Broody hens and a piano

They're sitting on the cuckoo's eggs I bought through ebay! A week and a half now, only a week and a half to go. They're both crouched in the tiny laying area of the hen house, and fluff up and squawk when I check them out.

I'm also registered with this hen forum: http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/index.php who have been very helpful when I have hen problems, but who are very slightly nutty. They have hen-based avatar names, coo over the females, commiserate over losses and deaths, but ruthlessly destroy all males ... I think they're mainly women.

The other two hens (non-broody) are still roosting in their tree at night and I thought they'd stopped laying, until Tim found three eggs in among the honeysuckle. He's been using up surplus eggs by making quantities of very garlicky mayonnaise, so I was rather pleased to find the eggs. I thought I was going to have to go back to buying them. Heaven knows, keeping hens is a luxury, by the time you've bought the house (£250) and the food £6/bag. The hens themselves are pretty cheep, as I only ever have the rejects from Tim's friend's father's flock up the road.

It's yet another example of my doomed efforts at economy ... the other most recent one was having to get an electronic keyboard (£90) to justify the expenditure of 50p buying a teach yourself the piano book rom Lily's playschool fete.