Chickens
My chickens are like the rest of us - they are getting older. And when chickens get older, they don't lay so many eggs. So we now have some new chickens. Just your typical little brown hen. And the first one has laid an egg. Just a little egg but so lovely because it is the first one. Now if the others would just follow her example, I will be well pleased.
I still have most of my old hens although we have lost several over the summer, which is why we have an empty hen house. Chicken Nugget is still with me and must be eight years old now. She is a buff Orpington which is one of the biggest domestic fowl breeds. She is a real little (big!) character and will sit comfortable in my arms because she is very tame. She was hatched at school and has been used to being handled from day 1. The boys named her and the others who hatched with her, all after some chicken dishes that they all liked. From February and all over the summer, she laid two or three eggs every week. My other old hen is a little brown hen of about the same age but she stopped laying eggs a couple of years ago. I still have two of my white hens from the last lot of new ones and four from the little brown ones who came before that. So I have 13 hens now in total but it is the new ones who will earn their keep and pay for the food for the others.
And when I got my new layers, I also got six who are destined for the freezer. Their appetites are enormous and I think I am going to have to buy more hen food to keep them supplied. The nearest reasonably priced feed merchant is now about a forty mile round trip (which is a lot of diesel) since the Countrywide chain ceased to trade earlier this year. I buy as many sacks of hen food as I can fit in the car and store them anywhere I can but I don't think I bought enough on the last trip. I can, of course, buy hen food closer to home. I can think of three places but the hen food is almost 50% dearer. A forty mile round trip at 17p per mile (elderly diesel estate car) costs £6.80. Local hen food costs at least £9.50 and some places £10.50. At the cheaper feed merchant it costs £6.75 per sack. So it does not take many sacks before we are winning as just three sacks more than cover the cost of the diesel. so I'll be taking a little road trip soon : )
I still have most of my old hens although we have lost several over the summer, which is why we have an empty hen house. Chicken Nugget is still with me and must be eight years old now. She is a buff Orpington which is one of the biggest domestic fowl breeds. She is a real little (big!) character and will sit comfortable in my arms because she is very tame. She was hatched at school and has been used to being handled from day 1. The boys named her and the others who hatched with her, all after some chicken dishes that they all liked. From February and all over the summer, she laid two or three eggs every week. My other old hen is a little brown hen of about the same age but she stopped laying eggs a couple of years ago. I still have two of my white hens from the last lot of new ones and four from the little brown ones who came before that. So I have 13 hens now in total but it is the new ones who will earn their keep and pay for the food for the others.
And when I got my new layers, I also got six who are destined for the freezer. Their appetites are enormous and I think I am going to have to buy more hen food to keep them supplied. The nearest reasonably priced feed merchant is now about a forty mile round trip (which is a lot of diesel) since the Countrywide chain ceased to trade earlier this year. I buy as many sacks of hen food as I can fit in the car and store them anywhere I can but I don't think I bought enough on the last trip. I can, of course, buy hen food closer to home. I can think of three places but the hen food is almost 50% dearer. A forty mile round trip at 17p per mile (elderly diesel estate car) costs £6.80. Local hen food costs at least £9.50 and some places £10.50. At the cheaper feed merchant it costs £6.75 per sack. So it does not take many sacks before we are winning as just three sacks more than cover the cost of the diesel. so I'll be taking a little road trip soon : )
Labels: Hens
posted by Jo @ 2:29 PM
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