A scheme is hatched

It could all end badly. They may be a complete waste of space, just scratch and squawk and poo around all day eating us out of house and home. They may regard my attempt at gardening – a fragile and faintly disappointing endeavour at the best of times – with contempt and trample all over it, ripping the place up.  Or we may wake one morning to find them gone, nothing but a few traces of blood and the odd dismembered body part to remind us of them. It could all be a disaster. I’m forbidden to even think of eating them.

I'm talking, of course, about chickens, not teenagers. We are embarking on an experiment to keep some garden friendly chickens - if such a thing exists - in what will turn out to be a small garden. Actually a very small garden. Incredibly small. A small garden that is already something of a mecca for wild birds due to a conscientious feeding regime. A small garden that is a playground for several cats - two of which we own. A small garden that already hosts regular footy kick-abouts starring an exuberant seven year old with a tasty left foot. And now we intend to introduce some chickens. I ask you, what could possibly go wrong?

So preparations are under way even as I write. Breeders are being sourced, breeds researched, hen-keeping courses being checked out. Favoured birds at the moment are chooks called - possibly - Fizzles, or Banamans or Slickies. I'll let you know when I know. In the meantime we need to sort them out somewhere to live.

Here is the hen-house-to-be.

Observant readers may note its rather open aspect and generous ventilation – but it's undergoing a renovation at the moment. It used to house our rabbits (now sadly departed) – but apparently no self respecting chicken wants to live in an ex-rabbit hutch,  no matter how well appointed – so modifications are underway. It's also in-between colour schemes, hence its slightly queasy look – its moving from the blue colour scheme you can see hinted on the fence posts to one based around that shade of ‘whatever-it-is’ you can see on the house. (‘Warm clay’? ’Hazy sunshine’? ‘Baby sick’? – I don’t know, I just paint what I’m told.)

We are doing our homework. The hutch-now-soon-to-be-coop will of course require some additional features,  a nesting box on the side, some roosting perches and a few other things I haven’t got around to thinking about yet; probably a nice veranda and a couple of window boxes. I suspect the path that led from the rabbits’ front gate up the rabbits’ front garden to the rabbits’ front door (no, I'm not kidding) may be a fairly unique feature for a chicken coop. Probably a temporary one as well.

We'll see how it all turns out. Will we get a steady supply of eggs, or will a neighbouring fox have a take-away blow-out to remember? The adventure begins.....