The Bantam Blog, My Garden Treasures

Rose Petal Eggs

28/3/2014

Rose Petals and Chickens

My chickens like to eat rose petals. One of my roses had dropped a couple of dozen petals of one of its flowers as it aged.

These petals lay in a pile under the rose bush. When the chickens came out to play in my garden they found these petals.

Our little black Silkie hen was the first to start on the petals, and in no time, other hens had joined her and the pile of petals disappeared.

When I went into the garden later, I found that the hens had also eaten half of another one of my roses.

Ah, well, we are in for some Rose Petal eggs in a few days. I wonder if they will be any different? Will they taste of rose petals?

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Chicken Combs

12/3/2014

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What is a Chicken Comb?

A comb on a hen or rooster is that red protuberance on the top of their head. It can be different shapes and sizes and even different colours.Today we are just talking about the shape.

The rooster's comb is on the top of his head.

With a glance at this magnificent creature you can see why it is called a comb on the top of his head. It has all the teeth on it, just like a comb we comb out hair with. Roosters have a larger comb than hens do.

The hen's comb is smaller. When it is nice and red you know that there are eggs on the way. The chicken is looking very healthy.

Peacombs and Rosecombs

This little hen has a different sort of comb. It is called a Peacomb. It is short and stumpy and a little bumpy. It stays low to the head. Peacombs are good for very cold areas where it snows. Because the comb is short and close to the head it is less likely to freeze.

A Rosecomb is a variation of the Peacomb. The comb is a little larger and a little different shape.

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Photo Gallery of Chickens

6/3/2014

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In the last few months my chickens have grown and, hopefully, there will be eggs from the new pullets soon.

Here are some photos of them and their new home.

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Chickens in the Garden

3/3/2014

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What is a Pullet?

A pullet is a young hen in the first year of her life. She is a first time layer. When a pullet starts to lay her eggs are smaller than an adult hen's eggs.

Our young pullets have just turned twenty weeks old. Now the books tell us that they can start laying any time from now on. We will watch and wait. The pullets from last year were about ten months before they started to lay.

First Big Afternoon in the Garden
A couple of days ago the pullets were allowed into the back garden for the first time. They have their own run and this was their first time out into the big garden.

Plan of chicken house and run

I had planted silver beet plants around the outside of their house and they had to pass this to get into the garden. Yes, you're right. They didn't get too far into the garden. And yes, you are right again. There are no leaves left on my silver beet plants. However I had harvested most of the bigger leaves for ourselves first.

Today I let the little hens out again. They took a while to get out their gate but as there were no silver beet leaves left they moved on into the garden for the first time.

Can the Pullets Find Their Way Home? Expecting the pullets to find their own way back to their shed, we kept peeping out to see if they had gone in for the night. It was 8.15pm and almost dark when there were still two of these little creatures wandering about.

One of them was on the back doorstep. We could not understand this then realized that they could not find their way back to their house. Poor little creatures. They had been attracted to the light of our living room.

Chickens Cannot See in the Dark Now, chickens cannot see in the dark. This is why they go to bed with the evening light. They are different to ducks and geese.

We used to have geese who wandered freely. They were especially active at night on the full moon. They honked under our bedroom window all night long as they grazed on our front lawn. (We lived on a farm in those days.)

Ducks can also see at night but not chickens. However chickens are 'up with the birds' in the morning. Remember how roosters wake everyone up at 5.30am?

Home at Last We went out and guided the pullets back to their shed. They quickly jumped up into the box where they all sleep together and peace reigned.

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Author

I'm a mad chicken lady - had them for over forty years. We've always had bantams until this year when we have added some standard size chicks. Never again. I also love gardening and painting. Oh, and writing.

We live on the south coast of Australia on the eastern side, 5800 kilometres from the South Pole.

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What is a Chicken Comb?

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What is a Pullet?

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