May showers

Today was overcast and I dashed down to the allotment between rain showers. Everyone was taking cover in the clubhouse, warming themselves up with a cuppa and a slice of meat pie brought by Steve. We put the world to rights before moving off to our own plots.

I opened up the greenhouse and checked on Emily and her chicks. Their feathers are continuing to come through and they are now foraging independently. They still follow Emily everywhere but they are striking out more on their own.

Due to the rain, it was too wet to check the bees but we hope to do them tomorrow. It will be particularly interesting to see what is going on in the second hive which may have a wild bee colony in it.

Next I walked down to the coop and checked on the girls. They were all carefully avoiding the damp ground, preferring to stand on the dry soil in the corner. I put out their food and wrestled with the feeder. The cherry tree is beautiful but the rain does drip down the leaves into the feeder. The pellets become like concrete when wet and understandably, the chickens won’t eat it. I moved the feeder to another hook but in doing so the top came off and the food went everywhere! It took a while to sort out, but it’s now out of drip range and the girls seem to enjoy the feeder being somewhere different.

As the rain continued, I went into the greenhouse and spent a happy hour watching Emily and her chicks. I changed their water and added in some apple cider vinegar as Emily hasn’t had any for several weeks. It’s amazing for keeping any nasties out of their system and killing any that she may have picked up.

So hopefully tomorrow’s weather will be dry so we can check the bees and I can weed the plot.