This morning I arrived to find Phil and Steve had been busy sorting out the hives. They had removed the frames from the nuc box and placed them into the box. Unfortunately, Phil had forgotten to check the frames as he was transferring into the hive. They took exception to Phil moving the frames for... Continue Reading →
A slow Saturday
Late this morning, I dragged myself out to the allotment. It's been a manic week at work and I am absolutely wiped. I arrived and spent a happy hour nattering to Cliff, Phil and Geoff. It turns out that while I have been at work, the bees have spent a week away before Phil brought... Continue Reading →
A quiet weekend
Snowed under by a pile of paperwork, the time down the allotment this weekend was considerably less than usual. But it was such a relief to get out of the house! I spent the last two days hoeing the plot and weeding the flower garden. The bark and weed fabric around the compost bins by... Continue Reading →
An evening walk
After work this evening, I walked down to the allotment to check on the chicks. They are so big now! Emily looked rather frazzled trying to keep those three chicks in order! Hilariously, the two wyandottes favourite place to sit is on Emily's back. She wasn't impressed and quickly got them off. I will be... Continue Reading →
Relaxing in the sunshine
Today I had a slow amble to the allotment, enjoying the sunshine on the short walk. Upon arrival, I bumped into Geoff and spent a happy hour nattering in the clubhouse. When I left, I pottered to the greenhouse to say good morning to Emily and her chicks. They are growing massively and their cheeps... Continue Reading →
Painting a Queen
This morning I walked down to the allotment in the glorious May sunshine. Everyone clearly had the same idea, and it was lovely to see everyone out and busy. First job was to open up the greenhouse to make sure Emily and her chicks had some fresh cool air. I topped up their food and... Continue Reading →
Chicks and deck chairs
This morning I arrived onto site late but just in time for the mid-morning tea bell. I ran into Cliff and Geoff by the greenhouse, trying to fix the door which spontaneously detached itself and launched onto the main path. Between Cliff, Geoff, Will and myself, we reattached it and put in new glass. All... Continue Reading →
Alive and Cheeping
Before work this morning, I ran down to the allotment in the rain, desperate to see whether the chick had survived the night. I was greeted by a happy sight of three happy balls of fluff!
A matter of life or death
I had to run into work this morning quickly before going down to the allotment. Upon my arrival, I was met with some bad news about one of the chicks. Cliff had checked on Emily this morning to find her and only two chicks. No sign of the third. After several minutes searching he found... Continue Reading →
A day of two allotments
Today I popped down to the allotment later than usual. After the excitement of the last couple of days, I thought it would be a good idea to leave Emily alone for a while without being pestered by an over-enthusiastic owner! I saw Emily out when I arrived and watched as she kept going in... Continue Reading →
And then there were 3…
This morning I dashed down to the allotment expecting to see Emily with a trail of chicks enjoying the sunshine. When I arrived, she was still in her box and showed no signs of moving off her eggs. I managed to catch a glimpse of one of the chicks before leaving her to it. I... Continue Reading →
New arrivals!
This morning I dashed down to the allotment, desperate for news on Emily's eggs. When I arrived and lofted the lid of the broody box, I spotted a change! Next to Emily, half out from underneath her was an eggshell. Tentatively, I removed it, expecting a sharp peck for my trouble. I bent down and... Continue Reading →
Progress
Ambled down the allotment this morning to feed the chickens - Evie is still being grumpy and attempting to be broody. I am not convinced - she is a Warren and very old so it's unlikely she is actually broody. I plan to check with Geoff tomorrow about her. I have also begun to clear... Continue Reading →
What’s happened to Molly?
Ambled down late to the allotment this morning to sort out the chickens and in theory to do some weeding... You can guess what happened about the weeding. I quickly fed the chickens and checked on the mite situation - fairly under control but more dusting needed. So I left them to their food and... Continue Reading →
Back with a bang!
After a manic two weeks at work, we are finally within shouting distance of the end of term. This means freedom and lots of time to spend down the allotment to make up for abandoning it these last couple of weeks. This morning, not only did I feed the chickens, but I have tried a... Continue Reading →
Chicks Day 3
Two balls of fluffy cuteness! Mum is still very protective but the chicks seems to be exploring their enclosure more today. I didn't stay too long but you could just spend hours watching them both!
Chicks Day 2
So my husband went down to feed the chickens this morning while I was at work and managed to get photographic evidence of both Molly's chicks! So there are definitely two! It's not brilliant to get only 2 from 12 eggs but everyone has struggled to hatch eggs this year for some reason. Molly is... Continue Reading →
Hurray for Molly!
This was so exciting, I thought this warranted an separate post! Molly's eggs have reached their due date and we have two beautiful Welsummer chicks! It's lovely to see Molly's hard work pay off and she looks like she will be an excellent mum. We are still down on chicks as none of Polly's hatched... Continue Reading →
New arrivals!
Geoff rang this morning to tell us that Emily who had been sitting on eggs for the past three weeks had hatched! She had been sitting on fifteen eggs and managed to stay on them until they hatched. It was a great success that she hatched eight! So pleased that Emily has managed to hatch... Continue Reading →
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