My Happy Hens

Our girls are delightful...

I always wanted hens and I am so glad we made the move to get them. Apart from eggs every morning to collect, they are just simply delightful. They are always happy to see us, so much so, that the other day one jumped on to my back while I was cleaning out the chicken coop and it wouldn't get off!

When they first arrived we set up a temporary home but a week later we got to building a solid chicken coop under one of our olive trees in our front yard. Thankfully over the years my husband had collected wood and stuff that would come in handy for building during lockdown with no stores open for supplies. It was a great chance for our sons to help him and learn the basics of building and using tools and so it became a great project to focus on during lockdown. We have used the dog kennel inside the main run area as a dry safe hen house for them to sleep at night. Our little dogs never use the kennel and so we have reused it elsewhere!

We have had to make do with dry grass from the hill to use as their bedding and actually if we think about it everything we needed has already been on our property. The vegetable garden was growing chickweed in between vegetables and the hens love it. Only just recently we went to a rural farm supplies shop where I was able to get a bale of hay for their sleeping quarters and some wood shavings to put down on the floor of the chicken coop to keep it dry in this cold wet weather we are having.

For the first several weeks we were getting 3 eggs a day which was a great amount to keep up with and now we are getting 4 a day so if we can't eat them all or use enough in baking, I take some over to our neighbours and my mum and dad were staying here with us recently so I sent them home with some eggs too. Everyone loves something homegrown. For many years I have always brought organic or free range eggs and although the brands I brought were good, we have been incredibly surprised how delicious our eggs are. They poach beautifully and when scrambled they are fluffier than we have ever had them.

The girls are very easy to look after which has surprised me and it makes me wish we had gotten hens years ago. I feed them breakfast early in the morning. They get pellets and every 2 days I mix in a happy hen mix which is grains. Sometime during the day we take out a variety of vegetable scraps and may also pick long green grass and chickweed from the vegetable garden. I always keep their water topped up and clean. I actually leave 2 litre milk bottles filled with water out in the henhouse so there is always a supply of water to use. Because during lockdown there were no supply stores open we have just used what we could find and so their feed containers are old tiptop ice cream containers and they work perfectly. 

We were giving their oyster/egg shell grit separately but the lady at the rural supply store said she just adds hers into their daily feed and they peck around it and eat it if they want to so that actually makes it easier and cleaner.

Today I put out some more wood shavings on the ground to keep it clean and dry and cleaned out the henhouse with clean paper and hay. It was very cold and wet and so I was dressed in a wooly hat, waterproof pants and a long coat. I actually enjoy doing this. I feel quite good doing some outside physical work even if it is cold. I grew up in a much colder climate than where we are so I just tell myself to get on with it!

Our hens have quite a bit of room for backyard hens, they are completely under cover but part of it has a solid roof to keep the rain out (hopefully!) and a larger area is open to the weather but is sheltered with windbreak material and chicken wire and a large olive tree overhead too.  Plus they have the enclosed dog kennel to sleep in at night which they seem to like. In the future we may look to letting them out for a short supervised session but with a road on one side of the fence and our two dogs, we are a bit unsure. They seem happy enough, are in great health and we give them a good well balanced healthy diet. They are also able to forage on the ground and in summer when it is dry they can take dust baths.

I hope you have enjoyed this post of a little simple country living.

Have a beautiful week!

Fiona

"...but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."

1 Timothy 6:17b