Rescued Hen Update 8 Weeks After Arrival
Rescued Hen Update - 8 weeks after arrival
Do you remember these sorry looking chickens that we picked up from the British Hen Welfare Trust on a very hot day at the end of June?
Well here they are 8 weeks later. hey have quickly adapted to their free range lifestyle and we have now learnt that no flower bed or veg seedlings are safe.
They all have names relating to how they looked and behaved in the first couple of weeks, so there is Dora (the explorer), Flora (who was always with Dora), (Bossy) Brenda, (Nervous) Nellie, Ola (aka “Oven Ready”). Unfortunately (Greedy) Gertie is no longer with us, she was an independent spirit and strayed too close to a large dog belonging to a camper down by the river, a long way from the chicken coop. Her end was very quick and she had 6 weeks of paradise before her sad demise, which is 6 more than she would have got if we had not rescued her.
We are getting 3 or 4 eggs a day. Three are laying very neatly in the nest boxes in their coop but we discovered two days ago that Dora has been laying hers underneath the ramp into the tree bog for the last 2 weeks – 14 eggs in a nice clutch and one still has difficulty making shells despite adding oyster grit to improve their calcium levels.
Their feathers are returning slowly, except for Ola who unfortunately still deserves her nickname of “Oven Ready”. Here’s a picture showing the new downy feathers on their rear ends (Ola is at the front hiding hers).
