New arrivals

Introducing Merlin (left) and Polly (right), the newest additions to our gang.

They are beautifully fluffy, roughly twenty weeks old and not quite at the point of lay. With the sudden loss of Fanjio and a slight reduction in eggs due to the dark days also, we have found ourselves not able to bake as I am loathe to buy eggs because I don't want to eat an egg which has potentially come from a hen who has not lived well. Perish the thought of no cakes! We called around the local farms which sometimes do battery but they weren't dealing in hens right now - just turkeys, hence we ended up with these two barn beauties from a local farmer.

Polly may well come into lay within a week or two. I'm sure she's older than Merlin as she has more comb and wattle (the red bit on the top of the head and below the beak).

We brought them home when nana was at church yesterday and they had gone to roost by the time she came home. We decided not to tell her and let it be a surprise when she let them out this morning. Polly (the brown Fanjio lookalike) came out first and nana looked like she was about to keel over with shock. Gave us all (including nana once she was over the shock) a good laugh to start the day.

We still aim to rescue ex batts. Hopefully come summer.