While there was a bit of crowing going on the the chicken paddock, the frost facinated vistors from Australia. Photo / Warren Buckland
While there was a bit of crowing going on the the chicken paddock, the frost facinated vistors from Australia. Photo / Warren Buckland
OPINION: One of Mr Neat's hens has started cock-a-doodle-doing.
We had our suspicions right from the beginning when we bought the latest five hens.
However, I also thought the Scooby Doo was a rooster when she was little and she's definitely not. Not an expert when it comes to sexing chickensthat's for sure.
This chicken was named Ash and as it got older and its feet grew and its neck stuck up and out when it walked and the black feathers in its tail grew longer and starting turning a beautiful shade of green, we got more and more suspicious.
Last Saturday morning while I was in the wash-house I heard a faint cock-a-doodle. I said to Mr Neat "I hear crowing."
So we both went onto the porch and sure enough after a few minutes the crowing started. A bit scratchy and jerky but I tell you what, after a couple of days he certainly found his voice and is loud and proud.
In fact he is so proud he decided to show off his new found voice at 4.30am one day this week.
Thankfully I didn't hear it, but Mr Neat had a word or two to say about Ash and his showing off in the morning.
We have decided that winter is not a bad time to have a rooster because he wakes a bit later (except for one morning) and he goes off to bed with the girls by dark, which at the moment is about 5.30pm.
Spring and summer will be a different story. But how cute would it be to have some little baby chicks.
The chickens helped me a lot when my Aussie family come to visit. The first thing I did after hugging one of them was grab my new granddaughter for the very first time and walk away with her over to the birds.
She looked over my shoulder once at her mother, then at me and at the chickens and watched them with fascination.
Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.
No tears, from either of us, I didn't want to frighten her so had given myself a good talking to before they arrived. No tears. I actually got smiles. It was a really special moment for me. I took her to visit the chickens several times over their stay.
It was hard to get my hands on her though because all her cousins were fighting over her.
It was a crazy few days full of laughter, shopping, eating, eeling, go-cart riding, horse riding, mini golf, more shopping and more eating.
It was loud, chaotic and messy, but I loved every single moment of it. There were some really funny moments with the children but one that stands out for me was my 13-year-old grandson, born in Australia, who came out of the borrowed campervan, went inside and told his mother it had been snowing. It was a very heavy frost — he'd never seen a frost.
There were disagreements of course, mainly over who got to hold, feed or sit next to the baby, but considering most of the time there were nine children ranging in age from 14 (he would not like to be called a child) to 15 months with many of them only six months apart, I reckon we did really well.
Then before we knew it, it was time for them to leave.
Although we had made plans for November which is only four months ways, I couldn't hold back the tears this time.
They are all home safe and sound now and on Saturday I called for one of their birthdays. The baby came onto the screen, looked at me, smiled and waved.
In these brittle times that's all it takes to make me happy, a smile and a wave, oh and a quiet morning with no crowing.
Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today
