Letter for all those who have loved and lost a 'girl'
To Keeping Chickens Newsletter subscribers from Susan in Melbourne, Australia
Rule 1. Don't name your girls...I started with A for Anita and by the letter T and with only 5 girls to show for the alphabet, I decided it was emotionally safer to just call them 'girls'.
Rule 2. All herding dogs will herd - feather or fur or wool! Be prepared to introduce dogs on a lead and accept that they will have to admire your 'girls' through a fence. It's a very strong instinct to herd/chase and the girls simply don't have the heart for it.
Rule 3. Fences are made to fly over or wriggle under. I have divided my yard nicely with 4 foot lattice fencing. It has created a lovely backdrop for our garden and a freeway for the girls! Yes, I have trimmed a wing on each but they still manage easily to 'bank' over the fence. I am reluctant to totally remove their main defence mechanism for escaping predators including the deaf cat from next door.
Rule 4. Foxes will hunt anytime of the day. My previous hen house was broken into 3 times and each time I reinforced the walls with another layer of wire, then wood. I started to feel like one of the three pigs! Then the fox broke in through the wire roof of the run. I now have a welded mesh house with mesh floor. Most nights, after putting the girls to bed, I let the dogs run around the yard, leaving wet messages on the bushes, etc. This seems to ward off the foxes during the day while we are at work.
Rule 5. Be careful where you bury your dearly departed girls - their sisters have a gruesome tendency to dig them up (or the dog)! Apparently it isn't considered good manners to drop them into your neighbours garbage bin either...oops! (I had run out of ground space)
Rule 6. Your girls will lay way past their 'best by date'. As a result of bonding, feeding and protection, the eggs get bigger and better tasting. Even if they are old and can't lay anymore, they are still eating garden pests and delight in seeing you in the garden. Probably best not to dwell on what goes into their egg production - eewww
Rule 7. Try and go vegetarian for a month a year. It's a good reminder of all the other foods that are out there. It honours and recognises the importance of all life, especially our 'girls'.
Thanks for the newsletter and I love some of the designer hen houses! It's got me thinking about what to design when we move to live at the beach - at least a small surfboard as a ramp up to some beach sheds???!!!
Susan, Melbourne, Australia and enjoying a beautiful, balmy autumn/fall.
To Keeping Chickens Newsletter subscribers from Susan in Melbourne, Australia
Rule 1. Don't name your girls...I started with A for Anita and by the letter T and with only 5 girls to show for the alphabet, I decided it was emotionally safer to just call them 'girls'.
Rule 2. All herding dogs will herd - feather or fur or wool! Be prepared to introduce dogs on a lead and accept that they will have to admire your 'girls' through a fence. It's a very strong instinct to herd/chase and the girls simply don't have the heart for it.
Rule 3. Fences are made to fly over or wriggle under. I have divided my yard nicely with 4 foot lattice fencing. It has created a lovely backdrop for our garden and a freeway for the girls! Yes, I have trimmed a wing on each but they still manage easily to 'bank' over the fence. I am reluctant to totally remove their main defence mechanism for escaping predators including the deaf cat from next door.
Rule 4. Foxes will hunt anytime of the day. My previous hen house was broken into 3 times and each time I reinforced the walls with another layer of wire, then wood. I started to feel like one of the three pigs! Then the fox broke in through the wire roof of the run. I now have a welded mesh house with mesh floor. Most nights, after putting the girls to bed, I let the dogs run around the yard, leaving wet messages on the bushes, etc. This seems to ward off the foxes during the day while we are at work.
Rule 5. Be careful where you bury your dearly departed girls - their sisters have a gruesome tendency to dig them up (or the dog)! Apparently it isn't considered good manners to drop them into your neighbours garbage bin either...oops! (I had run out of ground space)
Rule 6. Your girls will lay way past their 'best by date'. As a result of bonding, feeding and protection, the eggs get bigger and better tasting. Even if they are old and can't lay anymore, they are still eating garden pests and delight in seeing you in the garden. Probably best not to dwell on what goes into their egg production - eewww
Rule 7. Try and go vegetarian for a month a year. It's a good reminder of all the other foods that are out there. It honours and recognises the importance of all life, especially our 'girls'.
Thanks for the newsletter and I love some of the designer hen houses! It's got me thinking about what to design when we move to live at the beach - at least a small surfboard as a ramp up to some beach sheds???!!!
Susan, Melbourne, Australia and enjoying a beautiful, balmy autumn/fall.
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