I think the chickens are enjoying keeping an eye on us as much as we like keeping an eye on them, now that they are back over in their original Chicken World.
Every time we come out of the back door or even move around in the conservatory, they appear at the fence to see what we are up to. I guess the novelty will soon wear off as they get used to our close proximity to them again, but for now a funny way it's nice in to have our every move monitored by chickens.
One things for sure, they have a plentiful supply of fresh apples over there, and a nice mix of eaters and cookers, as the ripe fruit drop out of the trees at the merest whisper of a breeze.
Sue xx
I have kept hens for years and I would say those hens are not so much looking at what you are doing and saying 'hello' as wondering whether you have anything to eat for them. We always give our hens any left-overs and they tear up to them and gobble them down as though there is no tomorrow, even though their feed trough is still full of pellets and there is corn scattered among the straw on the floor.
ReplyDeleteYes they love leftovers, and I give them all the trimmings from the veggie patch. But it's actually illegal to feed them leftovers or scraps from the house in this country ... mores the pity, because they would love them.
ReplyDeleteThus applies whether you sell the eggs or simply keep them for your own consumption. I think it's all madness personally, but we have to go along with it. ☹
There are very few things more amusing or heart lifting as seeing a load of chooks running like the clappers towards you is there?
ReplyDeleteBlackbirds will enjoy my family's fallen apples
ReplyDeleteI miss being able to pick apples...live here in Fla. where we harvest citrus in about Nov. from Ct where apples grow...my favorite is the Macoun apples. Your chickens are so lucky! They look amazing...happy Fall to you Lisa@ Sweet Tea N' Salty Air
ReplyDeleteThe light in that picture is wonderful. I didn't know about the scraps/illegality issue, is it because of bugs that might be present in the food?
ReplyDeleteIt's a DEFRA ruling and is mostly aimed at stopping any outbreaks of disease amongst poultry or livestock. It was proven that feeding like to like can be a cause/contributory factor in diseases like foot and mouth.
DeleteIf you can prove that your kitchen has always been, is, and always will be completely vegan I think you can get a licence to take your chickens the vegetable scraps from your kitchen, otherwise they can only go to the chickens if they have not been in the house.
This is why I have a sink over at the Veggie Patch so I can trim and rinse our vegetables there and then on the way back to the house feed any trimmings straight to the birds.
Ours hear our door open and come clustering to the fence to see if we'll feed them snacks or let them out to free range. I feel quite guilty if I don't. :D
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