A Good Friday

Weirdly, today doesn’t feel like a Friday. As everything is closed, even my work for the Easter weekend, today feels like a Saturday or Sunday. Anyway, we ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens as part of our daily walk.

Dolly was still there although she didn’t look very comfortable when I started trying to scrape out more gunk. I got another chunk out to clear the middle of her beak but she still has quite a bit on one side. That stuff is really hard and Dolly won’t stay still for me to try and get it out. This may be because she is fed up of me poking around or that it’s a bit painful. Geoff kindly lent us some oregano oil which acts as an antibiotic. We have her a good dose along with all the usual syringes of water, olive oil and egg yolk. Here’s hoping the new antibiotic works!

Next we fed and watered the rest of the chickens. I had a quick catch up with Sarah and Andrew who have just escaped from two weeks in self isolation. It’s so important that allotments stay open during this time as it gives people a chance to escape into green space and forget their worries in the joys of digging. We collected a rather satisfying 4 eggs and went off for our walk.

When we got home, we checked up on our little chicks. After a couple of days of fighting they seem to have calmed down. We definitely have a few cockerels – my guess is 4 with the possibility of one more. The biggest one managed to jump cleanly up onto the edge of the enclosure today. Clearly pleased with itself, it came face to face with my terrified cat. She had no idea what it was or what to do with it. To stop the chicks getting out of the coop, we have placed a thin net over the top. Hopefully this will work for a few days before we will transfer them to the greenhouse.