I’ve been meaning to put some “before” and “after” shots up for a while. Need to take some more to summarise it nicely.

We got down to a seriously hard days work yesterday. We started at 9am digging the lawn, moving the chicken coop, raking and heeling, raking and heeling until the soil was flat and clear enough to lay the turf at around 4.30pm. All done by 6pm, exhausted.
Looks like a golf course…

It is now in the chicken coop, so you might be lucky and see Maddy, Shash or Boo. Still a bit experimental – so if it isn’t working please come back later – sorry!
Click on the image below or here to see the camera.

To see the latest snapshot.
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The hen’s got a new “hotel” last weekend – we decided to make them a permanent home. So the investment in these egg machines stepped to a new (and frankly ridiculous) level… we already have one “hundred pound hen” – when you count purchase cost and vet bill for the sore leg (which is now much better).

Hopefully the effect is to tidy up the “Gypsie’s” garden we’ve been cultivating recently.

Big news is that, after much build up, one of the hens, Boo, laid her first egg yesterday… and it was a double-yolker. She was clearly possessed by the desire all morning and finally, in the bean patch, announced with much excited clucking that she’d fulfilled her purpose.

We barbequed it at our house party!

Next door’s little monkey:

Enjoying the party:

Well, the good life continues…

S has been busy making Rosehip syrup and Blackberry jam – both harvested from the hedgerows near the house:

Corguettes from the garden:

Maddy the hen with the sore foot (now on anti-biotics…):

Shash, curious:

Two of them make it into the sacred kitchen (they try all the time)

Maddy, surveying the deck:

Happy:

The chickens have developed slightly bolder behaviour today – starting with coming down the ladder of their own accord this morning when the door was opened and ending in indignantly pecking the stick we use to try to chase them down the run so we can catch them…
We’ve named them. Chicken Madras, Chicken Bhuna and Chicken Shashlick.
Last night, determined to sleep in the nest box, two of them were snuggled down together in the tight space – even though we’d blocked the entrance. The other was perched on the divider between the nest and sleeping areas. I had to chase them out rudely at 11pm… talk about them ruling us.
Anyway, they’re great fun. Web cam action coming soon!

No dodgy net curtains here… beautiful shutters now filling the front bay window top and bottom

Well, we finally succumbed. We are the proud owners of 3 baby-replacement chickens.

These girls are not going to be joining Mensa anytime soon. We put them in their new Eglu Cube – purposely designed for happy chickens – and they couldn’t figure out how to go up the ladder to bed. In the morning, after opening the door, it took an hour of delay and some shooing to get them to come down the ladder again. And another hour of coaxing and teaching before they figured out how to get water from the “glug” container.

Highly entertaining though – now convinced I have to get a camera installed in the nest so we can watch them sleep…

The Eglu Cube: luxury 5 star hotel for chickens

S with two of the happy campers:

 

And me with third:

 

We have:

1 Bovan Nera (black with copper breast)

1 Belle Blue (grey all over)

1 Speckledy (black with white speckles)

No names just yet – waiting for them to appeal

Bovan Nera:

The house:

 

S observing – better than TV:

Feeding for the first time:

Scared

Scared more

Happy

Look at me

And me

And me

Handling, pretty tame:

Stroke my neck

Soft claws

Me and next door neighbour M are getting better at fencing. Yesterday’s achievement was another panel alongside the garden and two full panels at the bottom of our garden.

The old fence collapsed with the mildest encouragement and so it was a good job that we had all the materials to replace it. There have been a few burglaries around here recently so it’s good to be secure. Or more secure than the next, anyway.

New fence panel:

And the supplies:

Spot the obvious flaw: (we’re fixing that next weekend…)

At the bottom of the garden, a new fence grew up out of the ground (this required four posts to be concreted into big holes – no small job):

And the gate: (salvaged):

And behind the shed:

The garden getting clearer:

Coming on nicely:

Decking and table, now usable:

Butt of all the jokes – now full. (we need another!)