Something new with the arrival of the two chicks. Maria has an afternoon tea with the hens every afternoon right after opening up the pastures to sheep.

The two older hens, who have no names and were not being sung to or cuddled, always steered clear of us until recently. Maria has been talking to them and both of us have been feeding them mealworms, which they love.

It’s a mealworm tea. Maria sits down with two handfuls of dried mealworms and the chickens come over carefully and peck the worms out of her hands.

Our afternoon tea is not like the Savoy in London, with no cookies or cakes or scones. Just meal worms, but it is a neat thing to come home and see the afternoon tea underway, with much clucking and pomp. The chicks and the older hens are getting along just fine.

The chicks are still sleeping in their crate in the barn. We’ll probably move them into the big roost this coming weekend.