As of today we are down to 10 chickens, having lost our oldest hen (a rescue) the other day; there is another rescue hen looking very tired and I doubt she'll be with us much longer. She, the recently deceased, and two other old hens have been here with us at home while the other seven are at the allotment in a smallish yard.
The husband put together a coop from shed panels scrounged from the abandoned allotment opposite ours (it's now been taken over by someone new) so there's enough room to sleep 10 chickens, but I don't want to take up that old poorly hen. She can die at home and her two remaining friends can go up there once she does. Until then, the three of them are free ranging the non-veg section of the garden every afternoon.
Our two ducks and two drakes are the ones confined to their own yard now, having been free range since early spring. I want them to work on waterproofing their new enlarged pond--which does hold more water now: it's a big puddle that seeps away very slowly. Every day their the dirty water from their three drinking buckets gets emptied into it, and they splash and dabble around in it. Their yard encompasses it and a little section of the property behind our garage which we call the Robot Club (it's a good hiding place for little boys). I anticpate giving them periodic free ranging again after a few more weeks.
We're getting four or five eggs a day from the allotment hens and one or two from home. Our little broody hen Cookie finally gave up sitting after about two or three months and starting laying again; we decided not to raise chicks this year as we have enough chickens. If we get down to around seven by next spring, we'll consider it, or possibly adopt some more rescues.
The ducks are laying, but they keep moving their secret nests! I think they are both laying every day or every other day. We don't collect them every day as we can't always find them.
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