An update on the girls

I was out feeding the girls a couple of days ago and just happened to have my phone in my pocket so thought I would get a couple of pictures to show you all how much the new girls have improved and settled into there new home. Their new feathers have grown in, they have plumped up and are now accepted by the other hens. They no longer look at green leafy food as if its something foreign and race to the door when they hear me coming along with the others. At the moment we are averaging 6 eggs a day from 8 girls.. pretty impressive I think!






Look at her fluffy butt.. and yes.. no tail feathers.. they didn't come back after being pecked out!

Adopted (or rescued?)

Got these three new girls from a nearby poultry farm. they are 12 months old. They were in sheds with a large flock of other chooks and there is obviously quite a bit of hen pecking going on because most of them only had half their feathers.

While the conditions weren't as "bad" as caged chooks, its certainly not ideal when you see the condition that these girls are in.

They are still settling in with my girls and are quite wary of me but at least two laid eggs today. They have no idea about eating anything other than pellets! They looked at the vegie scraps and the delicious protein mash I made them like it was something foreign, while my girls couldnt eat it fast enough!!

Hopefully in a couple of months we can restore their condition and turn them into healthy looking birds.



My girls in comparison.

My girls...

I have always wanted to keep chickens. Just never had the time or space or... whatever reason was about at the time. Until last year.


I have no idea on breeds.. except for the one at front, Dame Edna.. (yes they all have names!) who apparently is the product of a polish bantam and a rooster .. of some description LOL. Her and the three to the left at the back are my original girls that we started out with last year. They had a little A frame house that we threw together one weekend but now have a 7m x 1m run behind the shed. We were given four more chooks earlier this year. We lost one to unknown causes and two were ROOSTERS. Living in town the roosters unfortunately had to go. We're hoping to add some new young ladies to the coup in the near future.

Eggs.. we we were getting an average of 3 eggs a day when we had the four. At the moment I am getting 1 egg a day, which I beleive is from my trusty Dame Edna (she's my favourite.. dont tell the others). Hoping they will start producing again when the days start getting longer.

My dream would be to let them totally free range but atm we have two problems.. the dogs would try to eat them and I really do love my gardens too much to let them pick them to bits! I am looking into a portable pen that I could keep them contained in and let them pick at certain area or the yard while keeping a barrier between them and the dogs. Also hoping to enlarge their run some. All in good time.