Weird question you might ask but our battery hens seem to be. I know that hens can’t see in the dark, our other girls just go into their hutch when it starts getting dusky and go to sleep. However for Greta and Bellatrix nighttime is a new concept since they will have been used to having the light on most of the time in the barn. When it starts getting dark they look all panicky and I have seen Bella jump into the wire mesh 5-6 times now, I think she was trying to get out of her run and away from the dark- not particularly good thinking as it ends up with a bumped head. Bella now seems to have worked out that when we go out in the evening and gently push her with a stick that she has to go in her hutch and the doors locked, Greta however has not. This results in her being pushed a lot whilst she ignores us and continues pecking at the ground or trying to step over the stick which is in her way…… some time later we manage to trap her and as soon as the girls are locked away they start to cry. I don’t think they like being stuck in the dark.

I think our girls have experienced most types of weather, sun, wind, rain (and a lot of it), sleet, hail and some snow. We saw Bella eating the snowflakes. At the moment it’s raining heavily and I’m pleased to see the new girls are in their hutches sheltering themselves. The 3 others I have seen have been sheltering under our bamboo, one hen in particular is staying under there a little too long…… we have a broody!!

Phoenix, as cute as she is, is a very broody chicken always trying to hatch her eggs or apple cores or kiwi fruit or anything lumpy to sit on. So she’s not allowed anywhere near the nest. But she is very determined and if we just overlook closing the hutch door for a minute, she’s in there so fast. Which makes things awkward to Petra and Sophia who keeps wanting to go into the hutch to lay their eggs but the door is closed, so every now and again we hear a hen crying to be let in.

Phoenix’s broodiness caused trouble at the beginning of the week; the other two hens (especially Petra) were wound up with the battery hens being in their garden that when Phoenix turned broody they started attacking her, which meant she had to be separated for a few days. When she’s broody she does tend to be picked on more because all of the sudden she starts making funny clucking noises and starts ruffling her feather which the hens mistake as aggression.

The battery hens are progressing really well. They have really got the hang of scrabbling at the ground looking for food.
They are having some eggs, not as reliable as the other girls, but we didn’t think they would be, they seem to have an egg every 3 days or so. I think Greta has had the most so far.

I’ll finish for now

Jane