Some chickens live in the trees near our house. They are normally very shy. My neighbours have tried to catch them for years without success because they fly and roost in the trees. Yet, lo and behold, one of their young roosters came over to the house to check out my teenage hens.
He was a lean and mean flying machine, swaggering around with biker chic, eyeing my pullets up and down. I was not sure if he had lice and mites so I shoo-ed him back into his trees. I run an upstanding home for good citizens, not a hen brothel. Shoo!
In contrast to above lean and mean rooster, there is my fat hen, with her round butt and gentle disposition. In true Singaporean fashion, I was not able to keep up the British polish. Maggie is now called Ah Bui, in a respectful nod to Petunia's coolie ancestors. From tomorrow onwards, Ah Bui is on a diet.
Whilst we might choose to be coolie casual in how we speak to the chickens, it is still important to maintain high standards of hygiene. We will not have coolie standards of hygiene in this home. In addition to sand baths, the chickens all get chicken spa. Twice a month, they are bathed in a warm solution of sulphur soap and citronella oil. I discovered that chickens are sensual creatures. They love the warm water and look surprisingly human when they lounge therein. The one below was prodded a few times but he did not want to get out of the bath.
And finally, we have been getting eggs... yummy eggs that taste different than store bought eggs. Eggs delicately flavoured with the herbs that I feed Ah Bui (aka Maggie).
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