Hens 2015

Hens are creatures of habit. Everyday the same routine. The sun comes up and doors are opened. Food arrives, an egg is laid, maybe, if we feel like it. Dust bath, a forage around, dinner arrives. Up onto the roost, doors are shut, hen stuff gets dreamt about. Occasionally something new and interesting for the inquistitive hen happens. Fresh bedding in the house!

Happenings February
The girls have been spending the first couple of months of the year digging up the orchard and making huge holes to dust bathe in. They have been laying fairly consistently and there are eggs aplenty. The favourite possie is beneath the fejoa hedge where there is nice shady cool.

Favourite treats are grapes!

Happenings June
Construction has started (again) on the run area in the hen pen. I have scraped back all the bark from the top of the orchard and have plans to build a bird-proof large run where the girls can spend their days during periods of inclement weather. We do have a lot of wild birds around who know where the goodies are over the Winter months. The run will be made of meshed panels. I have just about finished building them.

Happenings July
I was hoping to have the new pen up before the rains arrived but it's not to be. I've been beaten by 3 days! This is so annoying because I know what the pen will be like in another month. Wet, gluggy and mud everywhere. Keeping the girls on dry footing anywhere on the paddock during Winter is a big ask, which one of the reasons behind the new pen. The rain started and has not stopped to allow for draining and now the area is too soft to site the pen without making an even bigger mess.