Sasha had been complaining about something, non stop, for about twenty minutes. My neighbour was working from home, so I eventually went out to see what she was complaining about (Sasha, not the neighbour).
I couldn't see anything. I couldn't see Poppy, so I assumed Poppy must be in the nest box with Gloria and that Sasha wanted to lay. I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch Sasha. I gave up. It's too hot to be chasing chooks.
I went back to mulling over my sewing pattern, and Sasha started again. This time she was sitting n the floor in the run, and she shut up and ran away when I arrived. I heard some chicken purring, which is such a lovely sound.
It came from a make-shift dustbath located under one of the Cubes. Poppy and |Gloria were having a happy and contented communal dustbath. Both girls were purring, and I watched them from a distance so I didn't disturb them.
I tried to work out how old they are. I checked my spreadsheet, and found that the are 5 now! I perused the spreadsheet looking at all the hens over all the years.
Our oldest girl, Siouxsie Sioux, is now 8. She still lays occasionally, and she doesn't look her age. Next are Norah and Batty, who are now 6. Then we have Henry and four of the Harem Girls (who are all from the same hatch, but have various mums) who are 5. Camilla, Big Bird, and three Harem girls, all five of them Henry's offspring, are 3. And finally Barbara (daughter of Nora) and a gorgeous Harem girl are now 1 year old. Barbara is the spitting image of Roobarb, who was one of then hens who died in the fox attack
With so many hens of the same age (5), I guess we're going to end up losing a few fairly close together at some point. Hopefully not too soon.
By the way, Sasha has been shut in the Cooler (one of the wooden nest boxes) again. I'm thinking of changing her name to Hilts*. I've set a timer so I don't forget about her..
(*Steve McQueen's character in The Great Escape)
.
