Industrial Action from the Chickens

Protests from our feathered friends.

I'm not feeling terribly well at the moment. I either have a chest infection or the one I had before Christmas has upset my airways causing asthma like symptoms. Consequently I've been sofa surfing and relegated to bed for the last couple of days. I don't like it and I get bored. However it would appear I am not alone.

Yesterday the girls dispatched Bob to our room with the information that if we want egg production to continue we are just going to have to consider more access to the house. They have taken to standing at the back door pecking at it if we're inside in view. Alternatively they stand on the conservatory window sill clucking.

Apparently yesterday Bob went out with the pail of meal worms and exciting corn type treats. John jumped on him the moment his arm was out of the door, Henrietta followed suit, Mavis pecked at his feet and Beatrice took the opportunity to dash through his legs and make a chicken-line for the cat food. Thankfully yesterday's kibble was salmon based so no nasty proto-cannibalistic experiences to worry about.

I will digress here a little regarding feeding regimes for chickens. As you will know from previous posts our back garden is no longer the haven of freely growing herbal joy it was in the summer. The combination of AGENT CHICKEN and heavy rain have reduced much of the ground to a Somme like battle ground of mud and stones. As a result we've been supplementing the chickens diet with dried meal worms, spinach and herbs picked from the allotment. I decided to look up recommended feeding protocols and found all the feed sites suggest you only give treats in the afternoon to ensure they get the lions share of their nutrition from the layers pellets. My dearly beloved made the point, To quote Christine Keeler. "They would say that, Wouldn't they" 

(Thanks to Getty Images-I chose not to use that picture of the lady)

After all what benefit is there to the feed companies if your chickens munch happily on free range pasture, insects and kitchen scraps? The feed pellet manufacturers market their feed and refer to other types of nutrition as TREATS. Its not like chocolate. It's all food and it's not surprising if the chickens have a preference for the nicer stuff. 

Please note these are not my girls! There will be more and newer pictures to follow however.

Regarding Christine Keeler: While I was looking for a picture of the famous lady I happened upon an unflattering paparazzo effort of her in her 70's pulling a shopping trolley. Interesting that while I acknowledge is demise in 2006 I could find no such image of Profumo. Rather he received a medal from the Queen in 1975 and attended Margaret Thatcher's 70th Birthday party. As I'm currently prone to a bit of soap boxing  I think on balance I'll stick to looking at pictures of chickens.

Happy Thursday

Katherine