It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

and its fair to say the girls are not liking it!

Been a bit quiet on the blog front lately. Emma is now in her last month of pregnancy and to say she isn't enjoying it is an understatement! She is now (in her own words) Huge! She is also struggling to walk due to her SPD/pelvic girdle pain (she's actually been given crutches by the physio its that bad) and she has been in slow labour for 3 weeks now. Lots of contractions but they dont progress. This now means that she struggles to do general house chores which means they get picked up by the rest of us (did i mention we now have a cleaner??). Em tries to do the chickens everyday but it doesnt always happen - and she hates it.

Anyway, back to the chickens! We have been having A LOT of frost lately and they do not like it. We have no greenery in the garden as it is (thanks to the girls eating it all) so when they do get to free range they struggle finding anything, or scratch at the ground (as its just frozen). They try to get to the seed that's down for the birds, so that keeps them occupied, and also chase off any wild birds that come into the garden - they are quite territorial! 

We are starting to give them a handful each of mixed corn before bed - apparently as its high protein it helps keep them warm at night when they are digesting it. We have also filled the coop with more bedding to try to keep it warmer. Its getting to -4 at nights now. We overslept the other morning and didnt get up until 7.45am to let them out. Normally by this time they would be awake a clucking, but nothing. Emma did wonder if they were still alive! When we opened the coop to let them out, they were not impressed and took a while to come out! 

We are still averaging between 3 and 5 eggs a day (usually 5) but I think thats more due to their age! This time next year may be a different matter.

So to try to keep them occupied, we have had a cabbage hanging from the run (they like this), brussel sprouts (they dont like them) and Emma also gave them a bowl of (dolphin friendly) tuna and grated cheese - its fair to say they LOVE that. Turns out chickens will eat pretty much everything!!!

Tomorrow we are trying them on pomegranates!