May 2011

May and its beautifully warm, horah!
When collecting eggs this morning, I came across a huge one, Ouch! that must have been really painful, at first I was delighted but then thought about the strain that poor little chook had to go through.  I suppose that's what my mum felt like, she is so tiny, petite, not a bit above 5 ft and I was an 8lb baby, yikes!

I have decided to try making wine and bought a wine kit "Young Elderflower", after following the instructions and letting it ferment I racked it off (meaning syphoned from one demijohn to another to rid it of sediment. and finally after a second racking bottled it into sterilised recycled bottles. It already tastes wonderful! but will leave it for another few months.

May brings the month of Elder flowers

Elder flowers here I come....... have you ever seen such a beautiful sight, real magic for the kitchen, first the flowers then the berries..... cant wait!
So most of the neighbours now think I'm a loony!!! do I care? not a bit! So there I was with carrier bags in hand and a small pair of scissors, I've had old ladies looking out of their windows wondering what the hell I'm up to and groups of young boys on their way home from school calling me a vandal? Me? what do they know.....so I've managed to get a couple of bags full, not bad for my first day.
On my return home I've made some Elderflower cordial, recipe from Pam Corbin's preserves book and some elderflower champagne, I managed to get a good recipe from a work colleagues mad aunt! no madder than me.
Managed to find some demijohns in second hand shops, I had purchased the first couple, wow its all working out rather expensive.
Found a park near to my local Aldi store where I discovered an abundance of Elders, came home with about 5 bags, have measured them into pints sizes, bagged and frozen to use during the next year.

April 2011

Another very sad month, Henry has been suffering with bleeding gums and after having 15 teeth removed the infection still won't clear up.... He was diagnosed with FIV feline immune difficient virus.  R.I.P. lovely Henry 28/4/11.

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March 2011

Very sad, Scatty didn't make it, R.I.P. 7/3/11.

 On a better note, the mud is finally starting to dry up, managed to harvest the last of the parsnips and planted out some potatoes.

Indoor sowing: Leeks, tom marmande, tom milla, tom gardiners delight, tom Roma, tom red cherry, pepper sweet red mini, pepper Toro Rossi, cucumbers, sprouting broccoli, borage, melon orange sherbert, tom sun baby, cauli.

February 2011

Started off February by puttng in my bean poles and transplanting the broad beans and early peas.  I pruned all fruit trees and bushes and trimmed back fuschias in my hanging baskets.










Sowed indoors

•  x2 trays of mixed lettuce, spinach and radishes.
• kitchen herbs
• aubergine
• peppers (red and banana)
• chilli (cayenne and fresno)
• melon (honeydue)
• alpine strawberry 

Planted Goji berry bush.

3.2.11

OMG, soooooo windy tonight! just before turning in I heard strange noises coming from the garden, turned on the garden light, where has the Green house gone?  I eventually found it next door.  Managed to get it all back.  Didn't sleep well, kept dreaming of chicken coops  being blown away like in 'Wizard of Oz'.

 

Checked for damage in the morning and this is what I found:

Have decided on trying to build a timber green house from pallets, to follow in projects later.....
Started to clear corner plot for future green house.
Finally put together raised bed for asparagus, emptied out my compost bin and planted x5 asparagus crowns, 3 of them are already 4 years old so should get a good harvest this year.

11.2.11

My other half called me at work today, sad news: Specky my lovely chook has died, she had a prolapse, so I guess she had an egg stuck again, looks like she was always going to suffer with this problem R.I.P. Specky.

Still really muddy out there, put down more woodchip in runs.

Forgotten method in coops


Have done lots of research on whats called the 'Deep litter method' inside the coops, apparently its less work and is actually healthier for the chooks, so, provide deep litter with wood shavings etc and every few days throw in some corn and the girls turn the whole lot over for you. sounds great but what about the smell I hear you ask, they say, there will be no smell?

22.2.11
When I returned home from work I found Scatty beaten up with a large hole wound on her right bum cheek, she was shaking and hiding, think she was in shock. Have brought her indoors and gave her sugar water through a syringe.
23.2.11
Put Ginger and Red back into the main coop to free up Hennies Hospital for Scatty. On my return home from work Ginger has a bloody bum and Red is scared witless so I have put them back into hospital together with Scatty. Extended the run in the hospital. Got antibiotics for Scatty who is not looking good.
28.2.11
Today I noticed Becky being chased around in the main coop, on closer inspection she has a wound on the top of her tail feathers and found Suzi has a bloody bum.  Sprayed them both purple but the usual cannibals keep going for the wounds.
I am sooo fed up with this now, I put Scatty, Ginger and Red into the main coop and pulled out Rocky, Amber, Bluebell and Maggie and put them in Hennies Hospital which I have now renamed the Lock down Isolation Prison!

Altogether again, not a good month!!!

January 2011

New Years Day


Well the girls all seem fine after last nights fireworks. Cleaned out the coop and showered down the run, they look so funny scratching in the mud. The 2 newbies are still getting picked on but not too bad.

Sowed: broad beans and early peas in propagator.

3.1.11 Whilst drinking my morning coffee I noticed Ginger (the boss) getting chased around, very strange, on closer inspection, she has a huge hole on her right bumb cheek, very deep , poor love, even though she has been a constant bully I do feel sorry for her! Cleaned her up and used purple spray. I have put her in the Green House for the afternoon.  Brought her in the kitchen for the night and placed her in the cat carrier with a towel over, think I will have to keep her separated for a couple of days.

The chicken run is really stinky this morning, there has been so much rain and the ground is turning sour so have purchased some hygiene powder.

9.1.11 Today Red has a sore bumb, the other girls have been picking on her but not as bad as ginger, I have sprayed her purple and put her in with Ginger. Need another small coop but cant afford it so going to try and build one, details to follow in Garden Projects later......

11.1.11 Put Ginger and Red back in the coop this morning, Red was fine and Ginger had a couple set toos but quickly established herself as No. 1 again. Rocky started at her would immediately so I removed Rocky instead, shortly followed by Bluebell and Amber, put all 3 naughty girls in the Green House but returned them to the main coop at night.

Whilst all this tooing and froing was going on I noticed Specky kept squatting and straining all day, brought her inside and gave her a warm bath, didn't really help, she started to look really poorly and wouldn't eat or drink, she is almost prolapsing so I decided the break the egg and get it out. Before doing this I tried applying Vaseline around her vent but she couldn't push it through as there was a fleshy film half over the egg and it wouldn't stretch open enough. So, gently broke the half exposed egg with a chop stick then broke the shell, poor little girl was in alot of pain, she kept wincing, I managed to get it all out, immediately after this she started to squat and strain again, surely she doesn't have another egg in there?
To my horror she squirted out an enormous amount of liquid shit which landed all over my hand (stinky), although i was almost sick I was pleased as it flushed her through and any small pieces of shell I may have left behind were washed out! She wouldn't take any food or water but wanted to go back out so I put her back into the coop, where she has now made a full recovery :)

12.1.11 Decided after seeing Rocky starting on Ginger again to put her back into the Green House, on my return from work other half said the girls started to pick on Red again and she now has a bloody bum so he put her back in with Ginger, she feels safe with her and is calm relaxed and eating again.

16.1.11 Discovered Ginger is laying again, wow good girl.

26.1.11 Finished the hospital coop and run today and just in the nick of time as i need the cat carrier back.  My poor Henry is not well again and need to take him to the vets.
Put Ginger and Red into their new home (Hennies Hospital), they seem to love it!

27.1.11 Henry is back from the vets, he has bad gums bless him, a course of antibiotics should do the trick.

December 2010

Ok so i have cannibals in the garden, i am starting to think that chooks really are a descendant of the dinosaurs! Poor Specky has been bullied again and her bum is red raw, separated from the others, brought some violet spray, apparently heals and covers the sight of blood and stop the others from pecking her, well see.
I have discovered the bad girl is Rocky (as i have named her) she has gone mad....little bitch, constantly plucks feathers from all of the others, i tried poking her with a stick, you know as the dog whisperer gives a bite mimicking another dog, thought she might realise I am the pack leader. yes i know I'm mad....
I now have more chick manure than i can handle, phone my local allotments to see if they would like it, the man from delmonte say YES. his name actually is Derek.
I have now found names for all the chooks:
Becky, Specky, Rocky, Ginger, Suzi, Quatro, Amber, Maggie and Bluebell.
Louri said we eat less eggs now than before we got the girls, I've been selling eggs to friends and clients at work, his suggestion, that way the girls earn their keep and it pays for their food, good idea i thought. So he has suggested we get some more chooks, like i need any persuading?
Its amazing how much these girls grow on you, i now find that I am missing them, I leave them in the morning and by the time I get home at night, they are already tucked up in bed, don't get to see them at all it seems.
27.12.10 Today we picked up 4 more chooks, it was dark by the time we got home so put them straight to bed.
They all seemed fine in the morning, so we went out Xmas shopping.
To my horror, on our return I found one of the new girls dead in the run, they had pecked her so badly she collapsed under a hanging feeder, I cant understand how they can do this to each other, I was really shocked.  Three days later I found another new chook dead in the coop when I let them out in the morning!  I will never again introduce new chickens to the group again, I know its mother nature and how it would be in the wild but its hard to stomach.
All in all, not a good December either!
Here's looking forward to a better 2011

November 2010

The egg laying is slowing down, think its after the girls are moved, it upsets their systems, a delayed reaction, hope they settle in soon.
Found a farm shop near me, great for getting feed, straw etc.
Roxy, one of my girls is not well, acting strange, all haunched up and not interested in anything, she has lost loads of weight, she stayed like this for a few days and finally passed away, how sad :(
I tried everything i could, nothing worked. Had been in touch with farm for advice, when i told her of the sad news, she very kindly offered to replace her, didn't think it was a good idea, but Louri said yes, so along we went.....didn't want to replace her with another black rock so got another speckaldy instead.
Arrived home and placed her in the run, OMG, it was like Raptor showdown, really scary, poor little girl, they all pecked at her like mad, she ran up into the coop, her crown pouring with blood! WOW I felt so guilty....apparently this is normal and is where Hen Pecked came from.
After a couple of days she settled in fine yay!
14.11.10 Woke up this morning to find husband had cleaned out the coop for me....will wonders never seize?
The cold has really come, the fish pond frozen over, melted a little hole for them.
Specky is limping, he foot is badly bruised, think she may have twisted it coming down the ramp.
Cant believe how stressed out the girlies are keeping me, maybe I'm not cut out for all this, have I made a mistake?
have put cage wire all around my veggie beds, JD keeps insisting to use it as her toilet, not for much longer.
30.11.10 and we have snow!!! everything is covered, poor veggies, poor fish and poor chooks.
Altogether not a good November.

September 2010

Bought a "Tidy Tent" and have placed it just outside the french doors, finally i have somewhere to put all my bits, should make the kitchen a bit tidier.
Built a raised fish pond for the girls/boys? used log edging and planted herbs around it, really cute in my opinion, transferred the fish over, hopefully they'll settle in with no problems.
Finally the chicken coop arrived, i had it assembled in about an hour and went to Linda's (lady with chicken farm near me) and have bought home 9 girls, Louri helped me from the car, it was already dark so we put them straight to bed, I'm a bit nervous of handling them, I'm sure ill get used to it soon....goodnight girlies xxx
Well, in just 3 days, the girls have eaten every shred of grass in the run, unbelievable?
Rachelle and Stu came to visit, said i am mad for getting so many compared to their 3.
Well its reached freezing point, i was well prepared, ball in the fish pond, all the girls seem ok, none are bothered by the cold at all, i suppose they are wrapped in quilt :)
24.10.10 Well what a palaver today.....whilst cleaning out the coop I started to feel a bit guilty having them shut inside their run, so i decided to let them out and have a little wonder.  Half way through I started to panic thinking "if a fox should jump into our garden theres absolutely no way i can protect them" so I decided to get them all back in (she says) OMG!!!!!
why did i let them out? slowly one by one I managed to persuade them with bird seed etc apart from Amber, she had me running round the garden for 2 hours, until I decided to just stand by their door and hold it slightly ajar, she calmly just walked right in....go figure? God knows what the neighbours think, it really was like a Benny Hill sketch, i can even hear the music!
Harvested peppers and aubergines and some more potatoes.
Finally found hardwood chippings to put inside the run so the girls will have something to scratch at, you know, do their Essex 2 step! put them in....they love it, lol, they look so funny!

August 2010

Ah....discovered out resident frog is living in the veggie patch, good to see him back, alive and kicking!
After much surfing I have found the perfect chicken coop with a double run....only £294.98 + £17.49 bargain! the run is only 70cm high, so it will fit nicely under the apple tree at the end of the garden, cool.
All my seedlings inside the mini greenhouse are absolutely covered in caterpillars, what the ......? Saw fly larvae, bastards!
8.8.10 flying ants everywhere this afternoon, makes my skin crawl, but fascinating to watch!
Ive been having caterpillar salad nightmares, when will i have decent sleep again?
Have potted all strawberry runners, taken box cuttings.
22.8.10 Plucked my first Braeburn apple, delicious, cant wait for next year, the new tree only have x2 apples on it, and yes i know i should have snipped them both off, but couldn't resist.
Harvested the sweetcorn, maybe a bit too early, not very big cobs.
Most of the different courgette plants have been absolutely useless apart from the normal green ones and the yellow kind, next year will only plant them.
All in all, a very wet August! but good for the plants.