Chickens, chickens everywhere

Yesterday, I ambled down the plot to catch up with everyone and feed the chickens. The sun was out, the sky was blue and there was more than a hint of spring in the air. It was lovely to see the site busy, with people appearing after their winter hibernation. Despite wind, rain and snow, plot holders with chickens battle the weather over the winter months and it’s rare to see anyone else. As the weather warms and the days lengthen, slowly other plot holders appear and the site gradually becomes alive again.

After catching up with everyone for a bit, I headed down to the chickens. We’ve been experimenting with giving Maude and Mavis layers mash to try to stop them throwing their food everywhere. It does seem to be working although it’s probably only a matter of time before they work out how to make a mess with their new food. They are clever old birds!

Down in the Main Coop, all four girls were clamouring for their food. There’s been an issue with someone knocking over the food bowl but I couldn’t quite work out who it was. Upon entering the coop, I caught the culprit red handed – or should that be red beaked? Dotty was perched rather precariously on the top of the food bowl. We had a short stand off, she watching me closely and I was desperately trying to work out how to get her off without her knocking all the food on to the floor yet again. Treats! Treats would work! I slowly worked my way past her and threw a handful of corn onto the ground. There was a frantic fluster of wings and Dotty launched herself at the corn, almost knocking it over. Fortunately, I managed to catch it before it fell.

After this excitement, I headed across to the New Coop. All four girls were out and about and were happily scratching away. The longer days are clearly making them happier as I found an egg in the nest box. That’s three in the past week! I congratulated them on remembering they were chickens and headed back to see if there were any eggs in the Nest House. When I opened up the nest box, I was greeted with an indignant shriek. I’d disturbed Dotty mid-lay. I beat a hasty retreat and went for a walk around the site.

As I was chatting with Iain, Jason came up and asked for help. It appears some of Cliff’s chickens had made a bold bid for freedom. Iain and I immediately headed across to catch some chickens! Four hens had got out and with four of us, (Jason, Jason’s son, Iain and myself) it seemed to be an even match. However, chickens are smart, wily and have an incredible ability to evade capture. We managed to herd a Rhode Island Red and Black Leghorn into the coop on the second attempt. But the two others were far less cooperative. Five minutes of chasing, evasion and corning, I managed to grab the tail of one. Holding on for dear life, I managed to get two hands on her body to pick her up safely. She informed me of her disapproval by shrieking loudly in my ear as she wriggled to try and escape. Jason held open the door and I popped her through it. Three down, one to go!

The last hen had seen all three being caught and knew what was coming. She had her plans in place. Dodging between myself and Iain, she sprinted towards the path. Blocked by Jason, she spun around and dodged back between the humans. I made a futile attempt to grab her as she dashed past. Iain headed her off from sneaking onto Geoff’s plot and she turned again. This time, I was ready and timed my grab perfectly. Only when she was safely secured under my arm, did we all breathe a sigh of relief. I popped her back into the coop and we checked that there weren’t any other escapees. Thankfully, everyone was back in the coop and we headed back to our respective plots.

With everyone fed and watered at the allotment, I headed home to clean out the quails. Sadly, we lost Queenie last week which was upsetting as it was shortly after we lost Gertie. Cleaning out the quail is a quick job, made quicker by the use of a hose spray gun. I caught all the quail and put them safely in the pet carrier whilst I cleaned the coop, the water and food bowl. On a roll, I cleaned out the Fortress of Gertie-tude, let it dry and stored it away in the shed. It’s a job I have been putting off all week. Our garden isn’t the same without Gertie.

Next I moved into cleaning out the run of the purple Omlet. In theory, it’s an easy job however, it is made more complex by having to stop every few minutes to chase off inquisitive chickens who want to micromanage your every move. With the weather becoming increasingly overcast, I rushed to scrape and clean the slabs before the rain started. Just as I finished attaching the run to the nest box, the rain began. My final task was to get the Topknot Gang into their coops. Aurora, Coco, Cumulus and Arcus are regularly invading the red Omlet on the lawn, pushing out Trixie, Nimbus and Stratus. I was hoping that it would be a quick job to get everyone into the right coop.

If only life was that simple. All seven of them were in the red Omlet, with Coco’s group by the nest box and the others by the run door. The worst possible configuration for extracting Coco’s group from the others. I shook the run, rattling the fencing which chased them all out of the run. With one hand, I held off Arcus and with the other, shoved Nimbus, Stratus and Trixie into the run. I slammed the door, just as Arcus elbowed herself past me. Too slow to get into the run thankfully!

I managed to corral Arcus and Coco across the patio into the purple Omlet. However, Aurora and Cumulus had other ideas. I sometimes wonder what our neighbours think as they watch me chase two moronic chickens four times around the garden and across the patio. After about ten minutes, I got them into the run and slammed the door behind them. Now drenched and conscious of the hilarious spectacle I had provided for the neighbours, I headed inside.