Finally we are happy to report that Posh is now laying, she started laying a week after we noticed her crouching. We could not confirm she was laying as Pecks takes a day off occasionally. That was until two eggs appeared on Friday 27th when we found one egg first thing in the morning and another about midday. Two eggs in one day!

It looks like she’d laid her first egg on Wednesday. We had assumed it was one of Pecks’ eggs but a closer inspection revealed it was paler and when we came to eat it the shell was thinner so it must have been her gearing up production.
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Well it’s just over 9 weeks ago that our chickens Posh and Pecks arrived. Pecks started crouching approximately 4 weeks ago and to date she has laid five GREAT eggs ; 14/3 16/3 17/3 19/3 20/3

Both chickens are approximately 25 weeks old. When they arrived the sun was rising at 07.53hrs and was setting about 16.31hrs. Nowadays, the sun rises at 06.00hrs and sets at 18.51hrs. Since the days are getting longer their treat time is now around 5pm instead 3.30pm and they have a lot more active time.
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Late this afternoon, on the 53rd day of having Posh and Pecks, we are proud to announce that our first egg was laid by Pecks today! At least we think it's hers as she has been crouching a while and has been hogging the nest box the last three nights.

John holding Pecks first egg!
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Whilst I was out with chickens this afternoon it decided to rain, so rather than put the chickens back in the run and go inside (as we never leave the hens unsupervised) I decide to open up the canopy over the raised decking.

Louise

The girls seem to appreciate this and spent their time looking through and pecking at the patio window into the lounge much to the amusement of our cats Thelma and Louise.
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I have not had much time with the girls this week owing to working late and night shifts, so I decided to spend a majority of the afternoon with them.

Today I thought I’d try the chickens on some probiotic yoghurt mixed with their usual afternoon treat of bokashi bran and Bill Oddies mealworm crumble.

Stuffing their faces
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The pecking order I think is really hard to spot; over the last month since the hens arrived I have been trying to work out who is the boss. I had initially thought Posh was top of the pecking order as at first she seemed the pushy one although I have come to the conclusion that she is the friendliest and most inquisitive, leading us to believe she is top dog by using our non-chicken values.
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This will be the first weekend that we have left Posh and Pecks on their own. We have although arranged for our friends Mark and Shelley to come round to check on them.

We will ensure that the Eglu door is opened also that the water and food is topped up prior to us leaving on Saturday morning.

We have left the following instructions as its Mark and Shelley’s first time.

No need to empty the poop tray or let the hens out to free range as they will be fine over the weekend.

The girls generally put themselves to bed around 5pm so anytime after that you can lock the Eglu door.
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To ensure the chickens had a good workout this afternoon I decided to arrange a chicken version of a football match Pecks v Posh.

For the football I used the Treat Tumbler (for rabbits and guinea pigs) which we had previously purchased for approx £3 from the store Pets At Home

Treat Tumbler
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A friend commented to me after we said we had chickens that they will be good for fresh eggs and two roast dinners. I could see the funny side as he was kidding although we have no intention of eating our hens.
As much as I love to eat chicken I would not consider eating our chickens Posh and Pecks they are not just egg layers they are part of the family
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Posh and Pecks love their afternoon free ranging in the garden as they generally get a handful of meal worms between them.

Although recently, we have decided to reduce their treats for a week to ensure that they eat all of their layers pellets as we have added some Flubenvet which is a game bird and poultry wormer. We have 2 hens and the recommended dosage per hen (per week) after you break down the huge sizes on the label is:

1Kg of feed and a quarter of a teaspoon of Flubenvet…tiny amount!
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