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The first home-laid eggs had both rich-tasting yolks and whites

Up until Wednesday the chickens had laid eight eggs. Varying in size from creme egg small ones, to proper shop-bought large ones, we’re now getting two most days. Sometimes they’re large, and sometimes, not so, but the laying ladies are making good progress, although we still think Gerry has to actually lay anything. Maybe her ongoing cold is holding her up, although she seems to be suffering less, with her sneeze now almost undetectable.

And so it was on Wednesday that we decided to eat the first home-laid eggs, before we get overrun with the things. We though that soft-boiling them for only a few minutes was the way to go, as with no condiments and just toasted bread for dipping, we could really appreciate how they tasted.

We weren’t wrong. Rich in both colour and taste, the yolk was runny, and even the whites tasted better than shop-bought free-range eggs. How much was psychological? I don’t know, but as we’ll soon have egg boxes stacking up in the kitchen, I hope the neighbours will find them tasty, too.

It’s been a fun week watching the combed and feathered threesome cluck, peck, and strut around their coop in the garden. Whether it’s been sitting down for a sunny evening tipple, or pulling weeds out of the fruit bed, every job gets disturbed by some chicken chat. Barbara, Gerry, and Margot didn’t even get spooked (or chooked) by the lawnmower when it swept by, inches from their long, skinny toes.

But, it didn’t take long. One of the laying ladies has made a bid for freedom. Last week, I reported that Barbara was more than little mischievous, and and so it’s proved. Taken out yesterday for a tickle, she leapt onto the ground and made us run around the garden after her. Weaving in and out between the greenhouse and the coop, she always stayed one step ahead of us (or rather Nik, as I was frozen to the spot with the sight of a large white bird running around the grass, making some rather distressed noises).

Oscar wisely kept out of the way. The stones near the railway sleepers at the far left corner of the garden stopped Barbara in her scaly-toed tracks, though, and she was scooped up again to enjoy a quiet cuddle before being reunited with Gerry and Margot. It’s funny; if one of the flock is out, the others seem to sense it, clucking and cooing until the missing member struts back in, sometimes with a slight flap of wings.

Barbara’s wings were definitely in a flap yesterday afternoon in the open air. Much more so than in the coop, where she is asserting herself as top hen, picking on both smaller Gerry, and Margot, who being the same size, is a much fairer enemy. Gerry’s still our favourite of course (even though we said we wouldn’t have one), and if she’s picked on, she’ll stay that way, too, as her vulnerability will ultimately be our downfall.

The laying ladies have arrived, and we’re now officially chicken keepers. After spending three hours at Hens4Homes in deepest Essex, where Kirsty gave us a beginner’s chicken-keeping and hen-handling lesson, we collected the three ladies, drove them home, and let them explore their new house.

That was Saturday, and over the last two days, they seem to have settled in well. Their tails are high and pointy (the sign of a happy hen), and there seems (as yet) to be no pecking order. The feathery three are behaving well; going to bed up the ladder to the coop at sun down just as they should, and although they’ve churned up the garden, they’re enjoying their dust baths in the shadows under the hen house itself.

If you’re lucky, they’ll even let you pick them up for a tickle.

It almost seemed at one point that they wouldn’t arrive at all. But, here they are; Gerry, Barbara, and Margot. The names were already decided, the breeds not, but both were a good match. Gerry is a golden Amber Ranger, Barbara a white Sussex Ranger, and Margot is the posh one, a black and copper Maran Cuivre. They’re each developing personalities, already. Gerry is the friendliest, while Barbara can be a little mischievous. Margot on the other hand, is living up to her Good Life TV namesake, and is a little stand-offish.

But they cluck happily together, sleep peacefully in the Eglu, and seem to get on with each other. They were all in the same pen before, sharing the place with 147 other birds, so may have rubbed feathers with one another while passing. It may be seven weeks until the first eggs arrive, but I think we’ll have fun watching them until then.

Their house is here, all we need now are the chickens. It was decided at the turn of the year that we’d keep some feathered friends, but it’s taken until now to get the pieces in place. Our laying ladies will arrive sometime next month, but the funky and bright Omlet Eglu Cube arrived last week.

The Omlet Eglu Cube and run: a colourful DIY hen house 

We’ve been at home this week, so on Tuesday we took advantage of the fine weather and assembled our feathery friends’ new home in the early evening sunshine. The contents of seven boxes spread themselves almost completely over the rear lawn, but with screwdrivers in hand, and in two and-a-bit hours, we’d turned the lime green and grey 3D jigsaw into something resembling an über-trendy rabbit hutch.

Modern and trendy enough for chickens in the noughties?

It looks really rather nice, the green outer panels blending in with the garden. It has a cool ‘industrial-ness’ about it too, with its crude moulding edges. It was also easy to put together, using threaded bolts, washers, and clips for the wire fox-proof skirt and run. With its slide out poop trays, chunky plastic roosting bars, and egg-retrieving flap, it’s proper chicken keeping made easy for the 21st century. All sorted then.

Next stop, chickens.

Homebrewed elderflower champagne: a popular but volatile summer drink

They’re popping all over the place. The corks that is. After the success of the homebrewed beer, we were inspired by River Cottage Spring, and last weekend thought we’d have a go at making fizzy stuff derived from the heads of flowers which, at this time of year, abundantly fill the hedgerows.

Elderflower heads naturally contain yeast, and are abundant in summer

Cutting off the flower heads and using this recipe, we added the quartered lemons, sugar, and water, and left it for a couple of days to do its stuff. Only it didn’t. Not straight away anyway. The elderflower heads are naturally yeasty, so should react with the other ingredients to add bubbles, and turn the mixture into alcohol.

All you need is elderflowers, lemons, sugar, and water (and possibly yeast)

When they didn’t, we simply added yeast and hot water, and that soon added the frothiness and bubbles we were looking for. In fact, it added too much, and it had to be bottled last night, as the whole fermenting bucket was in danger of creating a very loud bang, not only scaring the cat, but also covering the kitchen in a very sticky mess.

The bottling process was quite literally that, a process in itself, entailing jugs, and muslin, and mixing bowls, and lots and lots of sticky liquid all over the flat. This paragraph really doesn’t convey just how messy it was, but a few clean-ups later, the job was done, and we had 15 bottles of almost-ready to drink elderflower champagne. It wasn’t all bad news; the plunging corker worked a treat.

But, it’s proving a real job to keep the bungs in the bottles. After 13 had popped their corks (they go with a real pop-gun sound), and flung their liquid into the outhouse corridor, covering the floor, they were stood in a cold, metal dustbin in cold water. We thought this would calm them down a bit, as we’re away for the weekend, but at least one more popped this morning. Emergency action was called for then, and it arrived in the shape of heat-shrunk sleeves. Just like ‘proper’ wine bottles!

Whether these solve the popping problem remains to be seen, but hopefully after a couple of weeks left to prove and ferment further, we should have a few bottles tasting of summer. We already plan to gather more flowers while they’re in season and make another batch. But maybe we’ll hold off on the yeast next time…