Chicken news

Our little flock of chickens has survived another winter. They started laying again within a day or two of the equinox and mostly lay in the coop. I did find a clutch of around 14 eggs in the grass atop the retaining wall last week and the vegetation had kept them cool and fresh. I'm still waiting to see a troop of chicks emerge from the bush as next door's rooster has been pacing the boundary fence impatiently.

The quails are busy again, dashing around the lawn, and I found a lovely pair of handmade ceramic quails at our local gallery a few weeks ago - a real bargain.

One chicken is not doing so well though. I'd noticed that her breast seemed to be well fluffed up but she seemed in good health otherwise so I didn't worry. When I found her in the coop last week, I took the chance to have a closer look. I suspect that shes one of our original chicks as she didn't mind me handling her - even though she had a huge growth over her breastbone.

A trip to the vet resulted in a cyst being drained and once that was done, the vet could feel a large tumour underneath. She's still in good health though so hopefully she'll carry on living out her life happily on our block.