And on the catwalk today.......

Baldrick- or not so bald-rick anymore. :lookin gooood.

Baldrick is wearing the latest brown, fluffy feather outfit and an upright comb.

Clucky- so named because she clucks incessantly.

Wearing this sexy speckled number, she confidently strutts the catwalk.

Henrietta- Wearing this seasons colours- cream with a brown speckle.

Hetty- The queen of the catwalk. Confidently leads the peck.

In this beautiful, mainly cream coiffed look, how could she fail to be noticed.

Hillary- A sweet chick. .

Wearing an up and coming brown and cream outfit with the odd out of place feather.

Helen- The hot chick on the right. Likes to blend in with the crowd.

Wearing this attractive, mainly brown number that is difficult.

Meet Roly

Yes, I am aware that Roly is not a hen, but he is a member of the family. Roly is the son of Molly who is owned by our neighbours. He was so named because his Mum tends to roll down the hill and gets stuck.  We couldn't bear to see him go to slaughter so we rescued him. He is a bit of a character. Below is a picture of him being transported to the next field and the only way we could do this was by putting him on a lead. No we are not taking him for a walk, but it did make a strange sight seeing me, Chris and my daughter lauren walking down the lane with Roly on a lead!

 If you are interested in fashion, check out www.littlebirdfashion.com .

8am Woke up this morning still not feeling well. Chris was sick too so my turn to get the hens up!

As usual, Hetty is the first to come out closely followed by Helen, Clucky, Henrietta and Hillary and guess who's last-yes Baldrick. This is because she is last in the pecking order not because she is being polite.

Threw them a handful of grain down the end of the plot (this makes them exercise). Hens need exercise as it helps them to lay better. I also throw out some poultry grit which helps them to digest their food (again, to help them lay).  Hens can become eggbound (which is probably like constipation but much worse!)

Hetty comes over for a cuddle. She is a confident little hen and likes the attention!

Ok back to bed, lacking in energy.

Returned later to check on the eggs before they are trampled on and we have 4. Clever hens! Our stocks are building up as we haven't been eating much where we've been ill and I haven't been baking.

Why Cluck Old Hens?

Once I had a heart like a mean old hen,
Kept her locked up in a chicken wire pen
Cluckng at the walls, scratching at the ground,
Peck at anybody who would come around

Then one day she didn't sing,
I listened close but I didn't hear a thing
Looking all around, calling her name,
But that was the day my little hen went tame

Cluck old hen, cluck and sing
Ain't laid nothing since way last spring
Cluck old hen, cluck and squall
Ain't laid nothing since way last fall

Well I made it clink and I made it clank,
Shook my heart like a piggy bank
Looking for a yes, looking for a no,
Looking for anything down in that hole

Cluck old hen, cluck and sing
Ain't laid nothing since way last spring
Cluck old hen, cluck and squall
Ain't laid nothing since way last fall

Once I had a heart like a mean old hen,
Bound to lose a finger if you stick it in the pen
Made em yell, made em shout,
Made em cry like you read about

Once I had a heart like a little child,
Once it was greedy, once it was wild
Kicking like a mule, chewing like a pup,
Once upon a time you couldn't shut it up

Cluck old hen, cluck and sing
Ain't laid nothing since way last spring
Cluck old hen, cluck and squall
Ain't laid nothing since way last fall

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/kris+delmhorst/cluck+old+hen_20168210.html ]

Using all the eggs

4 to 5 eggs each day on average ( 28 to 35 each week). That is a lot of eggs! For a healthy diet you should only have around 3 eggs eack week, but who's counting! There are only two of us at home unless you count the occasional visits from our two daughters and we do donate eggs to them. How do we use them all you may ask yourself. There's always the usual boiled, fried, poached and scrambled. However, here are some of my favourite recipes.

Tortilla

Chop up any veg that you want to use (I would use an onion or a spring onion, some sweet pepper, mushrooms, sliced and par boiled potatoes and peas or sweetcorn and some bacon or sausage). Fry the bacon and sausage first with some oil in a fying pan and then the onion and add the remaining veg , salt and pepper to taste and a few mixed herbs. Mix some eggs with a little milk (I would use 2 eggs per person) and then pour on top of the cooked veg. Cook for a couple of minutes on the hob then put some cheese on the top and put under the grill until cooked and a lovely brown colour.

Cut into slices. This can be served hot or cold with salad or baked beans. Great if you are on a diet (something to nibble on instead of chocolate).

Pavlova

I use this one on www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4258/pavlova

This recipe uses 4 egg whites, so you can see that they soon get used up. I use the yolks for making custard or just give them to the dogs (cooked of course).

The history behind our decision to rescue hens

I have always been a 'hen fancier'. We had always intended to buy a couple of hens but this was pre-empted by our local farmer offering us their escapees. They normally have 16,000 chickens which they keep for a year and then they go to slaughter, but eight of them escaped (these were the lucky ones!) We managed to catch six and the other two went to live with someone else.

Below is a picture of our first egg. We were thrilled. It's hard to explain the feeling you get. After the hen's traumatic beginnings. They are happy hens. They have land to move around in, weeds to eat, they don't have to share their food with thousands of other hens and their placing in the pecking order has got to be higher, hasn't it. Hens have worries. they worry about strangers, predators, where they will get their next meal. Any undue stress means that they stop laying. They need 12-14 hours of daylight each day to lay or artificial light. They need excercise. They need a diet containing all the vitamins and minerals they require in order to lay. It is no mean feat!

We were also given a hen coop which Chris (my husband) renovated. Before we got the hens we had a wasteland at the bottom of our garden which was always going to be a veggy patch and hen run. Within just a few weeks, it has been transformed. We have a double wooden garage and at the rear of that the hen coop, a greenhouse and some raised vegetable beds. I am growing onions, potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, herbs and flowers.

Hetty, Henrietta, Baldrick, Hillary, Helen, Clucky

Hetty and Henrietta-well, typical names for hens really. the little girl next door named them. Both beautiful girls, very light in colour,

Hetty is the first out of the coop in the morning-a real character. Best to wear wellies as she pecks your toes. Hetty is numero uno in the pecking order; she is the boss. She is quite affectionate and will allow you to pick her up or stroke her.

Henrietta likes to go walkabout now and again, perhaps we should have called her Houdini. I once found her in the neighbours garden-well they say the grass is greener!

Baldrick was bald when she came to us hence the name Baldrick. She had no feathers on her rear end and was very thin, but she is getting stronger and has lots more feathers now. She is clearly at the bottom of the pecking order though and is bullied by the others. She's a bit nervous, but coming out of her shell (pardon the pun!). Bakdrick is always the last to go to bed. This is not because she is a naughty hen and doesn't want to go to bed, it is because she is at the bottom of the pecking order. Most of the hens take themselves to bed if we leave them late enough, but not Baldrick. We usually have to try to coerce her to go to bed.

Hillary is named after a lovely friend of a friend.

Helen was named by my husband Chris after his sister. She bears no resemblance (sorry Helen!).

Clucky so named because she clucks a lot-why else! She always comes when it is feeding time and just clucks. She makes more noise than the rest of them put together.

On average we get 4-5 eggs/day from them which isn't bad considering the horrendous summer we are having. I ought to make them a pair of wellies to waddle in. It is not good for hens to be in cold mud apparently. They already look like they are wearing wellies. I think that one hen isn't laying, but not sure which. We have only had them a few weeks so they are still settling in.