Fowl NOT Foul -May, June 1999

In May 1999 the garden was in crisis. Over winter we had unusually wet weather for the south-west of England (which is normally very wet anyway!!), which rendered the garden a total quagmire. Most of the grass stopped growing, and when the weather suddenly dried out the mud in the garden was baked solid, like concrete, and the grass couldn't penetrate back through the solid surface properly. When it did, the fowl pecked it off immediately. The garden badly needed a break from the fowl.

Our next-door neighbours are friendly people, and kindly agreed to let us borrow half their back garden for a while in return for eggs - they do not have time to use their garden or cultivate it at present, as they have very young children. The geese, however, were not allowed access to the neighbours' garden for safety reasons, as the gander could easily bite a curious baby's fingers, hand or ear off.

After fencing off the kindly-lent garden and setting out food, water, shelter and nestbox points, I placed the chickens in their new enclosure. At first they were concerned to be in unfamiliar surroundings, and repeatedly they all escaped back into their original enclosure! But after a few days of getting used to things, they began to enjoy exploring amongst the lush new grass and raspberry canes.

The geese appeared pleased that the chickens were out of their way, and were even more pleased when I allowed them access to my entire garden - after having fenced off my young growing vegetables of course! The goose (Sian the Brecon Buff) showed her appreciation by going broody. She built a huge and perfectly shaped nest in her house with dried grass and shredded paper, and carefully lined it with feathers she had found and soft down which she had pulled from her belly and chest. She sat on her nest for most of the day, every day, coming off occaisionally to eat, drink, defecate and wash herself. Pseudo-Swan the Embden gander became highly protective of her, and would stand guard next to the door of the house so that nothing could disturb his precious goose. Whenever I approached with food or fresh water, Pseudo would come running toward me, feathers fluffed, neck lowered and honking! If I was holding something he'd never seen before, he'd grab it with his beak, hold tightly, and hit the offending object with the front of his wings!

Below: Various pictures of Sian on her nest, closely guarded by Pseudo-Swan her faithful gander. As you can see, Sian shouted at me to go away while I took these pictures !

One day, while Sian the goose was out of her nest washing, I took a peek inside the goosehouse to see how many eggs she was incubating. She only had one, and I retreated quickly before the gander came to challenge me. Honking loudly, Sian rushed back to her nest to check if I had tampered with it, closely followed by Pseudo-Swan. Satisfied that I had not disturbed anything, she gently settled herself back onto her egg. We have deciede to let Sian hatch only a few eggs, as we don't want to be over-run with noisy geese making a mess everywhere !

On Friday 21st May, Roadkill laid her first ever egg - a little white egg with silky smooth shell and the reddest yolk I have ever seen in a first egg from any pullet ! (when any pullet lays her first ever egg, the yolk is usually a lovely deep orange colour - Roadkill's was almost red !) It must have come as a surprise to her !!. Roadkill was one of the chicks hatched on 16th October 1998. Her chickhood and adolescence were fraught with problems - her legs kept malfunctioning, and she needed to have constant vitamin supplements to prevent this from happening - I almost took her to the Vet for euthanasia while she was very badly crippled, as I couldn't stand to see her that way. Now she does not need vitamins anymore, and is a perfectly healthy and happy adult chicken.

I have often thought about taking a chicken to a Livestock Show, and a perfect opportunity will arise in July. A Show will be held on Saturday 3rd July, in a large park in Stroud, Gloucestershire. The Agricultural section of the Show has a very large class range, covering Sheep, Goats, Cattle, Pigs, Turkeys, Geese, Ducks and bantam ducks, Large Fowl and bantam fowl. There are also classes for Wool, Eggs and hand-decorated eggs. All animals and birds entered must be pure breeds. Most of the serious exhibitors entering the Show will have been breeding and perfecting their animals for years and years - I am merely entering the Show for fun, and if I win anything I will be extremely surprised!!

Class:	My Planned Entry:
Large Fowl, Heavy Breed - Female	Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma (Partridge Brahma hen)
Large Fowl, Heavy Breed - Female	White Tara (Light Sussex hen)
Eggs-3 White Bantam	Laid by Biscuit
Eggs-3 White Bantam	Laid by Roadkill
Eggs-1 White Bantam	Laid by Biscuit
Eggs-1 White Bantam	Laid by Roadkill
Egg - Best Decorated by an Adult	4 planned entries

On 27th May I was shocked to discover that Sian the goose had thrown the egg she was incubating out of her nest, and it was broken. I don't know why she did this, maybe she thought that there was something wrong with the egg.

The hens continued to enjoy their extended freedom in the extra area of garden we began to rent in May. The geese thoroughly enjoyed having the freedom of the whole garden, and made nuisances of themselves by leaning over the protective fencing around my vegetables, and eating the tops off my corn and onions ! After the geese had bent the fencing over by leaning on it, the hens gained access, scratching up young carrots, pecking cabbages and cauliflowers down to mere stumps - the only thing they didn't touch were the broad beans !

The weather had warmed up, with less rain, which the chickens enjoyed - they don't particularly like being wet !

On 10th June one of the chickens produced a tiny egg. It was only 2 centimetres wide and 3 centimetres long - a perfectly formed egg, only tiny. On the following day there was another even tinier egg ! The chickens haven't produced any more of these extra small eggs since 11th June.

On 11th and 12th June I took Prunella for a walk down to the post box with me. I carried her the whole way, and she was totally relaxed throughout the journey, resting her bodyweight on my arm and letting her legs dangle freely in the air . As I walked, Pruie took care to have a good look around. She was extremely interested in the surroundings, but did not try to escape once. As this had gone so well, I took Duracell on the following day, and she behaved impeccably also.

On Saturday 19th June the fowl went on holiday - a short break to Haresfield, a tiny country village seven miles away. There the ex-battery hens would meet the other ex-battery hens (Eileen's chickens) which were rescued with them, on 31st October 1998. When our fowl arrived, they were put into an old goat pen so that they could familiarise themselves with their environment for their first day in new surroundings. That way, they would know the goat pen as 'home' and come back to it every evening. They were free to roam as far as they wanted to, and had the potential to go for miles, as 95% of the surrounding area is open farmland. I did not see the fowl meet the other ex-battery hens and their flock-mate (a maran with a twisted foot), but I knew there would be fights which the birds would have to settle themselves.

The only bird which stayed here was Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma, who needed to be kept smart for the Stroud Show on July 3rd (we had not decide to take White Tara in the end, as she looked too scruffy). The Brahma lived in the Poultry Ark, which was placed in the rented part of the garden. But the Brahma was lonely, and spent hours trying to escape from the Ark. She scraped her feet against the wire so much that she gave herself blisters on the undersides of all her toes, so we brought Ernie, Biscuit and Roadkill back from Haresfield to keep her company.

The rest of the chickens and the geese came back on 24th June, in the morning. In the afternoon, little 9-Volt exhibited some unusual behaviour - she started to crow. Hens should not crow, only cockerals should. 9-Volt's crow was not as well-developed as a cockeral's, as he would articulate five syllables, and 9-Volt could only do three - making her sound like a croaky, high pitched, loud and angry male woodpidgeon!. She crowed intermittently throughout the afternoon and evening, extending her hackles each time as a cockeral would. I have no idea why 9-Volt is trying to crow like this!

Since the flock returned on 24th June, there was nothing but trouble. Whilst on their 'holiday' in Haresfield, they had learnt and finely honed the skills of the escape artist. Some of them had remembered their new-found talent, and didn't hold back their use of it on their return home. The main culprits were Prunella, Duracell and Varta, with Nicad and Alkacell as close runners-up. These five birds would tend to escape as a 'team', and go exploring around the local area. This couldn't be allowed here in Stroud, as there are too many roads, and the neighbours do not appreciate having their gardens scratched to pieces by escaped chickens. Also, their droppings would be a hazard for small children. The birds had to be prevented from escaping, and on 30th June, after many failed attempts I finally discovered how the birds were getting out, and stopped them.