Belgian Bantams

I thought perhaps it was time to introduce you to our six Belgian Bantams. Belgian Millefleurs Barbu D' Uccle bantams to be exact. They are very pretty and full of character. They are also extremely hard to photograph! Not because they are camera-shy, on the contrary, they are only too willing to come over and investigate the camera, Close Up. But when a speculative peck reveals that this is not the in-flight restaurant service, serving pre-dinner bar snacks of mealworms or other delicacies, their interest fades and they are off, bustling about in the undergrowth and even when bribed with sunflower seeds they won't stay still. (I am afraid I jib at offering mealworms (even dried ones) in my hand so attempted bribery of this kind is vegetarian only!)

By day they roam the garden (and occasionally, but not often, other people's gardens), by night they live in a palatial residence that has (so far) proved fox-proof. I hope I do not tempt fate by writing that.

They Do Not Like The Snow and a lot of complaints have been voiced about the white stuff we've had recently although one or two did start laying again during that very cold week. I think they decided it was cosier in the nest box than anywhere else and laying an egg gave them an excuse to hog the only warm spot around!

Emerging from the Chicken Palace to find snow a couple of weeks ago. 

Not Happy despite our favourite mealworms for breakfast!

This week when it's been warmer they have been much happier and as H has been around for half term I had a photographic assistant which meant that not all my photos were of the back of half of a hen, vanishing out of the frame!

Here they are happily bustling about in the rose beds yesterday:

... and obligingly gathering together to be photographed fed!

As I say, they are laying again which is good news after quite a long break over the winter. Bantam eggs are about half the size of a large hen's egg although they don't scale down exactly - the yolks are almost as big as you would find in a large hen's egg while the whites are quite a bit smaller. I tend to use two bantam eggs though where recipes specify one large egg and it seems to work OK. The flavour (and colour) is unbeatable. 

Today's egg haul. Not all of these were laid today, some are from yesterday or the day before, but the top ones are today's. I think it's fascinating the way that the shell of a new-laid egg subtly changes its colour over a day or two. I haven't quite worked out what it is that changes but you can always tell a new-laid egg from an egg that is a day or two old.

There may even be enough for a sponge cake .... !

Edited to add:

There were enough eggs for a sponge cake!

As you can see from the evidence.

But not quite enough to make lemon curd as well with which to sandwich the cake together. I did peer into the nest box hopefully this morning humming "Chick, chick, chick, chicken, lay a little egg for me" because I only needed one more but there was nothing doing, so it had to be last summer's strawberry jam and crème fraîche instead. No complaints so far though!