Guest Article By Nadine Kingsley you may know her as @NorfolkBrahma
Hi my name is Nadine and my passion is chickens and I’m very lucky to live in a lovely house in rural Norfolk with a garden big enough for me to keep over 100 birds. I also love gardening and growing veggies. So that’s me then...
Right now I’m sitting in my office looking out the window at the field beyond, where I can see a bright shaft of sunlight playing on the farm gate. Usually there are cows in the field who come and stare over the hedge, but today they are off somewhere else. Instead I can see two wonderfully large wood pigeons sunning themselves in the last of the day’s rays. There’s a slight chill in the air which makes me think I should put on a woolly when I go out later to close up the chickens for the night. Today I let the chickens out of their pens to enjoy possibly one of the last long summer days before autumn takes over; you can smell its approach in the air.
It’s the time of year when you get the feeling that there are jobs to be done and time is running out. I have a very short list hanging on the kitchen wall – the only problem is some other urgent job always comes up and we don’t do the jobs on the list! Sounds familiar? But we did clean out, disinfect and paint our chicken coops so that they will be ready to face any winter storms, snow and ice. The coops are now all cozy and ready for my boys and girls to settle down into each night.
Chickens are fussy creatures!
They hate drafts and are not too fond of getting wet - that’s not a good look for feathers. They are also creatures of habit: each morning I’m greeted by a wonderful chorus of clucking and crowing until they get their breakfast. Then it’s every hen for herself as they fight for the best seat at the diner. No manners here: “That morsel is mine!” clucks one hen to another.
This feed will take some time, then it’s on to preening and cleaning. It’s so important to arrange your feathers in their best order - after all a hen has to look her best. While the hens are busy arranging themselves I will check all the nest boxes for fresh eggs. Our eggs come in all colours: blue from our Legbars, chocolate brown from our Marans, honey coloured from our Rhode Island Reds and beige and cream from our Brahmas. We get such a wonderful selection and they look so good lying in my basket ready for me to put into boxes to sell at my garden gate.Nothing tastes like a fresh egg in the morning. I like mine soft boiled with soldiers – bliss with a hot cup of tea. Then it’ll be back out to the garden to weed the veggie beds for an hour or two before we stop for another cup of tea. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is – it’s always nice to sit outside for a bit and watch the chickens, wild birds, butterflies, busy bees, whatever is around. There’s always something to marvel at and take the breath away.
(c) Nadine Kingsley 2011 www.norfolkbrahmas.com
