Last night we went to Mum and Dad's for a barbeque to make the most of the sunshine, so I went armed with my camera to get some pictures of the animals (well the chickens and next door's two horses).
Here are the girls in their enclosure, right next to the vegetable patch (you can see the runner beans to the left - and they look very good too!) The chickens are let out into the garden during the day if Mum and Dad are home, otherwise they stay in their pen as its safer. They are well trained now and put themselves away at night all on their own! They've got quite a bit of room in their pen, but I think they prefer being let out :o)
here you can see their hen house a bit better - Dad decided to paint it green and I think it was a choice well made. if you look closely inside the enclosure you can see the fruit trees that the chickens can eat any of the windfall apples and pears that they want. There is also another tree to the right hand side outside the pen.
Today we let the chickens out but had to get them in sooner as Mum and Dad were going out. We had fun catching them as they didn't want to go in and they were running up and down between the beans! I had fun catching two that were running round and round the tree! Lucky that as soon as you put your hand on their backs, they squat down and let you pick them up.
Here you can see the girls a bit closer. The lightest hen on the top right is the only ex battery hen they have and since she arrived she is top of the pecking order - most likely as she is the oldest one. They are all friendly and always run over to you when you go to see them. If you walk alongside the pen they always follow - probably as they think you have goodies for them!
The horses wanted to go out in the field, so I let them out (wasn't I daring, especially when wearing sandals!) Bonnie ventured a bit further afield (you can see her in the background) than Brooklyn, who didn't get much further than the gate before putting her head down and munching away! its a hard life being a horse!
She was nice enough to pose for me in this picture - as I said she didn't go far from the gate, hence the lovely picture of her next to the dung heap (where dad had the endless supply of manure for the vegetables).
Mrs. Cluck finally decided to put in an appearance yesterday much to Leah's delight. She is slightly obsessed with chickens thanks to my Dad or 'Grandad Chick-chick' as she likes to call him.
