It Never Rains But it Pours

Spotting the rain this morning, I delayed going down in a fruitless effort to stay dry. As I was chatting to Phil, the heavens opened and we sprinted to our respective sheds to shelter from the pouring rain. After several minutes, it didn’t seem to be stopping or even lessening.

• 

Resigning myself to getting utterly soaked, I ran from the shed slowing only to check that Roxy and Foxy had food and water. Sprinting down the plot, I wrenched open the main coop door and threw myself inside. My sudden appearance definitely surprised Tommy who clucked angrily at me for several minutes. I mollified him and the girls with a couple of handfuls of sunflower seeds. The rain was pouring through the roof and was making the ground really soggy. Running outside again, I grabbed a water butt and put it under the worst of the roof leak. The sound of the rain on the metal roof was impressive! More leaks kept coming and I had run out of buckets or waterbutts. Improvising, I grabbed a couple of old empty food bags and positioned them under the drips. It’s a temporary solution but it reminded me to sort out the guttering!

• 

Over in the new coop, I found the girls hiding from the rain. Using a spade, I pushed the puddles off the roof tarpaulin. Sadly for Sadie, she was directly underneath the torrent of water coming from the roof! She was one very sodden and angry chicken! Taking a deep breath, I sprinted back to the main coop. By now, I was completely drenched. In a few quick minutes, I filled up the food boxes for the silkies and squelched back up to the shed. Sitting in the shed, I waited for it to stop. It didn’t. In fact, it got even heavier.

• 

Taking all options into consideration, I decided I was so wet that it didn’t matter if the rain continued. There comes a point where you cannot get any wetter, and I had reached that point about ten minutes ago. Grabbing the boxes, I trudged home as fast as I could.

• 

Back at home, I checked on Trixy and her chicks. The millefleur chicks are really feathering up fast although this might be because their porcelain feathers contrast strongly against their yellow primary feathers. They are all exploring much more and took great pleasure in trying some greens today. I still have no idea whether they are boys or girls so until that day comes, I will continue to live in a happy world where all chicks are girls. This wonderful place is called Denial.

• 

As the rain continued heavily all day, it seems unlikely that I will be able to do much down the allotment. But here’s hoping the rain will stop for long enough for me to feed the chickens without leaving a river behind me!