The house (not ours) was ready so we took a drive to meet the delightful Tim at Stagenhoe Farm, Whitwell near Hitchen and there we chose four new creatures to join us at The Gables

Tim caught them deftly in a net, two Marrans and two Sussex hens, trimmed their wings so that they couldn’t fly away when they arrived in Bedfordshire (don’t worry it’s just like a quick haircut and there are no nerve endings in the feathers so it doesn’t hurt at all) and popped them, one,two,three,four into the cardboard box.

They were quiet in the box on the journey home and we left them whilst we put straw into the hen house, filled the feeder with poultry pellets and poured water into the drinker. I looked at the hen house and pronounced it “too small” for four chicken. Jeremy said that it was designed for eight!
Well maybe eight bantams (I thought to myself) but not our girls. We out them in carefully and we heard them try to settle in their new surroundings. We both felt uncomfortable so…… We decided to carry the other chicken house, that we assembled some months ago, down the garden and into the chicken run to give each pair a house of their own. Not so easy. The other henhouse was too wide to fit through the double gates of the fox proof(!) run.

So we had to disassemble the house outside the run and reassemble the house inside, opposite the newer eight berth hen house.
Now our hens live opposite in two separate homes. They will stay inside for a couple of days and then gradually get used to the great outdoors.

Anyone for scrambled eggs?