Sleepy Chickens

How has another week gone?! It’s always the same at this time of year. Somehow January and February disappear and all of a sudden it’s March and almost nothing has been done! After a day out with family yesterday and the majority of today spent doing jobs at home, I headed down to the allotment in the early evening. I would have been down earlier but I was delayed by a difficult tap which refused to fit the reducers, the pipe or anything else come to that!

Shrugging off my frustration, I walked across to the plot. Maude and Mavis were already in their nest box as were the Big Four in the Main Coop. With everyone in bed, I looked into the New Coop. Aside from Gertie, they were all standing together underneath the perch. As soon as I walked in and changed the water, Gertie woke up and began shuffling around on the perch. By the time I had filled up the little food bowl, she was positively bouncing with excitement. I picked her up and she immediately began to peck at my hand like shed never seen food before.

I quickly checked her crop to see if she had managed to eat anything herself during the day. Happily she had a partially full crop which shows she is eating independently but it’s not quite enough as she should have a full crop before bed. I put the food bowl in front of her and she tucked in. Gertie ate so fast that she had to stop and readjust her crop a few times before scoffing more food. There came a point where she was adjusting so much, there couldn’t have been anymore room. I put her down by the water bowl and encouraged her to drink. She had a long drink after climbing up onto the water bowl. Worried she would fall into it, I picked her up and put her back on her favourite end of the perch.

So the plan for the next couple of days is to finish digging over the plot and to clean and tidy the shed. The shed needs a repaint this year and we need to work out how to get the pergola up and the solar irrigation system in.