Yesterday we were rather concerned about two of our girls. Lottie seems to have lost an unseemly amount of feathers and was sneezing often. We got Chris the Warden to look at her and he said she was fine - the reason why she was so bald is that her new feathers hadn't fully grown... Continue Reading →

Today marked the Christmas celebrations at work which meant a glorious lunchtime finish! After a meal out with friends from work, I ambled home. Inevitability, I ended up at the allotment... Odd how that always seems to happen... I sorted out the chickens with food for their indoor feeder, turned over the soil (desperately needed... Continue Reading →

So it has been a good while since my last post. This is for several reasons! First, it turns out that there really is very little to do in November and December on site (I rather suspect this will also be true for January and February). Most sensible people leg it onto site, cowering under... Continue Reading →

Off to the allotment to sort out the chickens this morning to find Betty in a bit of a state. One of her eyes which has a slight infection seem to have got worse. The poor bird has a growth on her bottom eyelid and it must limit her vision considerably. I immediately called Chris... Continue Reading →

Yesterday I had a study day, meaning the alarm clock didn't go off at 06:30 am, bliss! After a few hours swearing at an assignment, I decided to pootle off to the allotment to get some fresh air, feed the chickens and get away from my laptop screen. I arrived, said hello to the others... Continue Reading →

This morning after running a few errands in town (picking up new storage pots for our homemade yogurt, a travel book on Scandinavia and some greens for the chickens) I pottered to the allotment. This past week I have been feeding them in the dark, much to their disapproval. Seeing their coop in daylight for... Continue Reading →

After attending the remembrance day service in town, we pottered off to feed the chickens. With another 3 chickens, the battle to keep them off the mud intensifies. We dropped in loads of grass and spread it on the floor in the hope that it will keep them off the mud for a couple of... Continue Reading →

Today I popped down to the allotment to clear out the bedding in the nest box as well as feeding the chickens. The increase in mess left by 8 chickens rather than 5 means the bedding will need to be changed more often. The ground is very wet so there was no point putting out... Continue Reading →

This evening, I went to feed the chickens in the dark. As with any task involving multiple boxes, unlocking padlocks and juggling water bottles, empty egg boxes and allotment keys, it took longer than it should. Add in the dark and you have a recipe for chicken feeding taking a good half hour! I got... Continue Reading →

Yesterday I popped down to the allotment to feed the chickens. It was about an hour or so earlier than I usually feed them when at work but with the clocks going back last week, it was getting dark quickly. When I got there 7 of them were out waiting whilst Peggie had clearly decided... Continue Reading →

This afternoon we went across to feed the chickens to find a rather curious state of affairs in our chicken coop. The first sign that something was odd was the appearance of a half bag of pellets, a small bag of grit and half a bale of wood shavings. Odd, but explainable if someone has... Continue Reading →

We commenced our first phase of creating our pantry today. Our enormous freezer until has arrived and we finally have proper space for all our produce. Before this we had to cram our poor fridge-freezer unit with produce, meaning we couldn't fit anything else in it! So the new freezer, which has five drawers, is... Continue Reading →

Today we popped over to feed the chickens as normal but ended up having a rather interesting visit. First, my other half picked up Doris for a cuddle. We had a check of her feathers and wings, then by the off chance we looked at her feet. One of the scales on her foot looked... Continue Reading →

Walked over to the allotment this morning to feed the chickens and planning to plant some bulbs ready for spring. Whilst we were feeding the chickens, and laying down grass cuttings from our back garden to rummage through, we checked the under the wings of Peggie for mites. Mites are nasty and lodge under the... Continue Reading →

It has crossed my mind that keeping bees and having fresh honey would be fun - and have the added bonus of a plentiful supply of bees to pollinate our vegetables. Question is, to Bee or not to Bee? Having spent about an hour researching beekeeping, it looks complicated and the possibility of getting stung... Continue Reading →

There are times when dragging yourself to the allotment is difficult, especially if you have got soaked to the skin on the way back from work, change into dry clothes and realise you about to get a second dowsing on your way to feed the chickens. Eugh. By the time I got to the allotment,... Continue Reading →

A simple comparison of the new plot 4 weeks ago and now.... Before: Now:

After work I popped down to the allotment to feed the chickens. As often happens, I planned to go down for a few minutes and ended up staying an hour. I gave the chickens a huge amount of new green vegetation for them to rummage through, threw them some food and got them new water.... Continue Reading →

This morning we pottered off to the allotment determined to continue with the momentum we had yesterday. We have completely dismantled the fruit cage area and have dug over most of it - although we can't fully dog it over as the raspberry plants aren't ready for moving yet. It also looks like the black... Continue Reading →