The brilliant idea...

My mom came up with a brilliant idea over the weekend when she was feeding her chickens.

She decided that she would create a sand bath for the chickens to go in.



All this really consisted off was a plastic tub with a bit of sand from my nephew's sand box.

At first when the chickens saw the new sand bath in their pen they have no idea what it actually was and began pecking at the sand.



Later on when we looked outside we saw that Ronnie had decided to step into the bath and move around inside.



Seems a success but I still don't think that the chickens have the right idea.

Oh the embarrassment

Recently it was my sister's birthday so we all went out together for a meal.

After we all finished eating my Mom asked my Grandma for the lettuce and she began wrapping it up in a napkin. Later on I caught her wrapping up tomatoes.

And then chips.

We all looked confused and when we asked: "err what are you doing?"

My Mom replied: "It's for my girls."

Now I think I have mentioned this many times in my blog, this is what my Mom calls her chickens. The girls. Even though she has 5 daughters.

It's fair to say that the chickens (her girls) did enjoy the food that 'their Mommy' bought back but still we all thought it was crazy.

Chickens do eat a lot of left overs, potatoes and pasta being their favourite (obviously it has to be cooked first).

To be honest though my Mom does love her chickens.

The chickens keep escaping out of the pen!

Well since we had chickens they were free to run freely around our garden but after they ruined the grass (as it became muddy) and they attacked my mom's vegetable patch we decided that we would create an area just for the chickens.

We bought a pen that goes around the area where the hens eglus are, so that they still have their freedom but don't ruin the garden.

Even though every so often they still get out, and we (by we I mean my parents and little sister) spend some time getting them back into their pen area when they escape.

Our garden has since started recovering but their is only one other problem. When we put bread out in the chicken area, our dog Bertie becomes jealous and wants to eat the chicken's food. So this results in him getting his head stuck through the mesh.



To be fair this is probably how the chickens are escaping. Through the holes where we have to cut the dog out. Bertie the dog still won't learn though all because he loves food so much.

Life - guard to help our chickens

Recently the ex battery chickens have had trouble laying eggs and out of 6 chickens we have been lucky to get 3 eggs.



So when I went home one weekend my mom decided to go to a shop called AK feeds in Shenstone.

She asked one of the experts who works there what she could do, and was told that it could be that they need more vitamins.

They suggested a supplement called:

Life-Guard
The slogan on the bottle says: 'Happy Hens Lay better eggs more often'

This is a complementary feed for chickens, also suitable for ducks, geese and all domestic fowl, and it is a natural supplement.

It is really easy to give to the chickens. All you have to do is add to the drinking water:

Maintenance 25ml to 10 litres of water
Poor condition 25ml to 2 litres.

Now we just have to wait and see if it has made any difference to the chickens.