Afew years ago we decided at Baker Towers that we would invest a small sum in acquiring some chickens at point of lay.
We like having animals and birds around, already having a selection of domestic animals in residence not to mention the wild variety turning up in our garden for a light snack now and then (more now than then in fact).
Chickens seemed a good idea, as there are six of us and we like the notion of eating our own fresh produce. And, as anyone with chickens will confirm, the home variety really do taste significantly better than shop-bought eggs.
This may in part be due to the fact that our chickens have a diet that many humans would envy. I was sharply put in my place recently when I spotted half a melon in the fridge and expressed interest.
It was, apparently, ‘for the chickens’. I have to say they fell upon it with the same relish as Wycombe Wanderers supporters on the away victory at Darlington this week which has hopefully halted their recent inexorable slide into the play-offs.
So, we constructed a large compound with nocturnal secure accommodation and for many months we were able to give excess eggs to friends on a regular basis and they were much appreciated. The melon had done its job, apparently. Then they gradually stop laying and you are left with five pets.
There is, of course, no question in my family of employing the more radical attitude understandably adopted by those who produce eggs for a living. All farmers warn of the danger of naming animals – and all our chickens have names. Dilys is therefore untouchable!
So we have now acquired four more hens at point of lay, much to the irritation of the five incumbents.
If ever you needed a model for human behaviour, observe what happens when a Black Rock, a Speckled Star and two Amberlees are suddenly introduced into a community of Light Sussex crossbreeds who think that the spacious territory they inhabit is exclusively theirs.
They don’t seem to realise that we, who feed them and house them safely at night, actually own the land and there is enough melon for all. Maybe we humans could learn something from that?
We had our first eggs from the new girls yesterday, so I am about to make some soldiers and try one out in my Dalek eggcup.
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