Mother Hen

We found out recently that this little grey hen was laying her eggs in the undergrowth underneath our bedroom window. She'd wait until we let her out in the morning and then make a dash for the back of the house.

But we tracked down her clutch of eggs eventually and ended up putting 20 eggs on the compost heap.

The next morning, I chased her up the hill, barely keeping up. She headed straight for the bushes where she'd been laying. I arrived just after her and then three roosters turned up. Poor old hen was confused by the lack of eggs, scratching around looking for them, and then embarrassed by all the attention. She wouldn't settle down and after a good hunt around, went wandering off to find another place to lay.

I left her alone and retreated to the house. She re-appeared under the bedroom window again and then spotted me on the balcony. I was astounded when she fluttered up to find out if I'd put the eggs up there! She eventually decided that the eggs weren't around.

And then got her revenge by laying in the middle of the border in front of the house. I had a good poke around later but she'd hidden her new egg well. I'll have to wait until there's enough of them to stand out in the undergrowth.