and tan Australian Terrier.

 

Ruby, our little Australian terrier

 

These slugs lived under and around Ruby's kennel in the garden.

 

Dear, difficult little Ruby is no longer with us but we still have her kennel. It was put to use recently as a little coop for some chickens and their mother. They stayed warm and cosy in there.

 

However, one evening when I was feeding the chicks I saw one of these slugs again. Oh, so you are still around, I thought.

 

After the chicks moved out to a new and larger home, I turned the kennel over and found some Leopard slugs living under it.

 

Late last night, about 11.30pm, I was on my way to bed and decided to check on the chicks as it was drizzling rain. As I went outside with my little LED torch, there were three leopard slugs heading for the new chicken shed, charging across the damp grass.

 

These slugs were about 8-10cm long (3-4in). They can reach up to 20cm (8in) in length.

 

So today the kennel was removed further down the yard. It was turned on its side and the last I saw, our two fluffy silkie hens were eyeing off all the spiders, snails and slugs on its base.

 

When I went down the yard to put the hens away this evening, all the creatures were gone from the kennel.

Catching up with the News

Today I thought I'd just let you know about the other blogs I write.

As a Natural Therapist, I have a great interest in health. I like to use natural methods to stay healthy or to get healthy if you are ill. This blog has seen going for quite some time and has a lot of information about health.

Just think - Sugar, Inflammation, Asthma, Arthritis, Brain health, Anxiety and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and lots more.

Let's Talk Health

Because I have been having lots of fun with my chickens lately, I thought I would write about them a bit more and show some photos of their progress, so you can see more photos.

Bantam Blog

I hope you join me on these other blogs as well.

Cheers



Moving House

It is said by those in the know that moving house is one of the most stressful times in our lives.

Well there has been a lot of moving house in our garden this springtime.

Let me start by saying that we have had two separate lots of chickens born this spring, two weeks apart. The first lot had a mother, the second lot had doting parents, an incubator for gestation and a heat lamp for warmth afterwards.

 

 

The first lot started in the garden under the hollyhock plant then moved to a recycled little cubby,  (an old dog kennel).

 

 

 

 

From here they moved into a posh new pen with upstairs and downstairs.

 

 

Just as mother hen and her young chicks were outgrowing this we had another even posher henhouse built which will withstand any gale. So they have moved yet again.

 

 

 

Our younger set of chicks started off in an incubator

 

Then lived in a large cardboard box with a red lamp in the side of it for heat.

 

When they reached about three weeks old they spent the day outside in another box, just for a change, then went back inside at night.

 

They are just about to spend their second night outside in the posh upstairs/downstairs cubby.

 

In a couple of weeks mother hen will move out from her chicks, leaving them to fend for themselves and the younger chicks will move in with the older ones.

 

 Ahh, what a busy few weeks we have had moving house!

 

Managing Your Photos for Free

 

My Favourite Photo Editor

At the moment my favourite photo editor is PicMonkey. Look at the lovely way you can manage your photos.

I had fun sitting in my backyard the other day. It is filled with spring flowers. My two Silkie bantams were wandering around and came to peck some organic feed mix out of the earthenware mosaic bowl. This bowl took all my attention a while ago as I sat for hours placing the tiny pieces of brightly coloured tiles around the inside of the bowl.

This bowl sat for some time under the tap in the front garden providing a watering place for the local birds. Now it has a new use, that of a place to provide treats for my hens.

Chickens

Our young mother hen and her six chicks are in the photo on the right. Her chickens have grown considerably and have now sprouted wings. The wing feathers are the first real feather a chicken grows. They are now getting feathers on their shoulders.

The chickens have outgrown their first cage and are in a new cage bought especially for them. They live out in the garden with flowers surrounding them. They will be there for a few more weeks until they progress to their next cage.

My Garden Treasures

The central photo is from my web site. There I have more news about the poultry in my garden and all the flowers in it. My Garden Treasures

Escape at Dawn

At 6am this morning I was awakened by screeching and flapping in the backyard. Dawn was just breaking and I had just dozed off to sleep after a restless night.

Our mother hen was flapping in her little shed and kicking up a squawk. Her baby chickens were screeching at the top of their little beaks. I immediately thought there might be a cat or a crow attacking and trying to get into the cage.

Be good little chickens and come here to Mumma.

Chickens Escape

I was at the bedroom door in a sleepy flash and raced out in the dim light. Chickens were peeping at such a screech I knew they were disturbed. Two of the little creatures had gotten out, I just don't know how. They were darting around under the nasturtiums and I didn't know how I would catch them. I couldn't even see them.

Suddenly, there on my red Chinese silk slipper, a little chick was standing. Carefully I grabbed it from above before it knew what was happening. I popped it through the door and the other chick appeared, trying to get to its mum.

Zap! caught that one too.

I listened and all was quiet. It sounded as though I must have caught them all. I raced back to bed and fell asleep.

Later, when Dear One went to check on them, another chick was scampering around outside. Little devils.

Tonight they are firmly closed in. I hope I can sleep in in the morning.

Read more about my chickens at my new website http://www.mygardentreasures.com.au/chickens.html