Our three hens were rescue chickens. They are my first experience of keeping chickens and already our lives are so much richer for it! These girls had never seen anything other than the tiny cages they were kept in, and were literally egg laying machines. This clip is the first morning in our home. They had big patches of no feathers, sore red bums and were really timid.
They were only 18 months old, which is the age that they go off laying for a while why their adult feathers come in, so they would get slaughtered at this age as the battery farmers don't want to feed unproductive hens for the time they are not laying. I was so sad when I heard this, they're so young! And so, our beautiful ladies - Beyonce, Tina Turner and Princess Leia came to live with us late February 2022.
The life they had known prior to this was caged 24 hours a day in a tiny space, unable to stretch their wings - literally egg laying machines just there to eat, poop and lay.
It has been BEYOND WONDERFUL watching them discover the world around them. We have had them 3 months now, they are now free range back yard chickens and the cheekiest, fearless chikky babes, we all adore them! They come running towards you and have the funniest personalities. The noises they make are so cute! They cheep and chirp when they are happy and actually purr when they are super happy!!
Here is a little clip from the weekend where they were living their best lives in the sunshine, having a dust bath. The chicken on the right with the big tail feather is the one named Tina Turner. It has been so cool for her to aptly shake her tail feather! We are all very proud of that feather - she was the nakedest bird with the barest reddest backside and its SO LOVELY to see her (and all of them) getting their feathers and enjoying freedom
The chickens have been a fabulous source of inspiration and they feature in our newest Boopino colouring poster
