Adventures in the life of an English allotment
This morning, we braced ourselves for feeding the chickens in the freezing temperatures. It was one of those beautiful clear, sunny and crisp winter days. Upon our arrival, we discovered that every water feeder and water butt was completely frozen over! Welding a large screwdriver, my husband set to work smashing the thick layer of... Continue Reading →
Down at the allotment today, occured a small miracle. In the greenhouse Sadie, Leia and Lilja has spent around 24 hours unsupervised. Unsure of what I would find, I cautiously looked through the glass. What I saw amazed me. Sadie was on the top shelf with Leia and Lilja pottering around on the floor. No... Continue Reading →
This morning I ambled down to the allotment to clean out the greenhouse. It's been overdue for a few days and we managed to get hold of some new shavings late last night before the shops closed for Christmas. I arrived on site and stopped to say a quick hello to Geoff. Due to the... Continue Reading →
With a sudden influx of wheelchair orders, I dashed down to the allotment this morning intending to quickly feed the chickens. As it turned out, I spent quite a bit of time with Cliff trying to plug any tiny gaps in the coop to ensure no wild birds can get in. The sparrows are very... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I picked up an old tyre from a local seller to make a swing for the chickens in the main coop. Lugging the tyre down to the allotment was rather amusing and I wish I had gone with my first plan which was to roll it all the way. For some unknown reason, I... Continue Reading →
With the rapidly impending DEFRA deadline for ensuring every coop is secured against wild birds, we dashed down to the allotment armed with a 50m roll of scoffolding netting and a bag of cable ties. Unfortunately, there have been a a number of bird flu cases in Cheshire and across the UK over the past... Continue Reading →
This morning I ambled down to the allotment to check on how our latest arrival was settling in. As I came onto the main path, I found Cliff and Geoff enjoying the fresh air and having a chat. Somehow half an hour passed by as we put the world to rights and caught up on... Continue Reading →
Being a weekend, I spent quite a long time with the chicks. Over the past two weeks, they have grown enormously and their secondary feathers are coming in. Now that they are seven weeks old, I am slowly transitioning them onto grower's pellets. These contain a higher amount of protein than layers pellets, helping them... Continue Reading →
I had a missed call from Geoff this evening. When I called back, it turned out that one of his chickens is being quite severely picked on by the girls higher up in the pecking order. What makes it worse, is the bullied bird is then picking on the two youngest birds. Geoff has run... Continue Reading →
The main challenge we have over winter is trying to keep the chickens off the mud in their coop. Every autumn, we put in a layer of chippings and hope they last the winter. Unfortunately, this year, despite a thick new layer being added in September, the chickens are back on mud again. However, our... Continue Reading →
The past week has seen our beautiful little Silkie hens busy exploring their inside coop. Although they are still quite timid, I have managed to handle them quite a bit and even had one take a tentative peck at the chick crumb in my hand. But their lack of names has been concerning me. Before... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment ready to clean out the main coop. It's a long job that is made more difficult in winter by the temperature and the water on site being turned off. Happily, the warm temperatures in November have meant that the water is still on which makes this job... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment, wrapped up warm against the cold. The temperature has definitely dropped significantly today. Upon arrival, I found Lilja and Leia sitting together up on top of the nest box. They immediately moved when I opened the door with Leia instantly and incessantly demanding to be fed. Telling... Continue Reading →
So today was a day I have been looking forward to for years. For my birthday, my husband had agreed to let me get some silkie hens! I adore these ridiculous looking chickens with their 5 toes and beautifully soft feathers. I have held off getting silkies for years due to concerns over Marek's disease... Continue Reading →
After days of ran, we finally have a glimpse of some winter sunshine. The weather is surprisingly warm considering we are now in mid-November. Down on site, I spotted Alan and Billy and went to say hello. They were both busy doing some winter jobs. On the plot, we still have some digging to do... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens. The weather has been typically gloomy and wet. In fact, the rain has been pretty much non stop for nearly two weeks! Down in the greenhouse, Lilja and Leia are getting on better although Lilja seems to spend most of her time up... Continue Reading →
Today being Halloween, we decided to try carving a pumpkin. Previous years, we have donated pumpkins to others and for school Harvest festivals. But as we are on the verge of Lockdown Mark 2, I rather doubt we could offload pumpkins to other people. We carted both pumpkins back from the allotment in the car... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to clean out the greenhouse. Phil and Steve were down and stopped to say hello. It turns out that the new people on Plot 1 were down. I walked across to say welcome to the site. John, his wife and all three children were all busy digging... Continue Reading →
Late morning, I ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens. Happily, the weather was dry and there even was a hint of sunshine. Upon arrival, I found Phil in the Clubhouse. It turns out Steve has done a big clear out of the clubhouse, taking out the chairs and carpet. I walked across... Continue Reading →
Sadly this morning we lost Molly. I had been hand feeding her over the past two days and she rallied rather brilliantly last night. She pecked at her own food, drank enthusiastically and gobbled scrambled egg. This morning however, she looked in a very bad way and slipped away in her sleep. Molly and Holly... Continue Reading →
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