Ask Hilda
Hi I'm Hilda, I've been on the farm for a long time now. I came here when I was 16 weeks old, after hatching out with all my henfriends at another farm. This is a lovely farm, as the food is really great, and the water doesn't have any chlorine in it - so it also tastes great too. We also have a huge grass field to roam around in with fantastic views across the valley and to the sea. In fact the field is so big I haven't been able to range to the far end yet!
With my experience here on the farm, if you have a question, why not send me an email and I'll try and post the answer below.
Email Hilda
Q:-How many eggs do you lay in a week?
A:- I try to lay an egg every day, but can't do it so well now I'm older. When I was young I could lay an egg every day for 9 or 10 days before having a days rest, and then start to lay another batch. Now I only manage 5 eggs on consecutive days and then need 2 days off to rest and recover.
Q:- Are old hens eggs different from young hens eggs?
A:- Young hens eggs have harder shells and are usually a brighter brown colour, as the hen gets older, the eggs become paler, but they still taste as good!
Q:- Why, when we buy eggs at the stall, are there always hens outside of the field roming around?
A:- To some hens, the grass is always greener on the other side, and despite an 8000 volt electric fence they will get through somewhere and somehow if determined enough.
Q:- Some hens have lost feathers, why?
A:- Could be for several reasons: as they get older they will lose some feathers, sometimes one hen will peck at another hen's tail feathers, hens that don't range much also tend to have less feathers, and if they are really old they could be going into a moult.
Q:- The chicken shed was down at the far end of the field, how on earth did you move it?
A:- A man with a winch comes and connects up several pulley blocks to pull one end of the shed as we push with two tractors from the other end. Once the hen house has moved 100mm, the winch handles it easily, as the sheds are built on five long skids and it slides over the ground.