Chickory Tip!

What or who is Chickory Tip?

Chickens or rather hens, have always been a part of life here at Middleton House so that we can give our guests the very best eggs, but we have to mention Chickory Tip who is our VERY BEST, EVER, hen. She is a Columbian Blacktail Hybrid  and has been part of the family now for over three years!!

Why is she so special? Chickory has laid over 1,000 eggs! Our eggs, once collected, have always been recorded so we know exactly which hen has laid an egg, and the day it was laid on. Even two ‘brown’ hens will lay eggs with a slightly different colour helping with accurate recording!

Chickory helps with nearly everything in the garden……clearing the weeds, digging out the moss in the grass, keeping the slugs down……and she knows not to attack our flowering plants in the garden!

She knows how to relax too after all her busy work and will stretch fully out, wings open especially in all this lovely sunshine we have had recently.

Chickory was a bit apprehensive and confused when we had the snow earlier this year, but Kevin made a little path for her so she could still be outside and not have cold feet 🙂

Amazingly she comes to us when we call her, follows us around when we are in the garden and even taps on the window when she wants a little more food other than her grain and chicken mash……..she loves brocolli! She even ‘nuzzles’ us like a dog when she wants a little more to eat when we are having some food on our picnic bench! She has recently been eyeing up a small wooden train we have…..perhaps she is thinking of an alternative mode of transport!

All our hens have had different personalities over the years……..’bossy’, ‘laid back’, ‘just happy to be with us’ and one hen called Bebe, just loved to jump everywhere that we were worried that she would jump over the fence!

Hens do require some work to look after, as do all animals, but we would not be without our ‘Chickory Tip’  here at Middleton House……we award her a cup for over 1,000 eggs!