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Just when we thought three of our four remaining ageing bantam chooks had finally laid their last eggs, and had reached the equivalent of chook menopause, I was surprised to hear the telltale self-congratulatory cackle this afternoon, indicating one at least had just done something special of which she was inordinately proud, and so was announcing it to the world. As chooks do. Sure enough, when I checked one of the nesting boxes in the chook house - that is often scorned by these picky feathered girls in preference for 'going bush' - there were four eggs. It appears that once again two of them had chosen to share real estate. In this case a former recycling tub, repurposed as a nesting box. So our dwindling egg supply has been replenished. Pretty good going for chooks that would have to be nine or ten years old if they're a day.
And what of the fourth you may be wondering? Well she definitely had gone bush, but I finally discovered her nest a week or so ago, and have been relieving her of some of her eggs for several days. She was a blow-in - a refugee from former neighbours who thought they'd rounded up all their chooks before selling their property and moving on, but failed to realise this one had 'gone bush' and was sitting. She was wasting her time as the eggs were infertile there being no rooster, but it can take several weeks for hopeful chooks to realise and abandon the nest. This larger bantam chook emerged on the day the neighbours were literally packed up and were about to drive off. Panic! We suggested they chuck her over the fence to join ours girls, which they did. So sandy bantam eventually settled in with our three black ones but we have no idea how old she is. Since our former neighbours left six years ago she'd have to be at least seven.
Maybe these bantams’ ability to keep on laying is a sign that being literally free range encourages a happier, healthier and more productive life. Whatever, I'm not complaining, and when the time comes for them to really stop laying, they've all earned the right to their retirement. Whenever that might be.
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