Some photos of my girls...

[DuncanZA]

I think I have finally worked out how to post pictures...

Here are a couple of snaps of my four hens - Linda, Dawn, Janine and Sandra - all named for friends of my wife from her time living in Jersey!

The hens are enjoying their regular afternoon scratch around the back yard while their run is cleaned out. Linda is the one with the mucky breast feathers - I ended up bathing her and then using a hair dryer to dry her feathers afterwards. I think she enjoyed the experience...View attachment 2

 

[Marigold]

They're lovely - obviously very happy girls together. What surprises me about the pics is how similar it looks to here in the U.K. - could easily be an English suburban garden. Not sure what i expected by way of South African landscape, but not quite that!

 

[DuncanZA]

I live in something the South Africans call a 'secure estate', it's called Dainfern Golf and Country Club and is one of the premier 'lifestyle estates' in this part of the country. Secure estates are very popular places to live in SA due to relatively high crime rates here unfortunately. It's a big estate with about, I think, 1000 or so houses and they come in all shapes and sizes. Ours is pretty traditional but our next door neighbour's house wouldn't look out of place in Bali and across the road is a house that is so modern in style it almost hurts to look at it - I guess variety is the spice of life!

I think I'm safe in saying I am the only one with chickens though! As I don't play golf and much prefer caring for my chooks I'm happy with my hobby. My wife's not so keen though - doesn't care for birds. She does like the fresh eggs and they taste. Whole lot better than the ones we used to buy in Woolworths before my girls arrived in September!

Another benefit of living here is that the properties are quite big and so we've had no complaints from the neighbours - touch wood. Still, I don't have any cockerels anyway.

The hens have their own patch of garden at the back of the house which is walled off from the rest of the gardens - we have a large 'main' garden and then another kitchen garden and a small back yard (pictured). It's autumn now so the garden is slowing down but I grow a lot of vegetables that the girls like - they are very fond of spinach, mizuna lettuce and oddly, really fiery chilies.

We also have very high walls surrounding the estate (about 10 metres high) so no danger of foxes - I don't think there are any in SA anyway!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Marigold]

Do you have problems getting supplies for the girls, Duncan? As you say, few people in South Africa keep garden hens the way we do in the U.K, so I imagine feed, wormers etc might be a bit difficult to source.

 

[DuncanZA]

Feed, not so much, there is a pet shop not far away that stocks layers pellets but as for other supplies it can be a problem - even finding raw ACV can be a bit of a mission. Luckily my parents came to visit in February so I took advantage and stocked up on things like Flubenvet, poultry zest and the like. I do travel to the UK at least once a year too and always end up having to buy a new suitcase (sometimes 3!) for all those extra purchases. Some of the things available in the UK are great though, I enjoy surfing the sites even if buying anything and getting it shipped out is not an option.

 

[foxy]

Lovely looking hens you have there Duncan!

 

[chrismahon]

A very happy little group Duncan on some really good grass. I was surprised as well by your garden. Expected a large sandy area with some weeds sticking up in places. That's generally how I see South Africa portrayed on the TV. Like that and with township no-go areas dotted about. How wrong can I be!

 

[DuncanZA]

Thanks all. Our rainy season is summertime, we usually get a huge and sometimes violent torrential downpour around late afternoon during summer. That explains the green grass. We had our last big downpour about ten days ago and probably now we'll have no more rain at all until October when it all starts again. Odd climate here but I do like the sunny winters. It was only 9 degrees thus morning when I left for work, now it's up to about 23 degrees which is not bad for an autumn day.

 

[Kalynta]

Lovely pics of happy hens.

 

[Sue]

Lovely girls DuncanZA and lovely green grass! It's really interesting to hear from people in other parts of the world and even better to see photos. Very content, lucky hens!