Friends coming to visit

This morning I popped down to the allotment early to clean out the shed before a colleague from work came to visit with her girls. I borrowed a broom from Tracy and swept the carpet out before doing some general tidying. The torrential rain has soaked the plot to saturation point yet again. We will probably loose quite a bit of our produce to the water logged soil – it’s nothing new but still incredibly frustrating.

I walked down to the main coop and found the chicks sitting on the perches. They are still being picked on a bit but I have made sure that there are two food bowls in the coop. I have also been hand feeding them to ensure they are getting some extra food. I cleaned out the nest box and perches before getting a call from Bev saying they had arrived at the main gate.

We walked down to meet the chickens and the chicks. The girls enjoyed feeding greens to the older girls and stroking a reluctant Hattie. Our chickens have been completely spoilt today with two different types of green as well as their usual sunflower seed treats!

Next, we walked down to feed the chicks. The girls carried two trays of chick crumb to the nest box where we put one inside the box and one in the run. Leia came out with her chicks – thankfully all five are still there! The girls really enjoyed watching them and I was amazed at how quickly the chicks are feathering up. The Rhode Island Red chicks took weeks to get their feathers through. Our new chicks have begun to get their wing feathers and even started their tail feathers!

After looking at the chicks for a while, we walked around the site so the girls could see all the different plants and chickens. I also managed to send Bev and the girls home with a ton of rhubarb, a salmonberry plant and Mick the Greek kindly gave them a massive lettuce. I was hoping to send them home with a couple of eggs but the girls were too busy scoffing their greens to bother with being helpful.

When Bev and the girls had gone, I checked up on the chickens in the main coop to find two eggs. I swear they waited until Bev left on purpose! I collected the eggs and checked on the chicks once more before heading home for lunch. Upon my arrival home I discovered my husband had filled the car with the decking boards that arrived yesterday evening. The plan was to drive them down after lunch. Just as I was about to start lunch, we had another delivery. My bog garden plants and the new pond pump had finally appeared!

As soon as lunch was finished we planned for my husband drive with the boards while I walked across with the plants. Not all the boards fitted into the car in one go so my husband would have to pop back home to pick up the last few. They make quite an impressive stack! Even with 25 boards, we may not have enough to completely finish boxing off the plot but it will be a good start.