Eglu care - much nicer on sunny days :)

An atrocious rainy and cold Saturday meant that all Eglu cleaning duties were put off, replaced with snuggling on the sofa and playing the Wii. But today is a gorgeous sunny day, ripe for gardening and chicken-care.

Cleaning the Eglu can be a bit long-winded when you first start but once you get into the swing of things it can take no time at all. Generally I empty the poop tray every 3 days - simply a case of quickly brushing the roosting bars then taking the tray out, emptying into the compost bin, lining with old newspaper and popping it back it. Once a week I move the Eglu to a fresh patch of grass, replace nesting box straw and dust the roosting bars with a mite powder.

Every 3 or 4 weeks I give the Eglu itself a good clean - take apart, hose it down, spray with pet-friendly disinfectant spray and give it a wipe down. Roosting bars are scrubbed in warm soapy water (Ecover is great for this) and left to dry. When clean and reassembled, I powder the bars and pop some bokashi bran on the poop tray (absorbs odour, makes poo more compost-friendly). Then rub some citronella oil over the Eglu to deter insects and sprinkle some in the poop tray.

And that's it! Sounds a lot of effort but no more than other pets would require, rabbits or guinea pigs for example. Plus the chickens give back with yummy scrummy eggs as a thank you for taking such good care of them :)

Egg production at its peak

Zelly is proving to be an incredible layer - we've had 1 egg a day since the first one (Saturday 10th May), and they are steadily increasing in size. Today's egg was a whopping 60grams - you go girl!!!

Our first egg!

Clever clever Zelda laid her first egg today. Her comb had been reddening for the past couple of days and I had seen some crouching, but I didn't want to get my hopes up!

I was up at 6.30 to let them out to free-range, checking them every 15 minutes or so . Around 8am she was in the house for a while which is most unlike her but no egg as yet. At 9am she was back in the house but still no egg! A 10am I popped into town, butno egg on my return...

So I decided to leave them alone and got on with the housework. 3pm and all was sunny so I thought I would make the most of the good weather, do some gardening and clean the Eglu ....Lo and behold there it was, waiting for me in the nesting box!

I shouted and screamed and generally made a fool of myself in front of the neighbours....then had a thought "what if the boyf had placed it there to trick me?" But no, it was definitely from my girl as it was smaller than shop-bought eggs - only 40grams (it's the egg on the left in the piccie). But perfectly formed and I am happy to say, very tasty :)

Rain, rain and more rain :(

The garden is starting to look like the Bog of Eternal Stench so the Chooks have migrated to the patio area when they are let out in the afternoon. Great news for us as they are making short work of the moss and grass between the paving slabs which saves me a lot of hard work :D



The Cat is dealing with the new arrivals in his own special way - sulking inside the house till the Chooks go to bed, then he dares to venture outside to check what they have been up to - big wimp!



I've really started something with their evening supper routine though - thought I would give them a rest tonight as they have been spoiled rotten since their arrival. But it's backfired as they are continuously pecking at the patio door to get our attention - not good when trying to watch Corrie!!!

Nearly a week gone by...

...and it feels like they've been here forever!

But in a good way :)

They've settled in really nicely, a bit anxious the first day but went straight into their Eglu when dusk fell - clever girls :)

First day was a bit unnerving for me as I was only around for the morning and had to leave them to their house and run for the afternoon and evening (they had supervision from my partner but not the same as Mummi being here for them). They did ok though, and have come on in leaps and bounds (quite literally with Zelda showing a fondness for jumping on the Eglu roof!).

Fave treats: bread & warm milk with a smidge of marmite on top is the most popular. They are partial to the odd raisin as well, but do NOT like courgette ends. Will try them with some more greens this week - web research has indicated that free range grazing and treating them to lots of greens is best left until they are established layers, which won't be for another 3 to 4 weeks yet.

Cute moments: pecking on the patio door for attention; the Ginger Twins roosting behind a flower pot together instead of going into the Eglu.

Arrival of the Birds

Today's the day! My 3 chickens + Eglu have arrived from Omlet. Zelda, Peach & Daisy have been anxiously awaited for just under 2 weeks now, after spending approx 5 months debating whether to take the plunge and get chickens for the garden.

Him Indoors needed some persuading, what tipped it in my favour was the promise to pay for it all and perform all chicken-related duties! Am happy to report that although I did pay, he is slowly being coerced into helping out, starting with a trip to the country supplies store for feed, grit, straw and various other bits and bobs. He is still at work at the mo, due home at about 5.15 with our little daughter and I just can't wait to see their faces!!