We got our first three chickens on 27th August 2011. I knew nothing about raising chickens but the fried eggs which our neighbour cooked us with fried potatoes were fantastic: deep yellow in colour, delicious and with a consistency that I had never seen in an egg before – firm and compact. Since then I’ve been hooked on chickens and love looking after them. The treat of finding an egg never ceases to amaze me but it hasn’t been an easy ride and it really was a question of the blind leading the bird. Thanks to Jess, the New Zealand workawayer who arrived shortly after, I learnt a bit more about chickens but it was like being thrown in at the deep end. The idea of including information about chickens in this blog is to make a note of what we have had to deal with and how we dealt with it. Hopefully others will find it useful but at least it will serve as record for me of products, remedies and medicines that worked and how long it took, etc.