Yesterday, when I was walking through our garden, I saw this little clump of Bluebells, bravely sticking their noses through their warm Winter cover. A definite sign that Spring is in the air.
Today I noticed that, like magic, next to the Bluebells these cute little Snowdrops had suddenly appeared from under their blanket of leaves. Can they grow that fast? I might have to get my eyes checked. I really didn’t see them yesterday.
Talking of chickens…
(Oh, I know we weren’t talking of chickens.)
These are our chickens. Six chickens and a cockerel. ‘Zes kippen en een haan’ in Dutch. I promise you they all have heads, even if they appear to be headless in the photos.
The two larger, black & white ones (right side of the photo) are silver pencilled (or silver laced?) Groninger Meeuwen. A local, rare breed, very recognizable because they have blue legs. They lay white eggs and are a tad on the neurotic side. I have never even threatened to murder them, and still they act as if that is my only goal in life.
We did have a beautiful Groninger Meeuw cockerel too, but he was murdered last year. Probably by a buzzard. We’ve lost a couple of chickens and another rooster/cockerel to buzzards, of which we have a breeding couple nearby. Still, we like to let our chickens roam free in our garden. They love rummaging around under the cover of shrubs and trees. Usually I open the door of their coop around noon to let them out. And when the sun sets they return to their coop again.
I’m not sure what kind of breed the three smaller, brown chickens are. They volunteered to come and live with us. Actually they used to belong to our neighbours, but every morning they negotiated the fence and ended up on our side and every evening they went back to the neighbours’ coop. So at one point I lured them into our chicken coop and then they were ours. A couple of weeks after I kidnapped them I asked the neighbour if he missed some chickens. He didn’t. So….
They are quite hard to spot aren’t they?
The larger, somewhat darker speckled black & white chicken is a cross between our late Groninger Meeuw cockerel and one of the brown chickens that used to belong to the neighbours (that’s why they used to hang around at our place; they fancied our beautiful Groninger Meeuw boy.) And our new cockerel is a .cross between those two breeds too. Both were hatched in our neighbour’s coop, but they didn’t want to keep them, so this time we legally obtained these two additions to our flock.
This is our coop. We used to have a bigger one, but they only ever used one of the nest boxes. And since they hardly ever have to spend their whole day in their coop, we bought a smaller one. That turned out to be too small, partly because of the (il)legal additions to our flock, so hubs built a nice run-extension. With a roof. They are pretty happy chickens and their eggs taste so much better than shop-bought ones.
Adorable coop! So.. I don't need eight nest boxes for eight chickens?... that would be good. And yours are so pretty.. I love the little brown hens, could they be Welsummer? Google it and see if picture matches...
ReplyDeleteThe Rooster is so handsome!..
Karen is right! They are Welsumers.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed your chicken story. Blue legs! Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteYour chicken coop is fit for poultry royalty. Love it!
When I was a boy we had a little flock of White Leghorns, Black Dominicks, speckled Dominicks, and a Rhode Island Red or two. I was the gatherer of eggs. My dad placed a white porcelain doorknob in each next to encourage the hens (I started to say "give them something to shoot at" but I thought better of it.)
ReplyDelete"next" -> "nest" (of course)
ReplyDeleteWe have absolutely no signs of spring yet around here. Some years the yellow forsythia bloom brightly in January.
They are all beautiful birds! We got quite enthusiastic about keeping chickens but decided, reluctantly, that we were not the ideal farmers - not enough room, I can't eat eggs, etc, etc . . .
ReplyDeleteI live in the fancy-schmancy part of town (actually I am tucked back in the poor enclave that they aren't aware of or they would have chased us out years ago) and someone in the rich part of the neighborhood has a rooster. I hear him crowing constantly. It's cool, but odd, too.
ReplyDeleteWe have some sprouts at our place, too. I posted the first pictures on the blog yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWe've had about a month-long break from winter, unlike most of the rest of the U.S.
this sounds like the house dan built for our labs, yes house with a back yard, well the dogs didn'a like it so now we have a small 8 by 9 foot cabin no one uses
ReplyDeletePat,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yesterday I saw some chicken coop designs on an American website that make ours look like
(s)crap ;-)
Check out this coop: http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=62380-mid-life-crisis
Rhymeswithplague,
As far as I know, chickens don't need encouragement to lay eggs. I'm sure the doorknobs were a nice decorative addition to the coop though ;-) The one I linked to in my comment to Pat even has a chandelier :-O
Jabblog,
I assume you are allergic to eggs. Or you should try removing the shell first, before eating the egg.
Karen,
The sound of a crowing rooster makes you realize you live in the country. Which is odd indeed if you don't live in the country ;-) Don't they get complaints?
Uncle Skip,
Hmm, I understand most of the US has disappeared under a thick cover of snow ;-) The weather forecast here mentioned something about snow this weekend too, but we're ignoring that. The forecast changes every day, or every hour, anyway, so we'll see what happens.
Putz,
You could of course get chickens and let them live in the house with the back yard ;-)
I never thought you would be a chicknapper! Did the chicks not want to go back after you napped them though?
ReplyDeleteWell, OUR chickens needed encouragement, perhaps not to lay the eggs, but to lay them IN THE NESTS. Otherwise, they laid their eggs on the ground. It was as if their little brains went, "Oh, THERE'S where I'm supposed to lay eggs."
ReplyDeleteI like the lovely little henhouse. One could almost imagine it as a proper house (if it didn't have the chicken-wire, of course.)
ReplyDeleteMara,
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say. I'm a criminal at heart ;-)
Rhymeswithplague,
That's why we have a sign in their nestbox: "eggs to be deposited here". Of course we had to teach them how to read first. That took some time ;-)
Suldog,
If you like shabby chic :-) But personally I'd prefer the henhouse that I've linked to in my answer to Pat's comment. Really, you should check it out. It would make a wonderful home. Even with the chicken wire.
Spring already on the way in Holland!
ReplyDeleteThe speckled grey and white chickens on your photos made me instantly think of guinea fowl, the wild critters running around in Africa villages. When I lived there we'd eat them once in a while and they were unbelievable tough.
If I were a chicken, I'd love to come and live in your garden, with a posh coop like that thrown in for good mesure! xx
ReplyDeleteThat's some chook condo! I'd love chickens but my sister has some in a fortress and the foxes still manage to get in so for now, mine will come from the freezer . . oops did I say that out loud.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great chicken coop you have and hat a pretty chicken. We have 2 brown ordinary chicken. My husband lets them roam around in the garden. When I come home they run after me and force me to feed them with their pesistent tok tok tok lol
ReplyDeleteAwesome chicken coop. I wish I had one, we would love to keep chickens!
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice looking coop. Our girls have been cooped up since early January. Their bare little feet don't like all that snow. Can't blame them really. (Wonder if I could get wee boots for them?)
ReplyDelete