Mad Chickens

The chickens have been absent from the blog for far too long.

They still spend most of their time marauding round the garden seeing what yummy things they can find to eat. I see an awful lot of their fluffy bottoms poking skywards!

The observant among you will notice that there are only 3 in the picture above, fear not, the others are still alive and well, just a little pre-occupied.

They have decided that they are brooding a clutch of eggs, except they're not, because all the eggs get taken out of the nest box.... This is why people who want lots of eggs don't have pretty, fluffy, posh chickens. 

One of them has become so broody that even when you evict her from the nest box she still refuses to accept that she's not sat on a clutch of eggs. She just sits there on the lawn in a trance, eventually she wakes up a little, but it takes her a while!

We've tried most of the methods that are supposed to get them to stop being broody and they're having none of it. I kick them off the nest box now and again to get some food, and once the other hens have laid their eggs they get shut out from the nest box, and go off as a little gang to see what adventures they can have.