Joshua and his girls, part 2

2014 started off with being a flock of seven chickens. That all changed during the summer. Two hens went broody, one opting to stay in Fowlty Towers for some peace and quiet, while Cecily found her way up to my hayloft. I did try moving her and the eggs into Fowlty Towers, but she was having none of that, and went off brood. However, before long she was back up in the hayloft with a new clutch of eggs. This time she got her way.

The results of this ended up with two chicks in the small coop,

 and a massive five in the hayloft.













Which meant that my flock had doubled in number. This was all very exciting, and a bit daunting. But I was hopeful that this would mean a chance to test my butchering abilities.

I waited for the downstairs chicks to have been out and about and capable of living with the other chickens before getting the others down. I should probably have got them down earlier, perhaps that would have been easier. Actually getting the silly creatures caught and moved was one part sneakiness, one part patience, and three parts luck. Once they were settled into Fowlty Towers they were kept in there for a week before I could let them roam, and even then it took some days for the the two mama hens to agree that they each could keep their own chicks. Joshua and I had to intervene several times; I am happy to say I think I did a better job than he did.

As they grew older it turned out the two were brothers, while the Hayloft Gang was two guys and three gals. This meant I would be getting four whole chickens for my larder. That got a bit of a setback during the autumn, when I discovered one of the cockerels missing and next day found him dead and with several wounds. I had guests at the time, and one of them had seen a dog running in my yard. We never heard anything, in spite of the flock being very voluble at times, but I strongly suspect that dog killed it.

A word to you dog owners - please be mindful when you are walking your dog in rural areas where free range chickens roam. And if you discover your dog has wounded or killed one, do the decent thing and 'fess up. I will say, it is possible this dog's owner never realised what it had done, so that is fair. But they shouldn't have let it roam freely around in my garden.

So when the end of 2014 rolled around I had 13 chickens in my flock. And was getting all excited at the prospect of home-grown chicken for lunch.