Chickens, Chickens Everywhere!

This afternoon, we ambled down to the allotment to sort out the chickens. Feeding the chickens in the garden is always fun as the silkies are becoming increasingly tame, running to the door to get to their food first. On the other side of the garden, Gordon and his gang of girls are always at the run door, watching everything that is going on. As he gets older, Gordon’s crowing has changed from an adorable little cockle doodle doo to a rather awful squawk. I’m hoping he will go back to that quiet crow but I somehow doubt it. He is also increasingly insisting on crowing in the morning and the only way we have found to successfully shut him up is to feed him. With his beak full of food, he can’t possibly crow!

On site, we fed the Weed Destroyers their kale and some treats. Roxy was particularly demanding! Over in the main coop, Tommy seems to be growing back his neck feathers. He’s at the punk rocker stage where the new feathers are still in their casings, forming a range of spikes coming out of his neck. Strangely enough, he did not take well to being mocked about his new look! All the other girls were happy scratching in the run. Flora as always, my ever present shadow, hovering to hoover any dropped morsels. If you didn’t know we fed our chickens daily, you would think we starve them judging from their obsession with food.

In the new coop, the Buff Orpington was back on her perch. When I tried to persuade her to eat from my hand, she totally freaked out, leaping from the perch and dashing into the nest box. I don’t think I have ever seen such a massive hen move so fast!

Lilja is finally sporting some beautiful new feathers. Intriguingly, these new feathers are much darker than her old ones. Her older ones are cream with dark brownish flecks but the new ones are almost black and white. Maybe the sun has bleached the colour somewhat over the summer? Whatever the reason, she is going to look like a completely different chicken when all the new feathers have come through! Leia continues to be on a power trip, having taken over as top hen whilst Lilja is moulting. I’m not sure whether any of the other girls are particularly impressed with Leia’s management style which seems to entirely consist of sharp pecks and bullying behaviour.

Before we left, I managed to harvest another few lemon cucumbers and a all handful of yellow tomatoes and red tomatoes. I still can’t believe we are still getting some this far into October! I will need to clear the plants away shortly but I am reluctant to do so when there is a distinct possibility of more fruit.

So the plan now is to finish trimming back the blackberries and dig over each of the beds ready for winter. Sounds so simple doesn’t it? But with the ever fickle British Weather, who knows!