Our new hens have now taken up residence in “Le Grand Hotel Poulet” at the bottom of our garden. They’ve definitely moved up the property ladder with plenty of space, beautiful nesting boxes, and lots of perch area. David spent all of Sunday converting a small shed at the bottom of the garden into a suitable residence.

It was quite a task. Their were rotten planks to be mended (so that Mr Foxy couldn’t get in), a small sliding hen door cut out, perches to be made, nesting boxes to be installed, and a window to be boarded up. The result was a hen house fit for the finest hens in the country.

So what did the hens think about it? They were extremely inquisitive the whole time it was being built and kept poking their heads through their little door. Once allowed in they came in rather tentatively. We’ve got a plastic sheet on the floor which they found a little slippery. We think we might have to put some straw down for them. We put them in around dusk and shut the door. After 5 minutes or so we checked them to see where they were roosting. Four out of the five had got the right idea and chosen the perch. One, however, thought she would sleep in the nesting box. We’re not too keen on this as we prefer to have nice clean eggs in the morning. We had to take her out about 3 times before she got the idea. For some reason she doesn’t want to perch and so just roosted on the floor.

And our old hens? Well they’ve been downgraded into a smaller retirement home, the ark. We need the greenhouse for our veg and this was really the driving force behind building Le Grand Hotel. I’m afraid chickens and young tender seedlings just don’t mix.

Our hens do not like the snow. At all. I opened up their hatch on Sunday morning, and half and hour later they were all still inside. Usually they would be straight out and diving into their food. They must have been hungry too because it had been a cold night. But there was all this unusual white stuff around and they just didn’t know what to make of it. I walked round to the end of the ark just to watch them. This obviously enboldened one of them as she decided to fly up onto the perch. What she didn’t realise was that, because of the snow, it was incredibly slippy and so she skidded off and landed right in the middle of the very stuff she was trying to avoid! Amusing for us. She just stood there unable to move. Their feet and legs are warm and so they can obviously feel the cold but they’re used to scrabbling about in cold mud which never seems to bother them. We think they don’t like the fact that you sink into the snow, as they walk very gingerly. David cleared a little patch of snow and that’s where all 5 of them stood for the rest of the day. I’m sure the hens in the greenhouse must have had a good chuckle as they scritch scratched in the soil as normal.

I love seeing all the footprints in the snow that the birds and animals make. Bird prints are very distinctive and criss-cross the garden. More worryingly I also came across some fox prints which I followed across the decking and then all the way round the hen’s fencing. He’s sure to be able to smell the hens, he’s just never seen them and we need to keep it that way. We’ll have to be extra vigilant now that it’s been so cold, as they are more likely to come out in the daytime.