Eggs!

I went out to do a much needed clean out of the hen house and found two eggs! This is exciting as it is the first time they have laid since the beginning of September when they started to moult. I rushed back inside to get my camera and record the moment.

Not only is it wonderful to be having fresh eggs again, it means I can use my Christmas present for the first time.

Admittedly it will look better when it has more eggs on it.

To honour the egg producers I tried to take their photographs but they were more interested in what was going on in the compost heap after I had emptied the contents of the hen house on it.

I should say that the chickens are a rare breed, Marsh Daisies. When I was choosing chickens I wanted to do my bit in a small way to preserve rare breeds. Eighteen months on I am beginning to appreciate why they are a rare breed as egg laying isn't their forte. Bertie, on the left has never laid at all, I suspect that some early infection led to a hormone inbalance which stops her functioning as a normal chicken, indeed in the summer time she frequently attempts to crow. A harder hearted person would have eaten her by now, but at the moment, the hen house would be an even bigger and draughtier place if there were only two chickens.
The other drawback of Marsh Daisies is what the books call 'flightiness' which makes me think of an unsatisfactory housemaid in Victorian times but means they are good fliers and keen to escape at all times. Having just repaired the fence between myself and the neighbours, I watched this morning as Amelia cleared a five foot fence from an almost vertical takeoff. Time to clip the newly regrown wings I think.