New hens.....

This week three new hens arrived!  That takes the total flock to 11 - one light sussex cockerel and 10 hens (one maran, two regular brown , three light sussex, one pure white (origin unknown), and these wee girls).  The new hens are cross breed but have beautiful irridescent green feathers as well as black and deep rich brown ones.  Two are very wee and are still cheeping, while the other one is beginning to make "chook-chook" noises.  Of course they are being bullied mercilessly by the others, including the ones that only arrived a couple of months ago!!  Real "pecking order" being enacted in the henny hoose right now!

As there are no foxes on Graemsay (or indeed in Orkney) chickens can live completely free range, and mine sometimes go down to the beach which is a few yards behind the hen house.  However this flock seem to prefer the garden- particularly when I'm digging.  I have to be careful that I don't impale a hen on my garden fork as they are so eager to grab the worms in the newly turned soil! 

Henny Penny is not happy that I've stopped for a break!

They are rather a nuisance in the garden as they nip all the young shoots, and dig up seeds so I have to net everything if I want a decent crop.  However I do love to have them "chook-chooking" around as I work and they are real characters.

The Big Fella is getting ready for a dust bath, but the girls are still hopeful of more worms. Um... they look slightly startled as I sneezed while taking the photo!

 
However a lecture is due as the girls are laying eggs where I can't find them!  Not all are laying, but I was getting two eggs a day, which was plenty for my needs. However the last couple of days I've had none so somebody is slacking or sneaking off somewhere!  Time to hunt through the barn again.......