Adventures in the life of an English allotment
Over the past few weeks, the Omlet in the garden has become a battleground. Three of the silkies have been conducting a battle royale to hog the nest. The majority of the past four weeks, I have daily been turfing off Stratus from the nest. She has absolutely no idea how to be a broody... Continue Reading →
Today, the sun was out and the sky was blue so I headed out to the allotment armed with a huge list of things to do. As I arrived and walked towards the plot, I heard a loud buzzing ahead. As I passed Phil's plot, I discovered the source of the noise - one of... Continue Reading →
I leapt out of bed this morning and dashed downstairs to check on Cirrus and her chick. From the frantic high pitched cheeping I knew that it was hiding somewhere under Cirrus. Cautiously, I lifted Cirrus off the eggs to find a tiny white ball of fluff. Unsurprisingly, Cirrus was not impressed and pecked me... Continue Reading →
After work, I pottered down to the plot to feed the chickens. As usual, as I approached the shed, Roxy's loud shout went up, quickly followed by Trixie and Foxy. You really don't need a guard dog to alert you, just have chickens! They refused to quieten until their beaks were buried in their refilled... Continue Reading →
Over the last couple of days, the chicks have grown massively. The milliefleurs are feathering up rapidly, their beautiful light yellow fluff giving way to pale grey and cream secondary feathers. Even the smallest chick is doing well, keeping up with the others and cheeping as loudly! Trixy on the other hand, is moulting feathers... Continue Reading →
Today was a manic day at the allotment. With no broody hens, I could finally clean out the new coop and whilst I was at it I thought I might as well do the other two. The first nest box was so much easier to clean now that Will has added hinges to the roof.... Continue Reading →
Another busy morning today saw me arrive mid-afternoon at the allotment. Upon my arrival, I walked down to the main coop to check on Millie. She seemed alright although she is clearly at the bottom of the pecking order. What was wonderful to see was that all of the girls were on the perches including... Continue Reading →
This morning when I checked on Trixy's coop to discover a dead chick. It was at the back of the nest and it was difficult to get to it without being eaten alive by an irate broody. Once I got it out I checked it over. There didn't seem to be anything particularly wrong with... Continue Reading →
This evening, I checked on Trixy's remaining eggs. One had a big pip in it but nothing seemed to be happening and Trixy is spending more and more time off the remaining eggs. Choosing to help the chick, I took it out of the broody coop. Slowly, I gently removed fragments of shell, trying to... Continue Reading →
When I checked on Trixy this morning, there was a new little arrival! Light brown and incredibly fluffy, I only caught a quick look before Trixy got in the way. By this point we had hatched one millefleur and two partridge bantams. The question was, would we get anymore? After work, we did another check... Continue Reading →
After spending the afternoon in the shed wrestling with paperwork, I gave up. Granted it was much nicer to look outside and see the plot with Roxy busy foraging away. But paperwork is still paperwork. My ancient laptop battery holds minimal charge but the solar power set up meant I could plug it in to... Continue Reading →
I got woken up this morning by my husband excitedly telling me he could hear cheeps from Trixy's cage! I leapt out of bed and ran downstairs. Sure enough, I could hear a high pitched cheep! Cautiously, we tried to move Trixy's feathers to have a look but she wouldn't let us anywhere near. Later... Continue Reading →
With the weather still dry, despite the promised torrential rain, I ambled down to the allotment with no particular plan. Upon arrival, I sat with Geoff and Mick the Greek and we put the world to rights. This is an absolutely essential part of allotment life - so many world issues could be solved if... Continue Reading →
So today was an interesting day. If broodiness was as infectious as Covid-19, I would have less broody hens. At home, Stratus was still sitting in the nest box, blocking Nimbus and Cirrus from getting into it to lay. I had arranged to collect six hatching eggs from Trixy's breeder this evening. As soon as... Continue Reading →
I ran down to the allotment this morning to do two things. First to dose up Millie and second, to check on Trixy. When I arrived, Trixy wasn't to be seen in the run. A good sign. Rather than disturb her, I walked down to the main coop. Both the bantams were hiding in the... Continue Reading →
Today we walked down to the allotment in the glorious sunshine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. All three bantams were out enjoying scratching and dust bathing. It was interesting to see Trixy outside after her attempt at being broody yesterday. Yesterday, I had to extract the eggs she was determinedly sitting on. The... Continue Reading →
The weather has really not been what it should be for May. Almost no rain in April saw the allotment emulating the driest parts of the Sahara. The seemingly endless days of drizzle in May has provided enough water to make the weeds grow in abundance. Such are the difficulties when growing plants in the... Continue Reading →
Today I trotted down to the allotment, marvelling at how changeable the British weather really is. Yesterday was showers and overcast. Today was boiling. Not dry heat which somehow is more tolerable but the sticky, oppressive heat that makes everything difficult. All the usual gang were there when I arrived and after a preliminary check... Continue Reading →
Where oh where has the sunshine gone? Judging from how wet and rainy June and July have been I suspect we have had our "summer" in May. Today was overcast and I walked down to the allotment to check on Pop and to go a few jobs. When I got into the greenhouse, Pop looked... Continue Reading →
This morning I ambled down to the allotment, enjoying the sunshine which has appeared from nowhere. Everyone had come down to their plots to make good use of the rare break in the weather. I had a quick chat with Geoff, Brad and Andy before heading down to the coop. I put Pop outside and... Continue Reading →
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