Hedgehog house

Today we wandered to the allotment wondering how Leia and Rey had got on with the other girls. When we got to the main coop, we discovered that Leia wasn’t coping well. She had tried to hide behind the food bins. I caught her and placed her up on the top of the nest box and fed her some sunflower seeds. Rey was doing a bit better but still not particularly happy. We left them to it for a while as we went to check on the chicks.

The chicks were exploring their new home and my husband amused himself by putting them all into the top section of the nest box and shutting them in. This was useful because we were able to open up both doors to let the greenhouse cool down. Fortunately, the wind was blowing in the right direction so it blew right through.

We wandered back down to the main coop to find things hadn’t improved. Rey was not hiding behind the bins whilst Leia had her head hidden behind the sawdust bale. She was very unhappy and the others were relentlessly picking on her. We decided to put her and Rey into the emergency coop on Rachael’s plot. My husband transferred the food bowl and water feeder before we grabbed the girls and moved them. To help them settle in, I got them some fresh greens to nibble on. We left them to chill out whilst we went to feed Dolly.

Dolly had been busy sunbathing which was good to see. I managed to get a bit more gunk out of her beak – she will insist on getting dirt stuck in there. She took her medicine, egg and water quite well although she kept making weird noises after being fed. We left to her to calm down for a bit.

Whilst I chatted with Sarah and Liz who were busy sorting out their greenhouse with Cliff’s expertise. It’s an enormous greenhouse but it’s looking great. Eventually, I got dug out by my husband who offered to go and get some more chick crumb. The way these chicks eat, we will need another 5kg bag in a few days! The last bag lasted just over a week!

The drop in the wind today meant the bees were less angsty so I risked unwrapping the tree. It always amazes me how much longer wrapping the tree takes compared to unwrapping even with curious bees inspecting what I was doing. The bark will need to dry out a bit and we will have to prune the new growths appearing on the trunk.

While he was gone, I decided to finally start the hedgehog house. It formed the nest box of our quail enclosure. Over the past few years, it has been sitting in the main coop not doing anything except offering shelter to passing mice. I brushed and scraped off as much dirt and debris as I could before sweeping out the inside. Next, I grabbed a sheet of sandpaper and quickly gave it a once over. It definitely looked better already.

Rummaging through the paint pots in the shed, I found we had a third of a tin of the beautiful seagrass colour left. It would mean the hedgehog house would match the shed which I found rather amusing. The wood absorbed the paint quickly so it will definitely need another coat tomorrow. The little window and the door I plan to paint in the darker sage colour tomorrow. Only trouble is deciding where to put it. My current thought is to put it under the fruit trees at the back of the plot. It’s sheltered there and gets dappled sunshine.

Before we left, we popped across to Steve’s plot to see his new chicks. He had brought down the first batch of the White Legbars and they were beautiful. He isn’t sure why some of their feet aren’t straight and we spent a while discussing what might have caused it and how to fix it. He has a few ideas so we will see how the next batch (currently hatching!) turn out!