"A Crop Palace" Open for business!

A perfect little sign reduced to 25p in "Age Concern" that matches perfectly with the heart shape design on the hen house!




There had to be a ceremony to capture the moment...two grown adults... might even submit the photo and the story to the Battery Hen Welfare Trust...wonder if they would put it in their newsletter! I'll think on that one, could be quite entertaining with the Greek storyline.



Dick had the job of "chicken grabber" from old residence and plonking them down into 5 star luxury whilst I was doorkeeper in new establishment to stop them from running out to explore the great outdoors! There were plenty of contented little clucking sounds and they all went straight into the house for a look around, not sure what to make of perches...will they lay in the nesting boxes, I wonder?










New experiences of feathers being ruffled in the breeze. Blades of grass to tug at outside the wiremesh. They were in their element!



Looks as if they have all gone into the house to sleep, I have yet to creep in and bolt the door as earlier one heard me coming and popped out to say hello! It is going to be fun being able to move around and touch them more. The litter is so deep that it is soft to sit in and they have all come over and pecked at the sequins on my top, which reflect the light!


Ramzi and Dick have both assured me that the wiremesh is plenty strong enough to withstand the jaws of a certain predator, so I will have to chill out and accept that! I still feel very protective of them though!

Prudence eyeballing me!




This shows A Crop Palace in all its glory!




It took 24 hours for them to learn to lay in the nest box!

A Crop Palace Part 3

Dick, armed with electric screwdriver is on the case. I have two main functions here;

I act as "occasional supporter of frames" amidst much whirring of screws as each piece fits together

and "bringer of hot and cold beverages".

I try NOT to give advice...(lesson learned)





These girls have absolutely no idea what is going on just a few feet away! I can't wait to see these exbattery hens exploring their new "Des Res"!






The Poultry Pen you can see in the foreground will eventually be moved to stand alongside the new one, pretty much where you can see that mound of earth. We plan to landscape it a little (an interesting excercise in a sloping garden) with a bench or something similar where we can watch them and feel as if we are in a different world for a while!





A few days later....

I keep out of the way apart from "recording the moment"!





Not sure what Ramzi is thinking in this photo...but as you can see he has his uses!!!




I couldn't resist this one...



We are nearly ready for the hens, A Crop Palace Part 4 will be the grand opening, am tempted to have a ribbon cutting ceremony because I feel frivolous...yep gonna think on that one....watch this space!

Dick has a little more concreting to do around the base (rodent proofing), we still have to get the Hemcore litter from Mole Valley..goodness knows how many bales! He and Ramzi have screwed some "shuttering" (?) along the bottom so that all the litter stays in the Poultry Pen....we've learned a few things from our original enclosure! We also have an additional wire mesh layer to staple around the lower area, mainly because my neurotic preoccupation with the strength of Mr Foxe's teeth and Dick being obliging...peace of mind and all that....

I am looking forward to showing you the 6 exbatts Prudence,Mabel,Bianca(white ears)Stella(Star shaped comb) and two as yet unnamed because they look similar but am hoping that named they will be very soon as I reckon I can see enough differences to tell them apart...not easy, you know when they are all the same breed! It will be exciting to see them exploring their home and environment.

The A crop palace Part 2

Maggie's Half Dozen Henhouse from Flyte so Fancy (www.flytesofancy.co.uk) with larger door specifications incase we want to have Indian Runner Ducks in the future! Can't recommend this company highly enough, we have been delighted with everything we have bought from them.







All stones are broken and levelled, a good use for the 20 years pile of rubble by our garage!



The concreting begins.....



Backwards and forwards to Homebase ferrying bags of concrete to mix...




That evening we had dinner with friends and one of them said "I've got a cement mixer, do you want to borrow it?" WHAT!!! The job was finished on Bank Holiday Monday without the backache and in less time!

A crop palace Part 1!

Preparations are afoot! Our new exbatts have no idea that a few feet away from where they are being temporarily housed. a new structure is about to be erected, a palacial
residence, thanks in part to British Airways who paid us to catch a later flight whilst we were were staying in Athens recently. The name Acropalace (At-hens International) just seemed to fit somehow!








First Dick and Ramzi had to clear some branches. I was told that I "wasn't really being very helpful" because I would gasp audibly every time Ramzi ventured along a branch which creaked ominously...





Now I know why boys need men in their lives! Mothers want to protect and are always telling boys to "be careful", "don't do that you might fall" etc. Boys need to be daring and if they fall, they have to learn to pick themselves up and carry on. I do wonder what sort of boys we are raising when so many fathers are out of the equation. There is a whole lot more than can be said on that subject and I must not be drawn!

So anyway...I made myself scarce... That was a few weeks ago!

This next photo has been taken today and shows where Dick has measured and levelled the ground ready for the bricks and then, at some point in the future, they will mix up some cement and the base will be ready for Stage 2, building the Acropalace!

Fox poo at dawn....nice

Just in case I needed reminding of the fact that we appear to have "Fox Patrol" in our garden regularly, I was greeted with "View of the Poo" at 06:45 as it was *my* turn to let the girls out this morning. I can think of better sights on an empty stomach but at least had the satisfaction of knowing that he/she left without causing any disturbance last night. The times I have listened in bed (with banging heart)to the "screams" of foxes in the field behind, praying that they will stay away from our girls. The memories of that awful night a few years ago are still with me and cause my risk assessments to be totally off the scale...

All the chickens are now wide awake each morning and in the case of Dolly, Xena and Connie, hurl themselves down the drawbridge as soon as it is lowered. Gert, being Gert, takes her time. If ever there was a lazy chicken, our Blue Orpington ticks all the boxes! Hattie is always straight out with her head in her food by the time I have checked in her nest box for the first egg of the day. Hattie lays hers early and you have to be quick these days otherwise she will destroy it! This morning I reached in to discover a softshelled egg...again not a pleasant feel, I left it there to deal with it after breakfast....she has probably eaten it now :( . Hattie still lays most days despite by quite ancient by exbattery hen standards. We have had her 16 months and she was probably that sort of age when we adopted her. She makes contented little Happy Hattie noises when we give her grass or corn. We will all be so sad when she dies...I think Ramzi will need counselling!

The new exbatts are still in the greenhouse with a couple of panes removed at the apex. They are thriving well and feathered up nicely. There are intrigued by our presence and peck at whatever part of our anatomy that is within reach! Four of them insist on sleeping on top of their house, the remaining two sleep inside...strange creatures. They are now extremely interested in any person seen digging the raised beds in front of the greenhouse. D has a fascinated audience each time, all six pushing and shoving for the best vantage spot!

Anyway, here is a short video, if I can do it (!) (I have issues with my layout at the moment, so if anyone can help me with the photo, text alignment problem with the egg posting I would be SO grateful. I stayed up to nearly midnight trying to get this right last night....and failed....and for those of you that know me...10:30 is late for me!!!)

Now that's what I call an egg!

Thought I would just share with you the biggest egg that one of our exbatts laid recently! No idea which lady it was or whether she announced the arrival in style, but you have to agree that it isn't bad for a hen who would have probably been dog food or a gravy cubes by now if not for the "Battery Hen Welfare Trust".



















Just to make the point!!




































I had to fumble around in my knitting bag to find the tape measure...
before I would let D eat it for his tea!




















Made a mental note to replace my griddle liner at some point....which is crying out for mercy!


















I wanted to cut a slither of red pepper to make a smile, but held back!!!

Of Milk and Hens...apologises to John Steinbeck

So a new week begins and all my intentions for a regular blog have stayed that way…..but today I am in a quandry, so hear goes….It’s about doorstep milk (okay those of you yawning already can leave the room, but I know there are others out there who will be riveted to this subject, and others like it!) I don’t like to think of the dairy farmers having a hard time with the pitiful amount they get paid for supplying milk to the supermarkets, I think it is an injustice, however how can I buy milk in a way that is convenient to my lifestyle, yet know the farmer is getting a fair price? Is doorstep milk the answer? Is that fairer to the farmer, how can I find out? The concept behind doorstep milk ticks many boxes for me; I like the idea of glass bottles over having to take my plastic ones to the tip every week. I know it is more expensive but I wouldn’t mind if I knew the farmer was getting his due and not the dairy pocketing it all. If that was the case, the idea of doorstep milk probably isn’t as attractive. We buy at least 16 pints a week and freeze them (it works, don’t knock it) but that means taking up freezer space as well as remembering to thaw them overnight. I think that having someone in the community who is regularly noting if milk is not leaving the doorstep is a positive thought in today’s culture where some people live alone and live solitary lives. Perhaps I live in a little sentimental bubble and I belong back in the 1950s! But I digress, I can’t go toddling off to a farm shop to buy my milk all the time because a) it means using the car more, something I prefer to avoid b) it is probably in plastic containers which means I haven’t eliminated the tip element and c) it means a special trip out somewhere regularly. So that’s my thinking on that one…..

All is well with the Hog hens as we call them! Hattie (of Tattie Hattie fame) is the only remaining exbatt of the four we rescued last November. Funnily enough, she was the one who was henpecked and we thought she would be the first to go as she took longer to grow her feathers and look healthy. So she has outlived the others and is demonstrating her personality in an enchanting way. If chickens could purr, that is what she does when given grass corn apples, whatever…She makes this contented little “buk buk buk” noise and talks to you if you “buk buk” back at her! If she sees me trundle off down the garden and I feed the other hens, who are kept separately from her, first, she creates such an indignant racket; it is quite comical to hear! When Mr Fox paid a visit last week at 06:45, she saw him off in no uncertain terms! I will try and get a recent photo of her. Every morning I wonder if she will come out when I open her door, every day is a bonus, I shall be so sad when she dies. Having said that plans are afoot for more exbatts following her demise, we can’t bring ourselves to get any yet in case it spoils her peaceful life and she doesn’t seem lonely. Squirrels and various birds pop by and pass the time of day with her…now I am losing it and turning into Beatrix Potter……

The weekend found us spending most of Saturday in the garden which, believe me needs so much attention. Ramzi is convinced all I do is “destroy things” as all he ever sees me do is hack stuff down at the moment. I look as if I have spent the weekend self-harming as I having bramble slashes up my inner forearms. I am already planning next weekend’s jobs….greenhouse clearance for starters!

This enough for now, perhaps bite sized pieces of my “I’m trying to live more simply and embrace greener living” lifestyle is enough! I do have other things that occupy my thoughts believe it or not, so perhaps another day it will be a different topic in the life of me muttering to myself…..

Can i bow out when it gets tough?

This week we had a rude awakening from Mr Fox, it must be about a year since our last encounter when Xena fought him off and raised the alarm in the early hours. This time he was outside the Pen frightening the living daylights out of the girls who had only just skipped down the drawbridge for breakfast. Dick was down the garden in a flash and the fox legged it out of the garden. We have made considerable improvements to their security since the last episode, although I know you can never become complacent, I took comfort in the fact that there was no evidence he had been digging or trying to gain entry. I think the exbatts, who are housed separately, were oblivious to this, although I noticed that the fox had obviously been sniffing around their house as he had left his “calling card” deposited at their back door.

These sorts of episodes always leave me tense and edgy. The temptation is to think that it is all too much hassle having to be one step ahead of the fox, always alert to his ways and possible schemes. I entertain the thought that I could protect myself from all this worry if I didn’t keep chickens…and that got me thinking about life in general, the fact that I can’t hide away from the harsh realities of what life may throw at me. I can’t say that when life gets tough, I am bowing out and looking for an easier option where people don’t get hurt and the ones I love are always cocooned in a protective bubble. We all need to get out there and live life. Sometimes I need to get my risk assessments in perspective and stop my over fertile imagination giving me unhelpful images! I wonder how many of us let fear rule what we do with our lives…or more likely, what we don’t do with our lives. You see I don’t really want to be the sort of person, who says “No” for the wrong reasons. So I look at my life, I put strategies in place where I am weak, I ask for help and encouragement and I use my commonsense! Every day I am becoming more prepared to take on this adventure called LIFE and I am determined not to allow “stuff” to get in the way…but to get out there and live life…but sometimes you may have to be a bit patient with me!

The Curious Incident of the bulge on the chicken in the Greenhouse

Today I bought live maggots and fed them to my chicken with the weird bulge…

Tatty Hattie, one of out exbatts arrived in November with a small bulge on her front. Didn’t really think much at the time as exbatts often arrive looking a bit worse for wear and to be honest, one eyed Aggie gained more of my sympathy at the time. However, this bulge doesn’t seem to have gone away, in fact it has grown and on certain days she would look like a buxom Maiden Aunt except the rest of her remains looking pitiful and scrawny whilst the others are feathering up and looking quite attractive. I made up my mind to keep a watchful eye on her today. This is an unfortunate phrase as my varifocals have been knocked recently and I am having a hard time getting one eye to “feel right”, but anyway, it has given me something to think about and I have momentarily stopped squinting and adjusting the frames at various intervals during the day….I digress…

I decided to go on my “chicken forum” (don’t mock) and do some research into bulges, impacted crops etc….it’s all there, I tell you! It appears that olive oil and live white (and they have to be white…not dyed or it looks like they are bleeding internally…a few hours later (ooh l’ve learned so much today…) maggots. The former helps to soften an impacted crop, the latter munch on the contents and help reduce it, assuming they haven’t been pecked and mashed first, by said beak…but some get through apparently.

So armed with this info, I march off to fishing supplies shop in town. Well, oh my word, I stood looking down into this open cabinet which contained 6 washing up bowls that were moving….well the contents were squirming.. Each bowl contained a different coloured breathing and mobile mass, I was memorised in a appalling way… A young lad offered to serve me with a grin on his face. I sounded confident, paid my half pint order and returned home with the knowledge that he had secured the bag tightly and I wouldn’t have live maggots crawling up my leg on my way home. I didn’t stop me looking to see “if the bag was moving though”.

So home I came, Hattie was separated into the greenhouse with everything she needed and I created my delicious porridge of oats, poultry spice, olive oil and maggots…yum. Well she evidently thought so because she went crazy for them, her little beady eye missing nothing and flicking her head back showering my face with the contents, which wasn’t a great experience.

Well she seems happy enough, although a lot smaller and frailer-looking than the others. She didn’t like me trying to feel bits and peep underneath her…oh the indignity of it all. It may be an impacted crop or it may be a tumour, I fear the latter, but she doesn’t seem bothered. The others ere beginning to peck her, so I think she is probably better off separated for now and we’ll see how she goes with a bit of individual attention…Meanwhile I am getting photos of her bulge for the forum to peruse…and the maggots are in a bag, within a bag, within a plastic container within the fridge…like a controlled drug behind many doors. I only hope no one ignores the fish stores bag and thinks “hmm what shall go in my sandwiches today” and can anyone tell me how long maggots stay as maggots before they become flies….in my fridge……