Meet the Ladies of the Neath Nest

 

These are the gals on the first night we brought them home. Some of them were pretty henpecked at the time. They were pretty nervous that first evening. 

 

It didn't take long for them to settle in and start enjoying themselves. They love to take dirt baths in the garden. They often like to hang out in pairs.

 Bertha.

Marge.

 Molly.

 Finishing off their breakfast of spinich, hot mash, and pepper tops.

Peggy Sue, our top layer.

Lou Lou standing tall. Sometimes she thinks she is a rooster.

 Peggy Sue when she is not all puffed up.

 Marge in the front and Molly in the back.

 Bertha again. Her neck is always redder than Betty's.

Betty.

 Regrowth of feathers on Betty's back and wings.

 Molly. I love when she puffs up and looks all goofy.

 Marge likes to have her back scratched and isn't nearly as shy as Molly.

 Lou Lou up close. She has a lot of personality and comes running every time she sees me or Tim.

 

 Betty shortly after we got her. The "porcupine" looking things on her neck is regrowth of feathers.

 

 Betty today. Her neck feathers are filling in nicely.

 

 The eggs. Peggy Sue lays the egg in the upper left corner. We think that Lou Lou also lays this color, but are still in the works of figuring it out. The upper right egg is called a blue (even though it looks more green to me) and those are given to us by Marge and Molly. The brown eggs on bottom are courtesy of Betty and Bertha.

Having the hens around has overall been an enjoyable experience so far, but I can tell it is not for everyone. Every day I get up, make them some hot mash (I won't do this when it gets warmer) and put a treat on top, usually greens. We collect the eggs and put the hens away each evening. Once to twice a week the coop gets cleaned. We use the poop in our compost pile and are excited to use it in the garden this year. There is PLENTY of poop and hens are messy creatures.The eggs are delicious and I love knowing they are the eggs of cage free, happy hens.

We are also glad to have our big Rooster, thanks to Grant and Teri, to watch over his ladies. We haven't settled on a name for him yet, but I am liking the name "Big Earl." We'll see if it sticks.