Spring Clean

Well, I scrubbed out the Cube,  took all the covers off the CubeRun so I could wash the rubber chippings,  and then decided I might as well do their Walk In Run as well.   Bit of a mistake, as doing everything in one go is quite a lot of work.  Still, the perches and the bench always look great after they've been pressure washed (until the Diatom powder has been puffed all over them anyway),  and the brand new Aubiose looks very bright and clean.

I also refreshed their dust bath,  and made up a small version for Pogo and her friend.  SilverRing used it immediately,  Pogo found it a bit hard to get into, so I gave her a hand.

The Garden Girls don't really like it when everything has just been cleaned.  Lily went and laid an egg, eventually.   About 15 minutes after laying, she decided to announce it, but she was also trying to eat at the same time.  So we had an ear splitting announcement for a few seconds, then it was muffled while her head was in the Grub, then ear splitting.  She strutted down the path screeching,  and SilverRing decided she'd join in as well, despite it being over an hour since I collected  her little egg.

Pogo crouched for me as well.  I was kinda hoping she wouldn't start laying just yet. As she's on Penicillin, any eggs she lays will be consigned to the bin - and if we can't tell hers and SilverRing's apart then both eggs will be wasted.

Pogo also touched the ground with her bad leg today.  She didn't put any weight on it, but her toes definitely touched earth.  A good sign, I hope.
It's sill lovely and warm outside. DH has scrubbed the matting that lines the inside of the big broody pen, so it'll have plenty of time to dry before we need to use it.

Back from the Vet

Hmm.

Vet gave Pogo a thorough examination, and couldn't find any obvious break.  He did find that the hip and knee and possibly the pelvis were a bit askew, and this could be the result of overtreading.   (He also raised the spectre of Marek's disease, but said it was unlikely in this case, especially given the circumstances).

The area was hot, which indicates there could be an infection. So, the upshot is (a) antibiotics (Penicillin, DEFINITELY not Baytil in a hen so young) for 5 days,  if its an infection that will clear it up (b) keep her where she doesn't need to climb up into the henhouse or onto roosting bars (so Eglu is perfect) and if it's a bone injury it should heal itself within a week (birds bones knit together ridiculously quickly).   If she's still only on one leg in a week, take her back. In the meantime, watch out for other Marek's symptoms in her.

Sunshine!

It's sunny outside!  There's a thin frost covering, but it's reasonably warm as there isn't any wind.

If it's still like this when I get back from the Vets I think I'll give the Cube a good scrub with the pressure washer.  Hopefully the Girls will have laid by then and won't be running around squawrking (sp?) because they can't get into their nest box.

DH is doing the Allotment birds today, which means mucking out two coops; and he's fitting a nestbox divider to the Dorkings' coop. He won't be back in time to go to the Vet with me.
EDITED TO ADD: He fitted the divider, but Mrs Flint was still able to lean round an bop the other Girls on their heads,  so he's now made a second version which completely separates them. Hopefully this will give the youngsters some peace.

Pogo's Leg

DH and I noticed, independantly, that Pogo has been flexing her bad leg as she pogos around.  When she's hopping forward, her bad foot has an involuntary movement, as though its trying to work.  

It's also lowering from time to time - nowhere near the ground, but it's not always tucked up.  Of course it could be that she's just not capable of holding it up anymore.

She's eating well.


Roll on tomorrow.

Teeny Weeny Egg

Just been out to put everyone in their secure runs, and I thought I'd take a peek in the nestbox in case silverring had been laying.

And she had!

A teeny weeny little egg, weighing in at 34g. 
Bless!

Pogo (PegLeg) Pictures

Pegleg (or Pogo, which describes her more accurately) and the silver-ringed hen are settling in nicely.  SilverRing has also started to make herself at home in the nestbox, spending quite a lot of time today tidying it up.  She's exhibiting broody behaviour, which puzzles us a bit as she hasn't, as far as we know, started to lay yet! Maybe she's feeling the advent of her First Egg, and is getting ready?

Pogo is is pogoing around, and eating happily.  She sits down on the ground from time to time.  They were both very vocal today, they aren't used to being confined to such a small run.    So, we dug out some more netting and made them a bit of a free range area outside the Eglu run.

Of course one of them had to escape while it was being assembled, but it looked like an accidental escape as she was happy to be caught and put back in the pen.

Here's Pogo: 

Here's SilverRing:

Here's SilverRing, nesting:

PegLeg. Again.

So, PegLeg came home and was popped into the Eglu run.  She ran - or rather, hopped - straight into the Eglu, and wouldn't come out.  It was incredibly windy, so I thought that was probably a contributory factor.

I popped some pasta into the run when I gave the Garden Girls their afternoon treat.  She stayed in the Eglu.

I popped some corn into the run when I gave the Girls their evenng corn and shut them up into their run at 5.30. PegLeg stayed in the Eglu.

At 6pm I phoned DH and asked him to go to the Allotment and to bring back one of the others. Grey-ring probably,  as Mrs Flint and BlueRing are both laying now and should stay at the allotment.  PegLeg has never been on her own, and I think that she is probably feeling very lonely as well as unsure of her new environment.  To avoid reintegration issues for the companion hen, in case anything happens to PegLeg,  I think we'll need to do a companion swap on Sunday night or Monday morning.

I know I'm being a bit of a girly, but I do just want to do The Right Thing.

Peg

The hopping chicken, who looks very bright and active despite her hopping, has blood on her comb.  If we were proper chicken farmers, we'd just dispatch her, as it's not cost-effective to get veterinary treatment. That's not as callous as it sounds - if a bird is given antibiotics, its no longer suitable for the table.
However, we won't just dispatch her. If she was looking miserable or huddled, we would do it immediately - but she doesn't.   Having made the decision not to dispatch her,  then of course we do need to take her to see the Vet just as we would if she was one of our Garden Girls.  

The earliest our chicken-specialist Vet can see us is Monday morning, so DH is bringing her home. "Name of Pet?", the nurse asked.  So she's now got a name - Peg. (as in PegLeg)  It's fatal giving your working birds names.

Now, let's assume she gets better.  She'll be out of the flock for a few days, and we may have problems reintroducing her.  So, my immediate thought was that we should bring one of the others back as well.   We discussed which one (as we don't know who has been pecking her).  Mrs Flint and Blue-Ring are the two who are laying, and they are the likely culprits.  Norman is still an unknown quantity, so it could be himher.  The only one that I know wasn't involved in the earlier trouble is GreyRing,  so by a process of elimination, I selected her.

But then I thought, what if Peg doesn't make it? Then GreyRing will have to be reintroduced. 

So, we've now revised the Plan.  DH will bring PegLeg home.  When we've seen the Vet on Monday and we know what the prognosis is, we'll decide whether to bring someone else home to keep her company.

Update

This morning, Mrs Flint looked much better.  When I let her out into her own little run first thing, she was busy munching grass and calling for other birds.  We were going out for the day, so we had to leave her to it.

We got back at about 4.30pm and I opened the run door to get her. She came towards me, then zoomed past me into the garden.  She led me a merry dance in the rain while I tried to recapture her.  Fortunately for me, she get herself into a corner, so I could pick her up and bring her in.

I bathed her comb and face,  and most of the blood came off.  There is a cut on her comb, which we covered with purple spray.  She seems very brught, so we've decided to take her back to the allotment this evening, so she can settle back in with the others.
Two of the silver cockerels have been dispatched, and the other one is on his way to his new home.   The remaining bunch seem calm at the moment, hopefully Mrs F's reappearance won't disrupt things too much.

A bit of a disaster

DH was working at a Client site today, so I said I'd to to the allotment and put the birds away for the night.

What greeted me was awful.  Not as awful as poor John's recent discovery, but it was horrible.

Roo, Mrs and Mrs Too were fine.  I gave them some corn, and moved into the Dorking pen. 

There was a kerfuffle, and I saw a brown dorking being attacked by two of the Silvers and another brown;  I moved to intervene and saw another brown dorking (white ring) was  hopping rather than walking.  I tried to catch her, unsuccessfully. I couldn't chase her, obviously, so it was all done in slow motion.

Then I saw one of the silvers, the one with no rings, attacking another brown one. I couldn't see which it was.   WhiteRing climned the ladder (despite only being able to hop), so I was able to pick her up at the top.  While I was stroking her, there was another attack, so I put her down  while I tried to establish who was attacking who. 

Mrs Flint was the victim, and she ran into the house and sat in the nestbox.   At this point I phoned Other Chap (OC), who lives nearby,  for help.

While I waited for him, the birds started to go to bed.   The WonkyTailed Silver Dorking was staying out of trouble, as were Norman and the grey-ringed brown dorking.  Inside the house, I could hear more trouble, and I tried to work out what was happening. 

OC arrived, as did the pouring rain. The birds were all back outside at this point and the squabbling started again so OC saw for himself what was going on. Plkan of action was to put some bedding in the shed, and then get the Silvers (including the poor, innocent, WonkyTail) and put them in there. WIth them out of the way we could inspect the others one by one.WhiteRing, the one who could only hop, was not showing any obvious sign of injury.  We checked her leg and her foot, but couldn't find anything.  She wasn't showing any signs of distress (no hunching or anything), so we put her back while we checked the others. 



Mrs Flint was next. Sh had a cut on her comb and had blood down her face: that's why there had been a frenzy of attacking.   The blue-ring brown girl also had a bit of blood, but I couldn't tell whether it was hers or Mrs Flint's.

In the end,  we decided to leave WHiteRing in the coop and see what she was like tomorrw.   I would bring Mrs Flint home so she could recover in peace while we sort out what to do with everyone.    Fortuntately the Eglu was still outside, it just needed the run attaching. 

The Silver dorkings will be dealt with tomorrow.  OC knows someone who is looking for a cockerel, so one of them may well be rehomed, the others will be for the pot and will be despatched tomorrow.  


Any future cockerels will be dealt with at 18 weeks,  and we will separate them as soon as we know they are boys.  We should have done this, but ours were all so good natured we didn't think we needed to.

Lesson learned.

Here we go again!

12 eggs, ready to go in the  Incubator this evening!

The chap on a neighbouring allotment, the one who adopted two of our geese, has been hankering on having hens for some time now.  At the end of last year, we said we'd happily incubate eggs for him, if he decided what breed he wanted and provided he was prepared to deal with the cockerels (I believe it's important that if one opts to get fertile eggs, one is prepared to deal with the consequences).    He chose Light Sussex,  which is good because  any surplus boys can be grown on for the table and so will get 18 weeks of a happy free range life.   R has been (im)patiently waiting for fertile eggs to become available since then.

I bought some yesterday via Ebay, and we collected them this morning.   Before I bought the eggs, I checked on the AA website to see how far away from us this particuar village was.  I entered villagename, Hampshire  and the AA map showed the village as being near Basingstoke, just off the M3.  A bit of a journey,  but the M3 is fairly easy to get to, and a good run once you're on it.

When I bought the eggs and got the sellers postcode, I popped it into the AA website to find that it was actually a different village - same name - much further South.  Quite close to Portsmouth, in fact.  Oh well, it was too late by then, and once you're in the car an extra twenty or thirty (or forty as it turned out) miles doesn't matter too much....

Weather this morning was vile.  TomTom selected a cross country route for us,  and I'm really pleased it did.  We went through some gorgeous countryside,  achingly beautifyl villages,  past lots of watercress places.....
And the lady at the other end was lovely. Lots of chooks, all sorts, and more besides.
Anyway. We're home now, and the eggs are in the study settling down.  The Incy has been running since yesterday,  and we're going to set the eggs tonight.

I'm really happy to do this because we get the fun of raising itty bitty little chicks,  and I know they will have a wonderful life with R.

Allotment Update

I haven't accompanied DH to the allotment for over a week now (been working), so I only have info from DH to impart.

One of the baby brown-egg-Dorkings has started to lay? We don't know which one, but we're now regularly getting two eggs in the nest box. One shiny one from Mrs Flint and one smaller, less shiny one.

Mrs Flint seems to be managing OK, we're keeping an eye on her. 
The rest of the gang haven't quite got the hang of using their new coop,  they queue up outside their old (closed) coop door in the evening. DH or other chap ends up having to escort them into the new coop at night.

We're probably going to have to fence off the old coop for a while, so they can't get to the door.

One of the Mrss Roo (how do you write the plural of Mrs?) is laying reasonably regularly, the other one hasn't started.  We're moving them on to breeders pellets at the weekend.
No other news at the moment.  I'll see them myselves at the weekend and will let you know how they are all getting on.

Just Like That

We went to see Clive Mantle playing Tommy Cooper in "Just Like That" last night.    I heard him doing a piece Radio 4 and he sounded so convincing I decided we should try and get tickets.  The nearest venue to us - which isn't actually very near at all - was Guildford, and I managed to get two tickets.


He made a very convincing Tommy Cooper - he's the right height for it, and he had the stance and voice off perfectly.   For the first half of the Act, he's doing Tommy Cooper's act.  The jokes, the tricks, everything exactly as one might remember it.


The second half of the show started with Tommy in his dressing room in the interval of his show.  It was very revealing;   I was very young when Tommy Cooper died, so all I remember was his show - I didn't know anything about the man behind the act.    And then Tommy does the second half of his show.


It was very funny,  and very poignant.   


If you liked Tommy Cooper, then definitely try and see this show!

Compost

What a gorgeous day it's been, very spring-like!

I spent most of it working, sadly, but I did get out at about 4pm to turn the compost.  DH emptied one compost bin onto the veg plot and dug it in,  and he then turned bin 2 into bin 1. This is all pretty much ready to use.

I did bin 3 into 2, and bin 4 into 3.  I didn't have the energy to do the last, small, bin. I had a peek inside and it's all horrible and dry, so it'll take me a while to sort it out. 

I've asked DH to put some "activator" into bins 2 and 3.  I'd do it myself, but it has to be manly to work. Tee hee! (sorry if that's TMI).

Egg eater?

I didn't get to collect the eggs on Sunday. I was working (from home) from 10.15 until about 7.15, stopping only for one cup of tea.

Yesterday DH checked for eggs and found a real mess.  There were 5 eggs in the nest box, of which 2 were broken.  One was crushed completely (it could have been a Delilah egg as she's been threatening to lay for days now; her egg shells are very thin and fragile),  and one had a big hole in it.  We aren't sure whether it was an accidental foot hole,  or whether it was a beak hole.  The shell had no egg in, but there was such a mess from the crushed egg it was impossible to tell whether it was goo from one or two eggs.

DH also managed to drop one of the three remaining eggs, trying to hold everything and clean out the gunk.

Today we've been down to the nest box several times and have collected two eggs so far : one from Daisy, one from Lily.

I do hope we don't have an egg eater.  Not only will it be difficult to work out who the culprit is, it's a difficult thing to stop once it starts.

Putting the Girls to Work

The Girls do a fantastic job of raking out our flower beds, and clearing dead or dying grass from the "lawn".  

This morning, I've moved them onto fresh grass with a new flower bed (complete with handy shrub for them to sit under), and I then spent an hour or so raking up all the debris they had chucked out of the previous flower bed and grass.  I'm always amazed at the quantity of stuff they manage to rook out.

It all looked neat and tidy - a rare moment with free range hens - so I went off to clean out their henhouse.   

It normally takes me about 10 minutes to (a) pour the contents - newspaper, Aubiose, poo -  of each poo tray into a carrier bag,  (b) wipe each tray down with damp kitchen towel (c)  line with fresh newspaper, sprinkle on more Aubiose, (d) wipe down the roosting bars, (e) put it all back,  and (f) tie up the bag and bin it.  Today it took a bit longer, as there was blood spattered around the house.  Looks like someone had a small wound on a wattle or comb, and shook their head.   I also took the opportunity to empty the nest boxes and refill with fresh Aubiose and some louse powder (mmm, love that smell!).  

When I got back to the house,  the Girls had already started excavations, and my "lawn" is littered with debris.  Never mind.  They are having a great time, lots of new areas to explore, worms and bugs to eat.

I'm going back out now as I want to rake through their Run and put down some Stalosan. I normally do this once a week (with a complete change every 6-8 weeks) but the weather has been appalling, and it's been two weeks now.  I;m sure it won't matter...but if I let myself slacken off to 2 weeks,  it'll then slip to 3....







 

To Bee or Not To Bee

We've just finished a really interesting course at Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA).

Some years ago now, when I mentioned "chickens" to my DH,  he was really not impressed and was adamant that there would be No Chickens Here.  I mentioned bees as an alternative (not meaning it at all) and, to my surprise, he said he wouldn't mind bees.

As it happens, I got the chickens.  We have said, in passing and only occasionally, that bees might be the next step. (Not sure where the steps were meant to be going!).    

Then I saw a Bee Keeping Taster Session being advertised at BCA. I booked us on taster session last September,  expecting that I'd come away thinking "interesting, yes; will I do it? - no.).   To my surprise, I found it quite interesting.    We signed up for the introductory course, which started in January.

Every week, I found myself getting more interested.  Reg (40+ years experience) and Kate (10 years experience), who run the course, really love their bees, and their enthusiasm is infectious.
Each week, I came away saying, I really enjoyed that, but I'm still not sure I'd do it really.

This week was the last week of the course.  The week before, I tried to pinpoint why I wasn't in the "when can I get my Nuc of bees" frame of mind.   I eventually managed to get it out as "I don't know if I want another entity of things to be responsible for".  Siting the bees,  and the routine checks, and the busy time at peak season, aren't a problem.  Going away isn't a problem.   It's just another species of things to have to consider.

Last week we were debating whether or not to sign up for the practical course.  On a cost-per-student-per-week it's really good value.  But when there are two of you doing it, and paying up front,  it seems quite expensive - especially when we relate the cost of the course to the cost of setting up our own hive.   However, we've decided it will be a good investment.   Apart from the obvious benefit of  learning from experts, there is one fundamental thing it will help with:  can we cope with the bees themselves?!

If we can't cope, or we can but don't really want to, then we will have saved ourselves the cost and upheaval (not to mention saving the bees the disruption) of getting our own bees.  And if we do get on OK with it? We'll be able to make a fully informed decision on whether to go ahead with our own hive. Or not.

Too many cockerels

The cockerel situation now needs resolving.

The now-not-so-Littlee cockerels are, presumably, reaching sexual maturity,  as there is there is a lot of stuff going on.  Some of it is serious: Flint, understandably,  is getting more aggressive;   this is mostly manageable, but sometimes he's a little s*d.  Yesterday evening, DH was crouching down offering corn from a pot.  Even Flint came to take some, but then he seemed to suddenly realise what he was doing, and he attacked DH.  DH wasn't ready for it, and actually fell over from his crouching position.  Flint had torn through DH's leather glove,  and DH's hand is really swollen and bruised.

Some of it is actually quite comical: Norman the Orphan has started to copy his dad.  He's still very small,  but he's now trying to fluff up and be the big "I am".  When he does it to the other chickens, they  just peck him on the head. and that stops it.  When he does it to DH, it's usually accompanied by an attempt at a HongKong Phooey chop. DH just scoops Norm up, which puts an end to that.

So, it's obviously time to separate and/or cull the cockerels,  and we've been trying to decide what to do for the best.  We want one cockerel for breeding, that's all.

After a lot of discussion, we've decided that Flint needs to be removed from the equation.  The reason for this is that he is related to Mrs Flint,  and he is the father of all our brown dorkings.     Blue,  the biggest of the silver dorkings, and the one we know is a cockerel,  is not related at all to Mrs Flint of the brown dorkings.  At worst, he may be brother to the other 2 silver dorkings (which may or may not be female),  and so from a breeding point of view,  it's probably best to keep him rather than Flint.

The good news for Flint is that he will not end up in the pot.  A neighbouring farmer, who keeps chickens,  is looking to replace his cockerel,  and has asked if he can have Flint (I'm sure he would have been equally happy to  take  Blue instead,  but we'd already worked out what was best for us rom a new-blood point of view).

We also considered what to do with Mrs Flint.  Would she be "happier" staying with us (without Flint), or would she be "happier" going with him.   In the end, we felt she would be better off staying.  She's used to us,  she will take food from our hands now,  she knows all the other chooks, and she's used to the henhouse.  If we moved her, although she would still have Flint, she'd have to contend with an established flock of girls, a new house,  new feeding regime, etc.

And we're going to introduce ALL the changes in one go,  as I think overall that will be less stress for the chooks (rather than having a series of changes).

So, the Plan that, on D Day:

• Flint is removed from his paddock and taken to his new home
• We immediately separate the currently-combined paddocks into two
• Blue,  Mrs Flint, and all those chooks we believe to be female will be in one pen, with the proper henhouse (the old Flint residence)
• Norman and the other chooks we believe to be boys will be in the other pen, with the shed house (the old Littlee residence).

This means that Blue and his harem can sort themselves out and establish some sort of order;   and the Boys can continue to have a happy, free range life until they are ready to be culled.

Cup cakes

I love cupcakes.  Well, fancy fairy cakes. I'm not too keen on all that overly fussy icing malarkey, although it does make them look pretty.

DDIL1 made plain cupcakes last weekend, and I was reading her cupcake cook book. There was a fascinating recipe for "Carrot and Cardamom" cupcakes, which I just had to try.   I love cardamom.  One of my favourite home-made ice creams is Cardamom IceCream.  Cardamom in a cup cake sounded splendid.

So, I followed the recipe.  Rather strange, as it used sunflower oil instead of butter, but, hey, what the heck.   When I'd finished combining the ingredients, my mixing bowl looked as though it had an orange coloured curry sauce in.  It wasn't very appetising, as far as cake mixes go.  It only vaguely smelt of cardamom.  It only vaguely tasted of cardamom.   Maybe I grated the carrot too finely?
I spooned the mixture into the paper cases, and put the tray in the oven.

I'm waiting for them to bake as I type.

I'll report back later.

Later  Well, they are out of the oven. They aren't your typical smooth topped cupcakes, these are the "Clint Eastwoods" of cupcakes.  Very lived in face.
Haven't tried them yet.


I have made another batch of mixture, this time following the recipe for Rosewater Cupcakes.  The butter, which has been out of the fridge since this morning, is still rather hard,  so I've tried it with Stork Margarine ("For Cakes") instead.   Mixture tastes OK. Doesn't taste as nice as Rosewater smells, IYSWIM.


I'll report back later.

Later Still Well, the Clint Eastwood's tasted okay.  Not great, but OK. Certainly better than the mixture promised.   They weren't very cardamommy, or carroty for that matter.  I think I might try again, but put mixed spice in instead of the ginger, and maybe increase the cardamom content a bit.   Or put cardamom in the icing.    I'll have a look at a carrot cake recipe  and see whether I can come up with something.

The rosewater ones are cooling. Hold on a sec......

...i'm just trying one, as is my DH...

... they taste OK as well, but I can't taste any rosewater.  The texture is lovely, and not sickly at all.       

I think for my next test, which will be tomorrow now as, frankly, the novelty is wearing off somewhat, I'll try the same rosewater recipe but use butter instead of Stork and see if that makes a difference.

Cats and boxes

What is it with cats and boxes?

Whenever we have a box in the house, one or other or both of the cats just has to climb in it or on it.  It  doesn't matter if said box is empty or full, they seem to have this compulsion they cannot help. This extends to the laundry baskets, washing baskets, collapsible crates, chicken carriers,  anything in fact.   We indulge our cats (probably too much), so if they happen to take a particular liking to a particular box, we keep it around for a bit.

Our coffee machine came back from being repaired in a big box, and the cats spent ages lolling about on it.

Here's Izzy taking her turn..

The box has some shredded carboard packaging in, and we're amazed it holds Izzy's (not inconsiderable) weight.

It's gone from the kitchen now as we didn't think it would hold out much longer.

Treats

DH grows fantastic parnips.  There is something so..so..different about a parsnip that goes from garden fork to kitchen fork within a couple of hours.  The sugars stay sweet and don't turn to starch.

DH fancied trying parsnip crisps (US=chips).  We've had them before, both home made and shop bought.  He doesn't like the shop bought ones very much.  So, we dug out the deep fat fryer, which hasn't been used since we did this last year,  and set about making crisps. 

Do parsnip crisps count towards one's "5 a day"?  

We had a few bits of parsnip left which were too small to be turned into crisps, so I steamed them until they were completely mushy, and we had mashed parsnip with our dinner.  Anyone who knows my DH will be scoffing in disbelief at this point, because it's a well known fact that he doesn't eat vegetables.    (He does eat some vegetables, provided they are completely mushy and provided they never had chlorophyll in them, ever).


This morning I thought I'd see what the Girls thought of mashed parsnip.  Hi-larious!  If they were kids they'd be beaming at me with parsnip all round their faces.

Up close and personal

I've been looking for suitable pics of my Girls to cut down and use to illustrate the edges of my Blog.  I have, literally, *hundreds* of pictures of them, but it's been a challenge to find the *right* pic of each Girl.

Yesterday was quite sunny, so I took the camera out into the garden and tried to snap them.  Delilah was very interested in the camera...

 

  

  

 

Isn't she gorgeous?  


She's over 3 years old now, which is quite old for a Bluebelle hybrid.

Oops

My lovely neighbour, C, rang the doorbell today.

I opened the door and invited her in, and she turned and pointed at the front garden.  Or, to be specific, she pointed at Daisy who was munching grass on the front lawn.  She had actually been eating the grass in Next-Door's front garden, which is how she got spotted.

Daisy escapes her enclosure occasionally, by limbo-ing under any carelessly placed netting.   She tends to munch the grass in the back garden, and then she comes and taps on the french window to ask for corn.   Today she managed to find her way all the way to the garden gate,  and to find the small gap in the trellis which is there to let the cats pass through easily.
I had a quick inspect, but I can't see where she got through.  It's time to move the fencing to the other side of the garden anyway, so hopefully that will fix it.

EDITED: I've now rearranged the fencing so they have half the area we jokingly call "the lawn".  There's lots of grass there (although it won't have any nutritional value), and I'll swap them to the other half of this area in a week or so.

Things that go mwaaaaaaaaaaouw in the night

DH had to be up at 5 this morning as he was visiting a Client's site.  He was still working at 11 last night,  and I don't know what time he came to bed.

I hd a restless night.  I had one very involved dream, in which someone was shouting something about an Adventure; but the last syllable of the word went really funny, and they shouted "Ad-vent-u-eeow-eeow-eoowo---eoooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwwwww".  I woke up with a start, to hear one of my cats making That Noise.

I lay in bed for a couple of seconds, trying to work out if I could possibly manage to go back to sleep without having to get up and find Whatever It Was that they would have brought in.   After a a very short space of time, I realised that it was actually *both* cats making the noise, which meant it wasn't going to be a Mouse after all.  I leapt up and ran to the top of the stair, to see two cats running ahead of me.  Izzy was still on the Landing, so it meant we had another cat in.

Washburn was under the kitchen table, still making that godawful sound, when I got there,  and I had to look around for the Visitor.   Found him in the living room, looking a bit confused.  He was a very smart cat, quite chubby and well cared for,  and he wasn't in the least aggressive or upset.    He looked a bit like a cat in a tuxedo. Smart, black back,  little white triangle on his chest.  

He had a nametag on. I tried to read it but gave up because (a) it was small , (b) I didn't have my glasses on, (c) I was still half asleep and was really struggling to focus on the job in hand.  I suspect he may have come in to our cat flap either through confusion or just out of interest, rather than to lay claim to the territory.

I showed him the cat flap. I don't mean that in the "I showed him the door" way. I mean, I pointed the cat flap out to him,  and when he didn't understand, I held it open for him.  He went quietly.

I went back to bed, it was just gone 2am.  I awoke several times, certain that the cats were yowling again. They weren't.
 
I wish I had bothered to look at his nametag now, in case the poor lad was lost.  I hope he doesn't come back (unless he is lost, of course, in which case I hope he does).   I'd like to continue to think well of him,  and I don't like having to deal with maurauding feline invaders.

Sasso Pics

Here are some Pics of the Sassos. It was freezing this morning, so I didn't take as much time as I should have done in setting up the shots.


Firstly, the gorgeous Roo

Then Mrs Roo

 

And finally, Mrs Roo-too

I will take my camera next time its a clear day and see if I can get some group shots, and some shots at a better angle.

Sassos

Sasso is a french breed, apparently much prized for the quality and flavour of the meat.   


You may remember that last year we decided to try raising our own chickens for the table.  We started by buying in 6 week old chicks, the plan being to give them a good free range life until they got the chop at about 18 or so weeks.   We ended up with Ross Cobbs, which are fast growing birds, designed to be given the chop at about 10 weeks.     It was an interesting experience, but it wasn't really the "Good Life" we had envisaged.  The birds grew very quickly, and weren't really interested in rooking around and exploring.  By the time we started to dispatch them (at 18 weeks) they were enormous.   So, we decided we'd try again, but we'd go for a traditional breed and raise the birds naturally.  The plan was to get a trio of Dorkings,   let them breed, then we'd keep the girls and eat the boys.


Good plan, but a long term one. We wouldn't be eating chicken again until the offspring of the birds reached 26 weeks, so it would be at least 6 months from when we got them, probably longer as it was late in the year and fertility was likely to be low.


We went ahead and got the Dorkings,  and decided to get some day old Sasso chicks to raise for the table in the meantime.  There is a lovely lady who specialises in Sassos (on a large scale) , and delivers to this area.   I tried her several times, but her hens had all gone broody and consequently she had no chicks, nor any fertile eggs.  Her website is here http://www.smart-chicks.co.uk/  and she has some great info on the breed.


On Ebay, I found a chap selling Sasso eggs, so I bought some (and some Ixworth eggs as well,  thought we'd try those for the table too), and we hatched our own.  We ended up with 2 Ixworth chicks and 3 Sassos.  They were all brought up together, but were completely different in personality.  The Ixworths were thugs - all the way back to when they hatched - and the Sassos were the softest, friendliest chickens I'd ever encountered. One of the Sassos , Roo, spent a lot of time on my shoulder.


When we moved the 5 of them to the allotment,  they continued as before.  The 2 Ixys turned out to be boys, and continued to be thugs;   the Sassos turned out to be 2 girls and a boy,  and continued to eat out of our hands, were happy to be picked up etc.  Roo, the boy, turned into an absolutely stunning cockerel,  and the girls turned into really pretty little hens.     I emailed the egg seller to tell comment how friendly they were, and he wrote back and said his are all like that too.

So, because they were such lovely birds, we decided we'd breed from Roo and his girls.   The Ixys, who by this time kept trying to fight with Roo, met their original planned fate.

There is more than one strain of Sasso, and the ones we have aren't quite the same (but they are similar) to the ones on the Smart Chicks website. 



It's my turn to do the Allotment birds tomorrow, so I'll take my camera and see if I can get some pics.

Our first Sasso egg!

Whoooppee!

One of the Sasso Ladies has started to lay!  


DH brought the egg home, so we'll open it tomorrow and see whether it's fertile or not.

New blog layout

I really liked the new layout of HardupHester's blog, and so I followed the link to the place where she got it, and saw that the artist concerned had posted lots of tutorials on how to create and adapt backgrounds.  So I've had a go (as you may have noticed).


I haven't finished yet, it's taking me ages to find suitable pics of the Girls and then editing them to get the bits I want.  
Over on the left of the blog (assuming you can see it) we have my gorgeous Bluebelle -  Delilah -  and lovely Legbar - Milly.   Delilah is the oldest of my girls, and the last of my original three. 

EDITED TO ADD: I've changed the layout again since I wrote that; Delilah isn't currently pictured; Milly is now on the right.

I've noticed that the change in layout has affected the layout of the photos in earlier posts. Oops.  Oh well.
 

Cockerel attack!

Captain Flint has started to attack DH.    

I'm not surprised; as I've pointed out to DH, one day there's him and his Missus,  then there are 7 others next door,  and then they are all sharing the same paddock (although not the same house).   And as we know at least one of the Littlees is a boy too, he's obviously feeling threatened.

Each day, DH comes back with evidence of the attack.

Today I went to the allotment with him, as we were cleaning everyone out and it's always nice to have a second pair of hands to do this job.   Flinty decided to attack me too.      The second time he attacked me, I decided I'd better do something about it.   I know with agressive hens the best way to show them who's boss is to push them down, gently but firmly, as if I was the cockerel.  I decided to do this with Flint, but I couldn't get my hand on his back to do it.    He was really quite spectacular, with lots of Hong Kong Phooeey leaps and chops.  I took a sideways stance, with one fist out. Not to hit him, of course, but to protect myself.    WIth this, I was able to back him up, and eventually I got him into a corner and kept him there.   His leaps got a bit less frenetic, and then he stopped.

I've no idea if I've won the war (I doubt it!), but I've won the battle,  and we were able to both be in the same paddock without any trouble.    I'm pleased that I was able to do it without having to physically do anything.
I've got some amazzing bruises on my leg from his first attack!

Once Upon a Time in the West

This turned up from EasyCinema the other day.  I must have added it to my list of films, probably when we came back from seeing the Spaghetti Western Orchestra.  I've seen the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns numerous times, but I've never seen Once Upon a Time in the West.  Not ever. Not even when I was small.  I'm not really a fan of westerns, so I expected to find it tedious.

We watched it yesterday.   I was really pleasantly surprised.  It's a loooooooong, slow moving film, the kind that just wouldn't get made today.  The plot unfolds slowly,  it takes a long time to work out who's who, who's pretending to be who,  who's a good guy, who isn't.     I had to pay attention as a lot of the characters looked very similar.    Charles Bronson was interesting, such a "lived in" face. Actually I had a bit of a thing for CB when I was a child,  I saw him in The Great Escape and thought he was gorgeous.   II'm not sure what the appeal was now,  although his grey eyes are lovely.     Mind you, everyone in this film seemed to have piercing or beautiful eyes, part of the fantastic lighting.


The music, by Ennio Morricone of course,  is just incredible.  I found the music for this really compelling,  more so than Clint's westerns.   The main theme has a recurring bit  which is done with voices.  When this piece played (which it did, a lot, throughout the film)  I kept hearing it à la Spaghetti Western Orchestra (played on a Moog Theremin).


I'm not sure that I'd watch it again, at least not for some time.   There is something really special about watching that sort of film for the first time, when I  don't know what is going to happen or how it is going to turn out and I'm trying to work it all out.       I remember the first time I watched "The Sting" (again, as a child - I watched a lot of films then).  I was really upset  when the FBI man told Robert Redford that he could go, so that Paul Newman knew who had betrayed him. And when Paul Newman shot Robert Redford, I was somewhat distressed.       I like watching The Sting now,  but there isn't that, that...engagement  with the characters and the story, that not knowing the story brings.

Hmm. I might try another unseen spaghetti western.  There aren't any others directed by Sergio Leone that I haven't seen, but I might try another director, as long as the score is by Ennio Morricone.  

Mrs Flint comes back into lay

We've discovered that Mrs Flint has started laying again.   We've had two eggs from her - we've had one and OC has had the other.  But we haven't eaten the egg yet so we don't know if they are fertile.

The flock of 7 need to start moving on to Layers pellets, and we need to finish the transition for Roo and his Ladies.

Ringing the changes

Time to ring the Allotment birds.    


We need to be able to tell them apart, especially as they are all getting to laying age. Well, those that turn out to be girls will be laying soon.
We have not had any experience of tagging birds before, although one of the two Dorking Girls we bought had a spiral ring on her when we got her.  I ordered a selection of sizes, each in a selection of colours, from Karen at Merrydale/Regency Poultry.  Armed with the little bags, and a tub of grapes,  we set off to the Allotment to so the tagging.

We did it in end, although we still have one little brown Dorking to do.   All birds are tagged, all on the same leg (so we can use the other leg on subsequent birds, as we're likely to run out of colours).

But it was getting too dark, and I didn't take a pen, so we'll have to make a note tomorrow of which bird in which pen is which colour.
Roo and Captain Flint didn't need marking, as there is currently no chance of confusing them with any of the other birds. 

I've also started keeping detailed records of each bird, as once they have started breeding we won't know what's what or who's who.  I've just realised, I need to get some tiny rings for chicks.   I hadn't thought it would be necessary, but I can see that I'll need to know which chicks belong to which mum.

Bother.

Bye Bye Ixys

The Ixys have been dispatched.

They were 23 and a half weeks old, which was a bit younger than we intended. However, they were getting more and more thuggish, and it was going to be a problem for the two female Sassos having three cockerels in the pen.

(Because the two lots of Dorkings aren't yet integrated, we didn't have anywhere to separate the boys off to;  as soon as the Dorkings are in one pen, we'll have a spare pen to bring the boys on).

DH came home with one of the Ixys, OC had the other one.  Ours is currently hanging in the shed, as it's cold enough out there to be OK.

I feel a bit sad;  goodness knows what it's going to be like when we have to cull the gentler Dorkings!

War Horse

Went to see "War Horse" at the New London Theatre  last night, with my friend Y.   It was...amazing.  Very emotional,  and the effects were brilliant.


I didn't know much about it. In fact, I knew nothing about it before Y told me about it on my birthday.    I read up a little and learned that it was set just before and during WW1, and was the story of a boy whose horse gets sent over to be a cavalry horse, and he goes to try and be reunited with it.

I also learned that it was done with "puppetry",  which was intriguing and actually quite misleading as I was completely unprepared for the magnificence of the horse "puppets" (which were life size, possibly larger).  I mean, mention puppets and I thought of - well - puppets,  or hobby horses.

I've owned horses for a large part of my adult life,  and I was fascinated by how well the movements and reactions of the horses were captured,  even down to the movement of the ears.

The battle scenes of World War 1 were depicted brilliantly,  and as we were right near the front it seemed as though we were right there.  At one point, a tank comes on stage, turns round and goes back,  and the tracks of the tank were right over our heads.

It was incredibly emotional.  Mainly, for me, because of the story of the horses and what they went through,  but also because of the horrors of WW1.   I cry at most things, so I was prepared with tissues;  at one point I could see Y wiping her eye and I could hear the chap next to me crying, so I got out my pack of tissues and handed them each one. The chap next to me was very grateful.  
When I got up to leave, I turned round to put my coat on and I could see many people in the row behind, both men and women, had also been crying.  

It was very thought provoking, and we talked about it all the way back to Paddington - firstly about what we had seen, the bits that we found most gripping etc,  sheer admiration for the "puppets", and then admiration for whoever came up with the idea. I mean, who would have thought of this, and then had the ability to get funding for it - explaining the vision of the magnificent near-real horses that we saw on stage.  And then the effort in building the horses so that they could move like real horses,  and then learning how to get every stamp of the foot, flick of the tail, shiver of the neck so spot on.

We talked about what would have been different if we had been sitting further back or higher up.  I think that we would have had a different perspective,  and I suspect that we would have found the horses even more magnificent.  I think we would have lost some of the feeling of being in the middle of things though, and we wouldn't have felt the ground shaking.  And I wonder if  thetank would have been quite as scary if we hadn't been under its tracks .  I might go again  with  my DH,  and  sit a bit further back.

If you get the chance, go and see it.  I don't imagine for a moment that everyone would be moved to tears by it, but  I also can't imagine that anyone would go to this and come out thinking it was a waste of an evening. 

Chicken Porridge

Because of the cold, the Girls have been having a treat of Chicken Porridge every morning.    For the first few days I made the porridge using leftover chick crumb. The boiling water turns this  to porridge beautifully.  We've run out of crumb now, so I'm using normal layers pellets and boiling water; this takes a bit longer to transform.

Have you ever made Weetabix and hot milk?  It doesn't matter how much milk you add, the Weetabix turns solid.  The trick is to add some hot milk. let it turn solid, then add  more hot milk until you get that comforting baby food consistency.   It's the same with pellet porridge.

The Girls are now used to having this "treat" and start squawrking (sp?) each day until it is delivered. I suspect they think that this is now "normal service".

Luckily for them (well, in this context), Snow is forecast again this weekend, and so the cold snap - and the Porridge deliveries - will continue.

Very fortunately for us all, I placed a feed order on Monday, and the delivery man managed to deliver yesterday.  Just in time - we're almost out of goose feed and corn at the Allotment,  and we would be out of Layers Pellets  for my Garden Girls during next week.

First butter of the year

The bad weather has been forecast to continue for ten days, so I decided to pop out yesterday, as there were fewerpeople on the roads.    We were running low on butter, so I went to the cash & carry for double cream as there was a BOGOFF on Bounty kitchen towels and Fairy Dishwasher tablets as well.

The journey was fine, but the car parking was troublesome. I eventually managed to manouevre my car into a "space" in this huge, near empty car park.  Then some bloke in a 4x4 decided to park next to me! All this space, and he had to park right next to me!  My concern was that Wilhelmina (my Focus) would slide into him when I tried to get out of the space.

I knocked on his window and asked him if he would mind parking a bit further away. I explained that I had spent quite a long time sliding iaround before I got into my space  and, under the circumstances,  I was nervous about having another car beside me.  He moved... a long way.

Anyway. Because the weather had kept many people away, 2 pint bottles of double cream were greatly reduced.  I normally buy 5 x1 litre bottles, but I bought 4 x 4 UK pint bottles this time (10 Litres, so double my normal quantity).

I make the butter, pot it, chill it, then freeze as much of it as I can.   The trick is to find containers which are either (a) suitable to use as butter dishes, direct from the freezer (for which I have a quantity of small Lock 'n; Locks, each of which hold about 250g),  or something I can use to shape the butter while it chills, then I turn it out into freezer bags for freezing.  Getting butter *out* of a countainer is a bit of a challenge. In the past I've tried jelly moulds,  ice cream scoops, ice cube trays (which I now use to freeze garlic butter),  ice cream moulds, burger presses.. the list seems endless.

When I bought so much extra cream, I didn't really consider the container situation. In fact, I didn't consider it until I was pottting up and started to run out of usual pots.

I got out my "Individual Cheesecake tin" which I bought from Lakeland a while ago.  Last time I made butter, this worked reasonably well, I didn't leave too much butter behind when I pushed out each little "cake".

But this time, I had soooooo much butter. My 10 Litres of double cream produced:

• Buttermilk: 3 litres (it might have been 4 litres, I can't remember whether I included the last 1 litre or not). 
• Butter: 11.5lb Sorry about mixing my metric and imperial. I find it easier to do the butter in pounds and ounces, because my rule of thumb is to add one teaspoon of salt for each pound of butter.
  

So, I raided my cake tin cupboard.  I uncovered a "deep muffin tray". I lined it with paper cake cases, and filled it up.  

Then I found two "pork pie tins".  I lined the sides (the bases are removable) and filled those up.   And still I had more butter waiting to be salted.

Two spring form "baby cake" tins were the last option, and then I was out of sensibly sized containers.  I did think about rolling the remaining butter and freezing it in logs, but  I decided to make extra garlic butter instead.   

Garlic Butter is easy to deal with,  because I put it into flexible ice cube trays. Once the butter is frozen, I pop it out and put them into a bag. This means I can get out the exact amount I need, when I need it.

Our freezer is "frost free", so the only use my flexible ice cube trays get is when they are used for butter.   I have one with hearts (from when I was a young romantic),  and a set of 4 Winnie The Pooh ones which were a present from my Auntie Joy.  It's a bit spooky putting WtP, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore into the frying pan when I'm frying mushrooms. 

It took quite a long time, mainly due to rooking around in cupboards for containers,  and the need to do so much garlic. However, the washing up is the same irrespective of how much butter I make,  so  from that point of view, bulk is good. 

I have to confess that a lot of the buttermilk went down the sink. That's why I can't remember if it was 3 litres or 4. I kept 2 litres, which I'll used to make buttermilk bread and soda bread, and possibly some buttermilk pancakes... but there's a limit to how much of it I can use in one go.  I keep it in the fridge in an airtight jug, so it lasts for a while.

New Year

We've had blue eggs for the last few days,  a lovely - early - surprise from Milly, our cream legbar.  Not sure why she's decided to try laying so early in the year, especially with the atrociously cold weather, but we're very happy to see them.

Delilah (Bluebelle) has laid (or is it "layed" when one's talking about egg laying?) a few times since Christmas - a couple of dodgy looking eggs, a softy,  and two almost normal eggs.   I'm very pleased that she wants to lay, but she is getting on a bit (in Hybrid terms) and I'd be happier if she decided to retire completely.  I'd rather have her, eggless, for longer.


Jasmine, the Welsummer, hasn't shown any interest in laying.  She didn't start until she was forty something weeks old,  so it seems like she has the most sensible approach.

Down on the allotment we've started to merge two of the flocks.  Today they were left with the divider between their pens open, so they could go in and out of each others area at will.   We made sure they were shut up in their correct coops overnight, as it's too soon to risk having them shut in together with no means of escape.  As soon as we don't need to shut the pop holes at night, we'll let them choose where to sleep.  Regrettably, that seems some way off.


Apparently the snow is on its way South, so we're expecting it tonight.   I have  a hair appointment tomorrow, which I'll have to cancel if the snow is bad.   I usually have my hair cut and coloured every 6 weeks, but it's now been 13 weeks since my hair was done:  my November appointment was cancelled because I was at my parents; I wasn't able to remake the appointment with certainty until the week before Christmas.  On the day of that appointment my poor hairdresser was very ill.     Fortunatelt, I wasn't too fussed about getting it done before Christmas,  my hair is very curly and to a great extent it disguises the fact that the colour is growing out.   It is getting a bit wild though,  the cold weather makes it somewhat dry and frizzy.  Never mind, I've saved some money in not having it done, and I'll put that into a piggy bank for "something frivolous".


One of our allotment neighbours (the one who took on 2 of our geese) has decided he'd like to keep hens as well, and it looks as though we'll be hatching some fertile eggs for him.  He's chosen "Light Sussex", which are an excellent utility breed and very pretty too.    I'm expecting that we'll be able to get hold of some fertile eggs for him in February, and it will be good to be raising chicks again.








 

Back (for a bit)

Hello, sorry it's been so long.   Had some family things going on and they have been taking nearly all my time and focus for the last month.


So, let me start with an update on all the chooks.

The Garden Girls are doing really well.   The moulting has finished for all of them, except for Milly who seems to be taking a long time to regrow her head feathers.  

Lily and Daisy are valiantly continuing to lay most days; Milly and Jasmine have given up for the winter,   and Delilah has (hopefully) retired completely.



Delilah's feathers are more stunning than ever. This year she is displaying a bluey-black grey feather, with a black face.     She crouched for me today, which was a bit of a shock for both of us. 


Lily and Daisy haven't moulted at all,  and their sparkling white feathers are very grubby...mainly caused by them bathing in the Dustbath while the contents are a bit damp.


Daisy's beak continues to split, and DH is trimming it a little bit every few days to see if we can get it under control.  Now I'm home for a few days, we'll try to mark her beak where the split is, so we can see if it is extending backwards.


The Girls now control about a third of the garden, and it won't be long before they get the rest of it.    DH washed the roof of their walk-in run, which made everything look much better.


On the Allotment The remaining bought-in Dorking girl (Willow, I think) is still moulting, but has nearly finished.  DH lets the two Dorking flocks free range together when he is down there, and they are fine, usually mostly interested in exploring the other flock's quarters.    This week DH mentioned that he had trouble telling the bought-in Dorking from three of the offspring; it was only because she was moulting that he spotted it was her.  We're assuming that the three brown-egg Dorking chicks are hers,  and that Norman is the offspring of the Dorking who sadly died.

The chicks here are now 13 weeks old (except Normy, who is only 11 weeks).



We'll carry on like this for a while,  eventually we'll leave them all together  all the time, but with two henhouses to choose from.  Because there are so many chicks, they are unlikely to be serious issues from Flint - but if there are, they won't have to share the same accomodation.  if we leave it too long, we'll have problems the other way, with Flint and Willow being bullied. 


One of the blue-egg chicks was under the weather a while ago.  We brought her home so we could give her some avipro, and watch her. We were able to check that her poos, although runny and white, were not displaying anything scary like sulphur yellow colouring.   After a couple of days her poos settled down and she looked a bit better, and we decided to put her back with her siblings.  She's now running around as fit as ever.


In Roo's area, all of them are doing well.  They are all about 18 weeks old now, and we're gradually moving them on to Layers pellets.  Roo is enormous and magnificent. His two Sasso girls are absolutely stunning as well, and I'd love to have a Sasso girl in my flock at home.  The two Ixworths are getting very large,  and we're thinking that one is definitely a cockerel.  We'll need to think about taking action soon, as we don't want to start having problems between him and Roo.     The female will stay, and we'll see what Sasso x Ixworth is like.

This group is SO friendly, because (of course) we handled them constantly from the moment they hatched.  We didn't do this with the Dorkings because we didn't want to become any more attached to them than we could help;   in some respects, I wish we had just gone ahead and handled them more as it would make life easier when worming etc. 




I'm at home for some of next week, so I'll try and take some pictures.