Uh-oh…I’ve been bitten by the chicken bug

Well, that’s no surprise at all really, is it? I mean, I must have bored my friends on Facebook senseless with a constant supply of chicken pictures, egg pictures and children with chicken pictures. But that’s because it’s so fascinating for me. Fascinating to see the different chicken characters emerge, to have them follow me as they see me walk into the garden hoping for a juicy grape or a handful of corn. To see them becoming braver, taking over the duck’s feeding area, giving the cats a little flap of wings or peck if they come too close.

Then today I’ve been thinking. It started with the arrival of Your Chickens magazine. I read it, then purposefully strode into my office and picked up the current Flytes So Fancy catalogue and started to leaf through it. I knew what I wanted. A bigger henhouse. Maybe one for a dozen, or even twenty four. Not for our current bunch of chickens but for a new lot. I’ve eyed up where I want it to go and thought about electric fencing (I’m not keen, so I’ve also thought about a large enclosure). And public liability insurance for when I want to sell the eggs. And re-homing battery chickens. That’s also playing on my mind.

Yep. The bug has well and truly bitten.

[Our hen house and run above is the Haven Hen House with a 9ft run from Flytes So Fancy. It is fantastic. So easy to clean, no bending down, sturdy, secure, exceptionally well made and...looks pretty.]