Adventures in the life of an English allotment
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,... Continue Reading →
With temperatures significantly below zero, I have been worried about Gertie getting cold overnight on her own. Despite my best efforts to winter-proof her coop, it's really not ideal for a lone hen in these temporary. I had thought about boxing in her perch but I worry that she would struggle to get in and... Continue Reading →
This morning, when I walked out into the garden, I discovered that the quail were in rather dire straits. The deluge of rain and wind we have had over the last two days has been unbelievable. The garden and plot are absolutely saturated. A single drop more rain and both would turn into a lake.... Continue Reading →
So over the past few days, both parts of the Topknot Gang have been spending the day out exploring the garden. Usually, they stay in two separate groups, only occasionally going near each other. Often there seems to be considerable confusion between Cumulus and Asperitas. This can lead to hilarious moments where Aurora, Arcus and... Continue Reading →
Busy day today but I managed to squeeze in cleaning out the Topknot Gang's coops this evening. Coop cleaning can be such a faff and usually takes ages. As my husband got busy prepping dinner, I challenged myself to see if I could clean both Omlets before dinner was ready. Removing the old bedding completely... Continue Reading →
After a long day at work, I came back home to find Cirrus in quite a state, lying on the run floor. We quickly pulled her out and I checked her over. No obvious signs of water belly, injury to hips and legs or hard lump in the belly suggesting that she was egg bound.... Continue Reading →
Yet again February and March have disappeared in a blur of work and holidays and somehow it's April and I've not started growing anything! It doesn't matter how many years I have the allotment, I always seem to end up planting late. I promised myself I would get things growing in February after last year's... Continue Reading →
Before work this morning, I fed the home chickens and quail. With DEFRA finally lifting Flockdown on next week (the 18th April), it's so good to know that the girls will be able to explore the garden again. After feeding the fluffy and ravenous silkies and shifting three idiotic birds off the nest. I had... Continue Reading →
Sometimes chickens like to mess with you. Usually when you least expect and always in a way you could never predict. Two days ago, one of the Topknot Gang decided to lay an egg a third of the way down the run. Heaven forbid that the egg was laid near the end of the run... Continue Reading →
Another year gone! It seems only yesterday that it was the start of 2022. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun? I always love spending today looking over the blog, reminding myself of all the changes, successes and failures during the year. I've tried to pick out some of my most memorable adventures but... Continue Reading →
Winter in the UK is wet. Not full monsoon for weeks on end but a persistent drizzle interspersed with heavy rain accompanied by howling winds. You may wonder why Brits have no problem going outdoors in this depressing weather. It's simple. If we waited for the rain to stop, we wouldn't leave the house for... Continue Reading →
Why is it that whenever I go to feed the chickens, the heavens open? Even the merest thought of "I'll go and feed the chickens in a bit..." seems to send out some invisible signal to the clouds to ready themselves for a full monsoon. Usually this phenomena is limited to my leaving the house... Continue Reading →
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 was a very exciting day. Late this afternoon, Nikki and Dylan appeared at the front door with a pet carrier containing three beautiful silkies! Birmingham Silkies has sadly had to sell many of her birds due to a house move. I have been following her online for several years and the silkies she breeds... Continue Reading →
I love lunchtimes at the moment. It's an opportunity to let the chickens at home explore the garden. I find watching the interactions between the different groups fascinating. The silkies are the first out, always keen to destroy another patch of the lawn. Cirrus is always first out and she usually wanders near to the... 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 →
This morning when I checked on Cirrus, I heard quiet cheeping coming from underneath her. Gently, I lifted up her feathers, hoping to see a chick. The eggs were there unchanged but I could definitely hear the chicks inside the eggs. I left it for a few hours and to my delight when I checked... Continue Reading →
So over the past few days, Cirrus has been in the indoor coop. She has been properly broody for about a week and as broody hens need their own space, I brought her into the house. Cirrus is sitting determinedly although she keeps moving around the coop as if to find the best place. This... Continue Reading →
Finally today, the weather cooperated which meant we could put up the shed! Between us we spent a while shifting around the different sides of the shed to work out the best way to orientate it. After some discussion, we decided on having the window facing the house and the door facing down the street.... Continue Reading →
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