CRAZY CHICKEN LADY (Chickens)

Member Name: JuBee

Product:	Chickens
Date:	10/03/09 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of laughs

Disadvantages: Chicken Guano

To those of you who read my review on eggs, here is the next instalment.
I'm now the happy owner of four gorgeous chickens. They are eighteen weeks old and I've had them a week. They've established a pecking order already and their personalities are all different. I have an amber rocket, a golden rocket, a black comet and a coral white.

They range from cocky what are you looking at then; to scared shitless (literally!) I've been picking them all up several times a day in order to get them used to being handled. If you're thinking of keeping chickens there are some nasty things you need to be aware of. They can get lice and red mites. The red mites are basically tiny grey vampire bugs that drink the chicken's blood. So they need regular health inspections.

We got our coop online for £120. It's quite a good design and we're really happy with it. I've made a couple of small adaptations to make it easier to secure at night. The rest of the equipment cost about £80. The chooks cost £11 each. All of which comes to £244. We've done a rough calculation and our eggs are going to cost us 80p for half a dozen. On average, half a dozen large free range eggs cost about £1.90. So that's half price.

Admittedly there is more work involved. You can't just pop to the shops and pick up half a dozen eggs. You have to collect them from where ever they've been laid. (Chickens don't always co-operate; just because you provide them with a nest box, it doesn't mean they'll lay there).

There's also the maintenance to consider. There are the delights of coop poop picking. Then there's the weekly clean out of the hen house and surrounding areas. Not to mention the trips to the poultry suppliers. Then there's the worry about foxy woxy. So it's not for you if you don't fancy any of the above. But so far, I'm enjoying it and I haven't had one egg yet!

Now we get to the joys of chicken keeping. The gentle contented clucking noises you can hear from the kitchen window. The pleasure of seeing them tootling around the garden when you look up from doing the dishes. Putting a worm in the run and watching them fight over it. Making them chase the light from your laser pointer. (Mean but very funny!) Their feather's are beautifully detailed and feel like satin.

The coral white is a real character. As I write this she's peering in the window looking at me. She jumped onto the wheelie bin and pecked at the window!!! Yesterday, I was watching their antics from the living room window. I realised I hadn't seen the white one for a minute. Then her head slowly rose up from under the window sill and one beady green eye was saucily sizing me up. I couldn't help thinking of a scene in Jurassic Park. Remember the bit where the game warden is hunting the escaped velociraptors? He thinks he's caught them and is about to shoot when he realises that it's a trap and he's the one being hunted after all. You get a look at the lead velociraptors beady eye; the warden says 'Clever girl' just before he gets eaten. I felt a bit like that, only with slightly less serious consequences. The actor playing the game warden was (rather ironically) called Bob Peck!

All I want now is some eggs!

Summary: You can't beat fresh home grown eggs.