Our youngest daughter Lauren (Bozzie to us), lives with her family about ¾ way up Mount Eilian near Amlwch on Anglesey and has embraced the whole country living thing. Recently she acquired several chickens and a duck. Which made Suzy, our second daughter and co-allotmenteer, a little envious since, for the past nine years, we have said on numerous occasions that we are going to get some chickens on the allotment but have never actually got round to it. Mainly because Paul always brings up the subject of who is going to be responsible for them. That was about to change when she and her daughter Jessie went over to babysit for Bozzie and her husband so they could go to a party and stay over at a friends house. Jessie was smitten with the chickens and before we knew it Bozzie had introduced her to the chicken breeder and she had picked out and named half a dozen. The first we knew about it was via a FaceTime call to show us “our chickens” and to be informed they would be arriving on the Sunday evening. After some mutterings and grumblings Paul set to the task in hand. Sunday morning saw him setting off early to our local B&Q for timber and chicken wire whilst I prepared our Sunday dinner so it was all ready to switch on when we came in. Then it was off down t’allotment for to spend the day constructing a chicken coop and deciding where would be best to put it.
Throughout the afternoon Suzy kept us informed of what was happening with the chickens and when they eventually set off for home; which was later than we expected so we had to have a rethink about where the chickens were going to stay for the night. As we have an old stable we decided they could be put in there. We were just finishing our very late Sunday dinner when Suzy, Jessie and the chickens arrived. A slight problem arose when we were taking the chickens through the house to the stable. The hen house they were in wouldn’t fit through our doors so Paul had to take the roof off, which meant trying to get a roofless henhouse through the house to the stable whilst preventing six young hens from making a bid for freedom and Alfie, our drooling Irish Setter, getting under everyone’s feet trying to play with them. Once in the stable Alfie was not impressed when we used his water bowl to give them some much needed water since they had been shut up for hours. Once they had drunk their fill and we’d all petted them and Alfie had drooled on them we replaced the roof and bedded them down for the night.
It was around mid to late morning before we got around to reversing the proceedings of the previous evening and getting the chickens to the allotment. Suzy had been shopping and arrived with all the gubbins we needed; feeders, water bowls, feed and grit; and she and Paul got the the chickens set up in their new home. To say he’s always avoided the chicken thing within a couple of hours Paul could recognise and name every one of them and you should hear the way he talks to “The Ladies” when we’re at the allotment. I think we’re going to have to enlarge their house and extend their run fairly soon though as they are growing at a fast rate. We are also looking at ways to make everything fox-proof since there are a few about the area. Suzy has made them a little gym and a ramp for the house and we have fallen into a nice little routine over the last week with Suzy letting them out in the morning when she drops Jessie off at school, Jessie visits them after school and we; or Paul if I’m busy; put them to bed in the evening. To be honest, I quite enjoy going down t’allotment and having a bit of a potter at the end of the day and having chickens is as good an excuse as any. We just have to wait for them to be old enough to start laying now
