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Mary Dohnal gets some chickens – a cracking idea? You decide…

Three weeks ago, after mild persuasion by my 15-year-old son, I decided to get three hens. He calculated that we consume, on average, three free-range eggs a day at about 30 pence each (£6.30 a week x 52 week= 327 pounds!).  Although we probably over-estimated our egg bill, as I have three sons I was easily convinced that a few girls might balance things out a bit.

Three days, and three eggs later, and I am now reflecting on the reality of our decision. The first thing I have discovered is that chickens poo a lot. They are also mildly destructive and in these respects they are a bit like young toddlers. Because we have a toddler already things did feel momentarily chaotic and I immediately thought I had made a huge mistake.

“There’s an egg!” announced my two-year-old after opening the egg hatch for the hundredth time. When he reached in and brought out one little white egg my initial thought was that it must be a fake or a toy as it seemed far too sudden. We all gathered round to hold it in amazement.  The comforting warmth of a freshly laid egg makes for a truly magical moment.

By day three, one hen (named Fifa Chicaneisha*) has laid all three porcelain white eggs. Apparently hens with white ears lay white eggs.  I have gathered many other hen facts over the last three weeks; hen’s love grapes and slugs but can’t eat rhubarb or avocado skins. We allow them to roam free for most of the day as both of us work from home and can keep an eye on them. The other two hens are still too young to lay and spend their days wandering around pecking and pooing.

We hope to be in egg credit after about a year; and we bought a secondhand Eglu to house them in which is brilliant but not cheap (eBay £220). A hen also costs about £20 at ‘point-of-lay’, which is at around 16 weeks old. I’m starting to realise that it might not be not be that economical, especially as we chose smaller hens and our first fried egg was the size of a coaster.  Hopefully our Brahma hen will lay bigger ones once she gets going.  At the moment she is busy growing huge fluffy feather booties.

The great thing about hens is that you can pick and choose a variety of breeds and they all get along once the pecking order has been established. This seems to have happened already with our girls and our little Japanese Bantum called Blueberry is clearly the current leader. She leaves the coop first and isn’t scared of the dog, the cats or the toddler. We’ve even had a few cuddles with her at bedtime. I’m not sure how much hens really like to be handled, despite it being recommended in all the books.

So three days in and I am still perched on the fence reviewing our decision.  We chose our hens for looks rather than egg size and the novelty of the tiny egg is fading fast. But despite that, the kids seem to genuinely love them and they are both funny and also very mellow. This interesting combination makes them very enjoyable to be around. I am particularly in awe of their ability to be so relaxed and appear at home in our crazy family. And for that I am growing to respect them, because despite the initial chaos their effect is definitely strangely peaceful.

*Oh dear. Day four: Fifa, our egg-laying friend, is missing. We are so sad.

INFO:

• A Classic Eglu can house about three or four small hens.  Purchase at http://www.omlet.co.uk. We also have a fox-proof skirt on the run.
• We purchased our hens from Golden Valley Poultry Farm.
• We also read Chickens, The Essential Guide, by Suzie Baldwin before making any decisions.

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